By Published Aug. 15, 2023.
This is Technique #78 from our 100 Techniques Every Home Cook Can Master.
Each technique is broken into three sections: why it works, key steps, and recipes that use it. Learn these recipe building blocks and you'll be set up for a lifetime of cooking success.
Pasta machines have become common enough that it’s understandable to think that’s the “classic” way to make ravioli and other filled pasta.
But you don’t need a machine: The truly traditional method uses only a rolling pin and a knife. And with our updated techniques for making the dough and shaping and cooking the pasta, supple, pillowy ravioli are within anyone’s reach.
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We created our fresh pasta recipe especially to be rolled out thin without a machine (and without having to use major elbow grease, a common problem with other from-scratch pasta doughs). It relies on egg yolks and oil to provide enough fat to limit gluten development so the dough can be rolled without springing back.
Since it’s a winner when cut into strands, boiled, and tossed with a homemade sauce, we decided to take it a step further and use it for ravioli.
Along with our new take on handmade pasta, we also updated the ravioli-making method. Working with one long rolled-out sheet at a time, brush the lower half with egg white to help seal the ravioli. Instead of the usual awkward procedure of folding the entire long length of dough over the evenly spaced mounds of filling and then cutting, cut the sheet into individual rectangles and fold them individually.
This makes it much easier to correctly fold and seal each piece of ravioli, suspending the top portion of dough with your thumbs and enclosing each filling mound in dough while pressing out air. (Trapped air will create pockets of steam during cooking that could cause the wrapper to burst.)
Homemade filled pasta can often be underdone and doughy, especially at the edges where the dough is doubled. Most recipes call for rolling the dough super-thin to compensate, but that’s incredibly difficult without the help of pasta machine rollers.
We discovered that you can just let the boiling water do the work. Cooking our ravioli until the dough is supple yet resilient takes about 13 minutes, more than twice as long as ravioli made using a pasta maker. But the results will make any grandmother proud.
Follow these simple steps and you'll soon wow your guests with tender ravioli that won't explode in your boiling pot of water.
Lay 1 rolled pasta sheet on counter with long side parallel to edge. Using sharp knife, trim and square off corners and brush bottom half with egg white.
Starting 11⁄2 inches from left edge of dough and 1 inch from bottom, evenly space 1-tablespoon mounds of filling to fit 6 mounds. Cut sheet at center points between filling mounds.
Lift top edge of dough over filling to line up with bottom edge. Holding top edge suspended with your thumbs, press layers together with your fingers.
Working around filling from back to front, press out air before sealing closed.
Using sharp knife or fluted pastry wheel, cut away excess dough, leaving 1⁄4- to 1⁄2-inch border around each mound. Place on parchment-lined baking sheet.
Boil ravioli until just tender. To test, pull one from pot, trim off corner without cutting into filling, and taste.
Ready to put your newfound knowledge of filled pastas to use? Try it with these recipes.
Ready to learn another technique? Choose from our list of 100 Techniques Every Home Cook Can Master.
