2-Ingredient Strozzapreti Is the Homemade Pasta Absolutely Anyone Can Make

When I’m feeling low or in a cooking rut, I turn to project cooking to soothe me. More often than not, I opt for homemade pasta. The process of learning something new and overcoming a challenge makes me feel accomplished, and there’s something so meditative about putting all my emotions into kneading dough until smooth.

If making fresh pasta intimidates you, I get it: We’ve all watched the Pasta Grannies prepare pasta with ease and speed, and how could we ever live up to that? But the truth is, fresh pasta is pretty easy to make — and the more you do it the easier it gets. Even the most unskilled hands can make something delicious (and, honestly, “bad” fresh pasta is still going to taste better than anything you buy at the store).

I’ve been making pasta at home for a few years now, and it’s always been more about the process than perfection. I started my journey with a simple egg and all-purpose flour-based dough — perfect for rolling into sheets and slicing into wide tagliatelle — and I’ve since worked my way up to stuffed pasta and alternative flours. But there are still so many shapes and varieties I have yet to make and learn about! My latest project has been strozzapreti, a super-simple twisted pasta. Here’s what you need to know.

Strozzapreti is thought to come from the Emilia Romagna region in northern Italy, but is served throughout the country. According to Evan Funke’s American Sfoglino, the word strozzapreti translates to “priest stranglers.” As the myth goes, a hungry traveling priest stopped at a convent and demanded food from the sisters. They served him strozzapreti and he was so ravenous that he gobbled down the pasta and choked. Don’t worry — he didn’t die! A sister smacked him in the back of the head and dislodged the pasta.

What I love about strozzapreti is that it’s easy to prepare and very forgiving. You don’t need a pasta machine or even any eggs! All you need is flour and water. That’s it! It’s the perfect dish to make on a date, with friends, or with your children. (I speak from experience: My 9-year-old twisted pasta without frustration.) Plus, this pasta takes on many forms in Italy — from the twisted strand method to a dumpling — so there’s really no wrong way to do it.

This pasta begins with a base of flour and water, and the type of flour you use will affect how easy the dough is to work with. Here’s how to choose.

1. All-purpose: If you’re a beginner pasta maker, start with all-purpose flour. This dough will be easy to work with, and you can get to know how it feels in your hands.
2. 00 flour: This flour is higher in protein and will yield a more tender, silkier pasta than all-purpose. That said, the dough will also be more tender, which makes kneading and shaping a little trickier.
3. Flour + semolina: When you combine flour with semolina, you get a more toothsome pasta that really clings to sauces. My personal pasta guru and friend Chef Scott Cavagnaro said he prefers 75% all-purpose or 00 flour and 25% semolina, which is what I recommend here.

Regardless of which flour option you choose, if your dough feels too moist and sticky at any point, dust the surface with flour and knead it in until it’s absorbed and the dough no longer sticks. If your dough is too dry and shaggy, dampen your hands under the faucet and knead the dough until all the dry pieces are mixed in.

After mixing and resting the dough, it’s time to roll. Start by cutting the dough ball in half and rolling it out until it’s very thin. It doesn’t matter what shape the rolled-out dough is, as long as it’s around 3-mm thick (about the thickness of 6 to 8 stacked sheets of paper). Using a pastry wheel, a pizza cutter, or a knife, cut the dough into 1-inch strips, then, working with one strip at a time, pinch the strip about 3 inches from one end. Gently twist until you have about a 2-inch-long twisted piece of pasta. Using a pinch-and-twist motion, separate the twisted pasta from the rest of the strip and place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet that’s been dusted with flour.

This pasta doesn’t refrigerate well, so if you’re not cooking it right away, transfer the baking sheet to the freezer. Once the pasta is completely frozen, you can transfer it to a resealable plastic bag until you’re ready to use it. Cooking from fresh or frozen takes mere minutes: The pasta will be perfectly al dente in three to five minutes. It’s incredibly versatile, and can be served with many types of sauces, from Bolognese to pesto (I served mine with Bolognese, broccoli rabe, and sausage — yum!). I guarantee that once you’ve tasted it, you’ll understand why homemade pasta is so special.