Homemade Farfalle aka Homemade Bow Tie Pasta is not only simple to make but a lot of fun too!
Homemade Farfalle (aka homemade bow tie pasta) is not only a beautiful pasta to make...it's a lot of fun too! While it looks like it can be fairly complicated, it's very straightforward and easier than you may think.
Need a sauce for this recipe? Try my creamy Bolognese sauce. It's the perfect compliment to homemade Farfalle.
As with any homemade pasta I make on this site, it all starts with the dough. Typically, I'll make an egg pasta dough when making Farfalle, but it's certainly not a written rule. That's the great thing about making your own pasta, there are so many ways to experiment and there really is no right or wrong answer. For the most part, you're going to want to stick to an egg pasta dough when making Farfalle.
Check out my Egg Pasta Dough recipe to learn how.
Let's get the dough ready
Once you have the dough made, it's all about stretching it out and cutting it up. After you do that, it's really just a "pinch" to make it all come together.
Let's start off by cutting a small piece off of the large ball of dough.
Starting on the lowest setting in your pasta machine (typically it's "1"), crank the piece of dough through the machine 4-5 times. Fold the dough in half before each time you run it through.
After you run it through 4-5 times, raise the setting one notch and run the dough through ONE TIME. Do not fold the dough.
Keep raising it one notch, each time you run the dough through and repeat until you get to the 2nd to last notch on the machine. Depending on your dough, you may or may not be able to run it through the final notch because it may stress the dough too much.
If at any point you think the dough is too sticky, just add some flour to the dough before running it through again.
If you've done this step correctly, you should end up with a nice long, stretchy piece of dough. And if you don't, no worries...it takes time and a little patience to get it just right.
Now let's form the homemade Farfalle
Once we have our nice long sheet of pasta dough, it's time to start cutting and forming the homemade Farfalle.
First, using a knife or a pizza cutter, trim the sides of the dough that seem uneven. In other words, you want the entire sheet of dough to be the same width throughout.
Now comes the fun part. Grab your bicicletta (bicycle in Italian) and start cutting! Seriously though, if you don't have a bicicletta, it's not a problem. You can just use a pizza cutter to make your cuts. Ideally, you want your Farfalle to be the same size so it cooks evenly (that's why a bicicletta comes in handy), but we're not professional pasta makers here :).
Next, run your bicicletta (or pizza dough cutter) horizontally across the dough making even cuts. Depending on how thick your dough is you'll probably use 4 out of the 5 wheels that it comes with. You want each individual piece to be about 1 in high x ½ in wide.
Next, take your fluted pasta wheel (you will need one of these to make homemade Farfalle) and make your cuts vertically. Remember, you want them 1 in high x ½ in wide.
Get a great fluted pasta wheel through my Amazon link here.
Let's fold our homemade Farfalle
We're in the homestretch...let's finish our homemade Farfalle!
Take one of the small sheets and hold it with the fluted sides facing up and down.
Begin folding the pasta as if you want to fold it in half.
Then, fold the flaps back so they line up evenly with the middle section of the pasta.
Finally, firmly pinch the middle to connect the dough and keep it from separating while cooking.
Beautiful homemade Farfalle!
Want to try making my fresh Cavatelli or "dragged" pasta such as Cencioni or my homemade Orecchiette? All you need to do is learn how to make this Semolina Pasta Dough recipe and you're on your way.
Tools I used in this recipe:
Recipe
Homemade Farfalle (Homemade Bow Tie Pasta)
Equipment
Ingredients
Instructions
- Cut a small piece off of the large ball of dough.
- Starting on the lowest setting on your pasta machine (typically it's "1"), crank the piece of dough through the machine 4-5 times. Fold the dough in half before each time you run it through.
- After you run it through 4-5 times, raise the setting one notch and run the dough through ONE TIME. Do not fold the dough.Keep raising it one notch, each time you run the dough through and repeat until you get to the 2nd to last notch on the machine. Depending on your dough, you may or may not be able to run it through the final notch because it may stress the dough too much. If at any point you think the dough is too sticky, just add some flour to the dough before running it through again. If done correctly, you should end up with a long, stretchy strand of dough.
- Using a knife or a pizza cutter, trim the sides of the dough that seem uneven. In other words, you want the entire sheet of dough to be the same width throughout.
- Run your bicicletta (or pizza dough cutter) horizontally across the dough making even cuts. Depending on how thick your dough is you'll probably use 4 out of the 5 wheels that it comes with. You want each individual piece to be about 1 in high x ½ in wide.
- Take your fluted pasta wheel and make your cuts vertically. Remember, you want them 1 in high x ½ in wide.
- Take one of the small sheets and hold it with the fluted sides facing up and down.
- Begin folding the sheet as if you want to fold it in half.
- Then, fold the flaps back so they line up evenly with the middle section of the pasta.
- Finally, firmly pinch the middle to connect the dough and keep it from separating while cooking.
Notes
Nutrition
About The Skinny Guinea
Hey...how you doin'? I'm Tommy, The Skinny Guinea…just a busy dad who loves to cook. Offering easy to cook dinners and family friendly recipes, while always staying true to my Italian roots!
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