Basic pasta dough

What to do:

• Get an adult to help fix the pasta machine to a suitable bench. Screw the clamp very tightly.
• Weigh the flour, then combine it with 1½ teaspoons of salt in the bowl of the food processor. With the motor running, add the eggs. Process for a few minutes until the dough clings together and feels quite springy.
• Tip the dough onto a clean, dry workbench. Knead the dough for a few minutes, then wrap it in plastic film and let it rest for 1 hour at room temperature.
• Clear a large space on the workbench alongside the pasta machine. All surfaces must be clean and dry. Press the dough into a rectangle about 8 cm wide.
• Set the rollers on the pasta machine to the widest setting and pass the dough through. The dough will probably look quite ragged at this stage. Fold it in 3, turn it 90 degrees and roll it through again. Go to the next-thickest setting and pass the dough through 3-4 times.
• Continue in this manner (changing the settings and passing the dough through) until the dough has passed through the second thinnest setting. Don't use the very thinnest setting, as the dough gets too fine and is hard to manage. If the dough gets too long to handle comfortably, cut it into 2-3 pieces using the large knife, and roll each piece separately. Prepare the dough as instructed in the recipe. Clean the pasta machine by brushing it with a dry, wide pastry brush.

This recipe is from Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Garden Cooking with Kids (Penguin Lantern 2006).