Homemade Pasta Dough Recipe With Sourdough Starter

Let's get one thing straight quickly: pasta can be part of a healthy diet, whether you opt for a modern, healthier pasta or a long-standing classic. But making your own pasta is actually … pretty easy. It takes a little patience and fat, but few ingredients – and the end product will likely taste even better than your favorite prepackaged product.

Not only that, it's an opportunity to add unique flavors to your pasta dough yourself to compliment your favorite sauce – but there's one more ingredient you could add that has the added benefits of making pasta a little tastier for your gut: Sourdough starter.

This recipe from the upcoming cookbook Sour Dough Every Day by Hannah Dela Cruz uses your quarantine hobby as a key component in the mix of five ingredients: "Equal proportions of semolina flour and all-purpose flour result in a delicate pasta with a delicious little smell that is easier to digest than other fresh noodles because the sourdough is thrown away, "she explains.

As with any fermented product, the longer you let it hang, the more fermentation benefits you get. So while you can use the dough after just a few hours of rest, it can ferment for up to 24 hours. "Fermented or not, the sourdough adds a complexity of flavor that is delicious to any pasta sauce," writes Dela Cruz. We're ready to bet it goes especially well with this simple pesto.