Ok, here's how to make fresh pasta.
First, you take about 2 cups or so of semolina flour. This is official pasta flour. If you can't get it, use bread flour. If you want gluten free pasta, use gluten free bread flour or mix.
Make a pile with the flour on a large cutting board. Make a hollow in the top, volcano-style, and start to pour in some water. Mix with a fork, until mixture becomes too stiff to use a fork any more. Begin to mix by hand, until you have used about a cup of water or so. It's ok to have some dry flour left over. You must knead the dough for at least 10 minutes, until it is dry and no longer sticks to your hands. Kneading is the key to this, not adding more flour. After kneading, allow the dough to rest for at least 1/2 hour. This allows the gluten to relax, after being activated by the kneading. After it has rested, cut into chunks for rolling out.
This is when a pasta machine comes in handy. You can choose from several settings of thickness, and then you can use different attachments for spaghetti, linguine, fettucine, etc. A pasta machine will save time, because you must not wash it. It will rust if you do. The pasta dough should run through cleanly; if it doesn't, it is too sticky. A simple brushing after use will keep your machine clean. Allowing the pasta to air dry before cooking will make it easier to handle and store in the fridge. Allowing it to dry completely will save it if you have made more than you want to eat in a weeks' time.
If you don't have a pasta machine, a pizza wheel is very nice for cutting the pasta into strips. It works better than a knife.
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