Ingredients
Lasagna
- 1 recipe Bolognese Sauce
- 1 Ricotta Mixture, below
- 500 g mozzarella, grated
- 75 g parmesan, grated
Ricotta Mixture
- 400 g ricotta, homemade or store bought
- 1 large egg
- ¼ tsp dried parsley
- ¼ tsp dried basil
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Pasta
- 5 large eggs
- 400 g all-purpose flour,
- 1 pinch salt
Equipment
Method
Make the Bolognese Sauce
- Start your sauce at 11 am to be eating dinner by 6 pm. The sauce takes 4 hours, then it should cool for at least 30 minutes before assembly. Allowing for 30 minute lasagna "assembly" time means that after 1 hour in the oven, the lasagna is ready at 6.
- Once the sauce is done, let it cool until it's just warm, not hot. If making the day before, refrigerate overnight and warm gently on the stove before using. Assembling lasagna with hot sauce can make the noodles gummy and cold sauce will extend the lasagna cooking time by at least 30 minutes (but recommended if you're freezing an uncooked lasagna).
Make the Ricotta
- Follow the linked recipe or use store-bought. I often start this once the bolognese sauce is simmering so there is time to cool the ricotta. Feel free to make this a day ahead.
Make the Pasta
- Place a mound of flour on a clean surface and make a large well in the center. Crack the eggs into the well, optionally add salt, and use a fork to break up the yolks and begin to whisk.
- Continue whisking the eggs and slowly pushing in small amounts of flour. Do this slowly to prevent clumps, only adding more as the egg mixture smooths out. After a few minutes of whisking, the egg mixture should be nice and thick.
- Using a bench scraper, scrape up the flour and toss over the egg mixture from each side, then "chop" through the egg mixture horizontally and vertically.
- Begin scraping in a scooping circular motion and folding the dough over itself. Continue doing this until it somewhat comes together into a scraggly mess. Once it starts to come together, knead the bits of dough together into a cohesive ball.
- Knead for 5-10 minutes until the dough is smooth and supple, and springs back when poked. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 2 hours before using or leave for 1 hour at room temperature to relax the gluten.
You need to start the pasta dough at least 1 hour before assembly as it will need time to rest before rolling.
If you're having trouble, incorporate 1-2 tbsp of water (before it forms into a ball) to help it come together. You want the dough to be quite firm, so don't add too much.
Prep the Lasagna
- Preheat the oven to 375℉ with a rack in the middle and set a large pot of salted water to boil to cook the pasta.
- If your sauce has been made the day before, remove from the fridge and warm it lightly on the stove. You should be able to put your finger in it and not burn yourself.
- Grate the cheeses and make the ricotta mixture by stirring together the ricotta, egg, parsley, basil, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
- Roll out the pasta using a pasta roller machine or attachment for a kitchenaid. Divide the dough into 8 pieces, cover any that is not being actively rolled out. Flour each side well and run through on the widest (1) setting.
- Fold the dough over itself and run through again. Continue doing this a few more times if needed to have an even shape that goes almost edge to edge on your roller. Toss with more flour if needed to prevent sticking.
- Run through each setting twice, adding more flour as you go, until you get to the second last thickness setting (ours is 7). Lay the sheet of pasta on a lightly floured surface and set aside until all the pieces are complete.
- Cook each noodle 30 seconds then lay out flat on a linen or cotton towel (preferably one that doesn't have much lint) to cool and dry.
If you have a buddy in the kitchen, let them do the rolling while you boil pasta and assemble the lasagna.
Assemble the Lasagna
- Spread a small amount of bolognese sauce on the bottom of an 11x15" glass baking dish so the noodles don't stick. Lay down a single layer of noodles, slightly overlapping where separate sheets are used. From here, each layer will be the same.
- For 4 layers, add 1 cup sauce and spread evenly. Top with ¼ of the ricotta, ⅙ of the mozzarella, and ⅙ of the parmesan. Repeat.
- For the final layer you will have no more ricotta. Top the final layer of noodles with 2 cups of sauce and the remainder of the cheese. It should be plenty, but if you used too much in the layers you can grate more cheese.
- Cover the full pan lightly with tin foil, focusing on not letting the tin foil touch the cheese. It is ready to bake.
Baking the Lasagna
- Bake at 375℉ for a total of 1 hour. Bake for 40 minutes, covered with tin foil. Remove the foil and bake for the remaining 20 minutes uncovered.
- About 5-10 minutes before the lasagna is ready, the surface will puff up throughout due to steam. Poke it with a knife or a fork a few times to release steam and then continue to bake.
- If the cheese hasn't browned to your liking, turn it to broil on high for the last 3-5 minutes of bake time. Keeping an eye on it so it doesn't burn.
- Let it rest for 10 minutes before cutting and serving, it will be very hot. Enjoy!
The lasagna will need an additional 30 minutes of covered baking time if you assembled the lasagna with cold sauce or are baking straight from the fridge.