Fresh pasta, noodles and spätzle

Why

Noodle dough is stiff: roughly one egg goes into 100 g of flour, with no or very little water, so the flour absorbs the water slowly and kneading builds a firm gluten network (see the Kneading and gluten card). Straight after kneading the network is tense and the dough springs back and tears when rolled; during 20–30 minutes of rest under film the flour hydrates evenly and the gluten relaxes, so the dough rolls out thin. Uncovered dough and noodles dry out in the air and crack, while too moist ones stick together, which is why they are dusted with semolina or flour. Spätzle batter has more liquid and is thick but flowing; beating develops gluten that holds the drops of batter together in boiling water, and coarser polohrubá flour (see the Czech flour: hladká, polohrubá, hrubá card) absorbs water more slowly, so the spätzle hold their shape better. Fresh pasta is not dried, so it cooks in a few minutes, and egg dough and noodles contain raw egg, so they should not sit in a warm place.

How to do it

• For egg noodles allow roughly one egg per 100 g of flour; knead the dough for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic, sprinkling crumbly dough with a teaspoon of water.
• Wrap the dough in film and rest it for 20–30 minutes before rolling; keep the portion you are not working with covered.
• Dust rolled sheets and cut noodles with semolina or flour and toss them loose so they do not stick together.
• Beat spätzle batter with a wooden spoon until it forms bubbles and pulls in strands, then let it rest briefly; polohrubá flour gives it firmness.
• Press spätzle into salted, gently boiling water in batches and lift them out shortly after they float; cook fresh noodles for just 1–3 minutes and taste.
• Cook fresh noodles the same day, or freeze them spread on a tray and then in a bag; cook them from frozen without thawing.

If it goes wrong

Sprinkle dough that crumbles and will not come together with a teaspoon of water, wrap it and let it rest; work sticky dough with a little flour. Cover dough that springs back when rolled and rest it for another 10–20 minutes. Loosen noodles that have stuck together in the sauce with a little cooking water. Spätzle that fall apart in the water come from batter that is too thin: stir in a spoonful of flour, beat it again and test one batch. Tough, rubbery spätzle come from batter that is too thick or from overcooking; next time add liquid and lift them out sooner.