Homemade Whole Wheat Pasta

I closed on a beautiful home in Harbour Island this week. The buyers — a young couple, first-timers — looked at the keys the way I looked at my real estate license in 2012: like they were holding the future in their hands.

I drove to Tarpon Springs for Sunday dinner. The drive takes forty minutes if the traffic behaves. It never behaves. But I make the drive because the table at Mama's house is non-negotiable, and Sunday dinner is the thread that holds this family together.

Some weeks are ordinary. This was an ordinary week. I sold houses. I cooked dinner. I called Mama. I drove to Tarpon Springs on Sunday. The extraordinary thing about ordinary weeks is that they are the ones you miss most when they are gone.

I made pastitsio from Mama's recipe — the Kalymnos version with extra cinnamon and a bechamel so thick you could mortar bricks with it. I served it with bread and olive oil — always too much olive oil, because in this family there is no such thing as too much. We ate and the conversation was easy and the evening was warm.

Sophia told me this week that she is proud of me. I was not expecting it. We were in the car, driving to Tarpon Springs for Sunday dinner, and she said Mom, I am proud of you. I said for what. She said for everything. For the bakery. For the houses. For making dinner every night even when you are tired. I gripped the steering wheel and blinked and said thank you, koritsi mou. She said do not cry. I did not cry. Much.

That pastitsio does not happen without good pasta — and in our house, good pasta means pasta you make yourself. Sophia’s words were still with me when I got home Sunday night, and I found myself thinking that the most ordinary things — flour, eggs, a wooden board dusted white — are also the most grounding ones. This is the whole wheat pasta I roll out every time I make Mama’s recipe, and I am giving it to you the way she gave it to me: without fuss, and with the understanding that the extra twenty minutes are always worth it.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 5 min | Total Time: 55 min (includes 30 min rest) | Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat flour, plus more for dusting
2 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2–4 tablespoons warm water, as needed

Instructions

Make the well. Mound the whole wheat flour on a clean work surface or in a large bowl and make a wide well in the center. Add the eggs, egg yolks, olive oil, and salt into the well.
Bring the dough together. Using a fork, beat the eggs gently, then begin drawing in flour from the inner edge of the well. Continue until a shaggy dough forms. Add warm water one tablespoon at a time if the dough feels dry or crumbly.
Knead. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead firmly for 8–10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Whole wheat dough will feel slightly denser than white flour dough — that is expected.
Rest. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap or cover with an inverted bowl and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Do not skip this step; it relaxes the gluten and makes rolling much easier.
Roll and cut. Divide the dough into 4 portions. Working one portion at a time (keep the rest covered), roll each piece out on a floured surface to about 1/8-inch thickness. For pastitsio, cut into thick tubular lengths or use a pasta machine on the widest setting, then fold and cut into 2-inch tubes. For other uses, cut into the shape you need.
Cook. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil. Cook the fresh pasta for 3–5 minutes, tasting for doneness. Fresh whole wheat pasta cooks faster than dried. Drain well before using in your recipe.

Nutrition (per serving)

Homemade Whole Wheat Pasta — The Dough Behind Mama’s Pastitsio