Fresh pasta calculator
Fresh pasta for the people at your table
Say how many are eating and the recipe comes out in grams of flour and whole eggs. Eggs do not halve: the calculator suggests the nearest whole combination and shows how much flour that shifts.
The default is 50 g, the medium egg the recipes assume. Weigh yours if you want precision.
What to weigh
| Ingredient | Amount |
|---|---|
| 00 flour | 300.0 g |
| Egg | 3 pcs · 150.0 g |
| Flour | 300.0 g |
The yield is the one the source publishes. Adding up the parts usually lands a little higher, because some of the flour stays on the board and in the dusting.
- Yields
- 400 g
- Serves
- 4 people
- Cooking water
- 4 L
- Cooking time
- 1.5–2 min
The scale lands on whole eggs: no flour adjustment needed.
Zielonka, "The Doughs" — Classic Egg Dough, "Tagliatelle", "Pappardelle", "How to Cook Pasta" · Ruhlman, "Pasta Dough" · Hazan, "Pasta" — The Essentials of Cooking Pasta, WaterDough balance
Pasta per person
Range across the sources: 85 g – 115 g
Zielonka, "How to Cook Pasta" · Hazan, "Pasta" — For yellow pasta doughFlour per gram of egg
Range across the sources: 1.5 – 2
Zielonka, "The Doughs" — Classic Egg Dough · Ruhlman, "Pasta Dough" · Hazan, "Pasta" — For yellow pasta doughMethod, as the source gives it
Knead by hand for 8 to 10 minutes. Rest at least 30 minutes in the fridge, or overnight if you can, and take it out 30 minutes before rolling.
Ribbons: stop at setting 7 · Stuffed: stop at setting 8
Where to stop rolling
The numbers are those of Zielonka’s machine, where 0 is the widest setting and 8 the tightest. Machines numbered the other way round want the opposite number. Neither book publishes a thickness in millimetres, so neither does this page.
| Shape | Rolling | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Tagliatelle | Setting 7Two passes at every notch up to 7. Hazan cuts by hand into ribbons about 6 mm wide; the machine’s wide cutter gives fettuccine, slightly narrower. | The classic Bolognese ribbon, for ragù and full-bodied sauces.Zielonka, "Rolling & Shaping Pasta" — Rolling Out Pasta Dough · Hazan, "Pasta" — Special Noodle Cuts, Tagliatelle |
| Pappardelle | Setting 7The same 7 as the other ribbons. Zielonka cuts 3 cm wide by 15–20 cm long; Hazan makes 2.5 × 15 cm with a fluted wheel, since the machine has no cutter for it. | A broad ribbon for meat and game sauces.Zielonka, "Pappardelle" · Hazan, "Pasta" — Special Noodle Cuts, Pappardelle |
| Chitarra / tonnarelli | Setting 7 or 6Zielonka stops at 7, or 6 for more bite. Hazan stops at the next-to-last notch and matches the sheet thickness to the cutter width: the strand has to come out square.The sources diverge | A square-sectioned strand, off the narrow cutter or the chitarra itself.Zielonka, "Chitarra" · Hazan, "Pasta" — Special Noodle Cuts, Tonnarelli |
| Garganelli | Setting 7Sheet at 7, soft and freshly rolled. Squares of 4 cm rolled over a comb on a dowel about 6 mm across. | A ridged tube that holds sauce inside and out.Zielonka, "Rolling & Shaping Pasta" — Rolling Out Pasta Dough · Hazan, "Pasta" — Stuffed and Shaped Pasta, Garganelli |
| Ravioli and triangoli | Setting 8Setting 8, the thinnest: the sheet folds onto itself and two layers add up to twice the thickness. | Square stuffed pasta; the strip comes out twice the width of the raviolo.Zielonka, "Ravioli" · Hazan, "Pasta" — Stuffed and Shaped Pasta, Tortelloni, Tortelli, Ravioli |
| Tortellini and cappelletti | Setting 8Setting 8. Squares of about 4 cm with a quarter teaspoon of filling, folded into a triangle and closed into a ring. | In broth or with sauce; in Romagna the same shape is called cappelletti.Zielonka, "Tortellini" · Hazan, "Pasta" — Stuffed and Shaped Pasta, Tortellini |
| Lasagne | Setting 7Zielonka stops at 7 and blanches the sheets for 30 seconds before assembling. Hazan rolls as thin as the dough will go, in 25 cm strips, and builds at least six layers.The sources diverge | Sheets cut to the size of the dish.Zielonka, "Lasagne" · Hazan, "Pasta" — Lasagne |
| Maltagliati | No setting of its ownNo setting of its own: these are the trimmings from whatever you have already rolled, cut into uneven diamonds. | Bean soups and minestrone, "badly cut" on purpose.Zielonka, "Maltagliati" · Hazan, "Pasta" — Soup Pasta, Maltagliati |
Yield of an assembled dish
Lasagne and stuffed pasta do not follow the grams-per-person of a ribbon: one splits the same sheet into layers, the other is counted in pieces.
| Dish | Dough | Servings |
|---|---|---|
| Lasagne (Zielonka)One and a half times the classic dough for a 26 × 20 cm dish; sheets blanched for 30 s and chilled in iced water. | 600 g | 4–6Zielonka, "Lasagne" |
| Green lasagne (Hazan)A two-egg green dough in a 23 × 30 cm dish, with at least six layers. | 450 g | 6Hazan, "Pasta" — Baked Green Lasagne with Meat Sauce, Bologna Style |
| Tortellini in brodo (Hazan)About 100 tortellini with 2.5 L of broth, roughly 17 a head. With sauce, count 24 a head. | 100 pieces | 6Hazan, "Pasta" — Tortellini with Meat and Cheese Filling, Recommended sauce |
How the calculation works
The arithmetic starts at the egg, not the flour. Zielonka’s classic dough is 300 g of 00 flour to 3 eggs, yielding 400 g and serving four, which is 100 g of flour and one egg a head. Pick the number of people and what the meal is, and the calculator scales that recipe and hands it back in grams.
The catch is that eggs do not halve. For six people the scale would ask for 4.5 eggs, so the calculator suggests the nearest whole combination (on a tie, the larger one, because leftover dough beats running short) and then shows how much flour that moves. If your eggs are not 50 g, type the real weight: the flour follows, because what the recipe fixes is the ratio between the two.
That ratio is the number the sources argue about. Zielonka starts at 2 g of flour per gram of egg; Ratio says flour is 1.5× the egg weight; Hazan starts at 1.4 and climbs to about 2.4 as flour is worked in while kneading. None of it applies to coloured doughs: there the purée is the liquid, weighed on the scale, and the source has already corrected the flour.
Where the sources disagree
The three books behind this calculator agree on almost no quantity. Wherever a choice had to be made, it is spelled out here.
| Topic | What each source says | What the calculator does |
|---|---|---|
| Flour per egg | Zielonka: 100 g of 00 flour per medium egg (300 g for three). Ruhlman: flour equal to 1.5× the weight of the eggs. Hazan: one cup to two eggs, but with instructions to work in flour until the thumb test comes away clean. | A default of 100 g per egg. It is the classic Italian rule and the only one that starts out settled in grams. Hazan’s is deliberately wet, to be corrected on the board, and the yield she herself declares (¾ lb) only adds up with far more flour than the list shows. |
| Pasta per person | Zielonka uses 100 g throughout (400 g serves four). Hazan gets 3 standard servings out of ¾ lb (~113 g) or 4 starter servings (~85 g). | Main course at 100 g, starter at 85 g and a generous helping at 115 g. Zielonka’s round number sits in the middle of Hazan’s band, so there is nothing to choose between them: all three figures coexist. |
| Coloured dough | Zielonka gives spinach, beetroot and squid ink with the liquid weighed in grams. Hazan accepts only spinach and calls squid ink deplorable. | We follow Zielonka, because he is the only one who quantifies the adjustment: 40 g of beetroot juice, 140 to 150 g of spinach liquid, flour up to 320 g for the ink. Hazan’s objection is a matter of taste rather than technique, and it is recorded as a note. |
| Semolina at home | Zielonka makes vegan dough from fine semolina and water at 46%. Hazan advises against it: it tends to be gritty and rolling it by pin is a nearly hopeless fight. "Leave semolina to the factories". | The semolina dough stays, with the warning attached. Her criticism is about the rolling pin; with a machine, or a long knead, the recipe works. What does swap one for one, by weight, is 00 flour and all-purpose. |
| Resting and keeping | Zielonka rests in the fridge (30 minutes to overnight) and freezes for up to two weeks. Hazan rests at room temperature (15 minutes to 2 hours) and dries for 24 hours to keep for weeks, condemning plastic and the fridge. | Both are shown. Cold dough is harder to stretch, so anyone refrigerating should take it out 30 minutes before rolling; anyone rolling straight away can leave it on the counter. |
Glossary
- 00 flour
- A very fine Italian flour, milled twice, almost the texture of icing sugar. It gives a smooth, supple dough; all-purpose swaps in at the same weight.
- Fine semolina
- Finely milled durum wheat, the durum equivalent of 00. It is the base of vegan water dough, sold in Italy as semola rimacinata.
- Coarse semolina
- Only for dusting trays and shaped pasta so nothing sticks. Sieved, it can be reused three or four times.
- Thinning
- Rolling the dough out one notch at a time. It is not just pressure: that gradual thinning, on top of the kneading, is what gives the dough body and structure.
- Matterello
- The long pin of the hand method. The dough is stretched rather than compressed, ending up with a textured surface that soaks up sauce. It is a craft that takes practice.
- Dough for stuffing
- Dough used soft and sticky, freshly rolled, one piece at a time. That tack is what seals the raviolo; dry dough will not close.
- Tonnarelli
- A strand of square section, as thick as it is wide, cut on the narrow cutter or on the chitarra, the string frame that looks like an old-fashioned egg slicer.
- Maltagliati
- "Badly cut": the trimmings of dough in uneven diamonds, saved for bean soups and minestrone.
- Al dente
- Firm to the bite. Fresh pasta never gets as firm as factory-dried, but it should always offer some resistance.
- Bronze extruded
- Dried pasta pushed through a bronze die, with a rough, porous surface that holds sauce far better than a teflon die.
Sources for this calculator
Every preset, every range and every thickness above comes from one of these works, at the chapter given. All three are EPUBs, with no physical pagination.
The Pasta Man
Zielonka · Quadrille
"The Doughs" — Classic Egg Dough · "The Doughs" — Rich Egg Dough · "The Doughs" — Vegan Semolina Dough · "The Doughs" — Spinach Egg Dough · "The Doughs" — Vegan Spinach Dough · "The Doughs" — Beetroot Egg Dough · "The Doughs" — Vegan Beetroot Dough · "The Doughs" — Squid Ink Egg Dough · "The Doughs" — Gluten-Free Egg Dough · "How to Cook Pasta" · "Rolling & Shaping Pasta" — Rolling Out Pasta Dough · "Pappardelle" · "Chitarra" · "Ravioli" · "Tortellini" · "Lasagne" · "Maltagliati" · "Tagliatelle"
Ratio
Ruhlman · Scribner
"Pasta Dough"
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking
Hazan · Knopf
"Pasta" — For yellow pasta dough · "Pasta" — For yellow pasta dough, Note · "Pasta" — For green pasta dough · "Pasta" — Tortellini with Meat and Cheese Filling · "Pasta" — Special Noodle Cuts, Tagliatelle · "Pasta" — Special Noodle Cuts, Pappardelle · "Pasta" — Special Noodle Cuts, Tonnarelli · "Pasta" — Stuffed and Shaped Pasta, Garganelli · "Pasta" — Stuffed and Shaped Pasta, Tortelloni, Tortelli, Ravioli · "Pasta" — Stuffed and Shaped Pasta, Tortellini · "Pasta" — Lasagne · "Pasta" — Soup Pasta, Maltagliati · "Pasta" — Baked Green Lasagne with Meat Sauce, Bologna Style · "Pasta" — Tortellini with Meat and Cheese Filling, Recommended sauce · "Pasta" — The Essentials of Cooking Pasta, Water