buckwheat spätzle--German pasta

Spätzle is an easy pasta to make which uses flour and eggs. The imperfectly shaped pasta are moulded by hand and can be called "rustic"!

Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks July hostess. Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine. She provided us with recipes for spätzle and fresh egg pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with.


I made my version of spätzle with buckwheat flour. Since there is very minimal handling of the dough I imagine you could use any whole grain flour. I opted out of any pasta recipes that require rolling--that would have been destined for disaster since I was determined to use whole grain flour. Rolling whole wheat dough thinly enough for pasta is too difficult by hand.

Buckwheat Sp&#228tzle
serves 3 as a main dish

2 eggs
1/2 c (125 ml) milk
1 T dried or fresh herbs
1 1/2 c (180 g) buckwheat flour, possibly more or less

Mix the eggs, milk and herbs together in a bowl.
Add the flour gradually, stirring with a strong wooden spoon.
Continue adding flour to get a sticky dough.
Use floured hands to pull off and shape small nuggets of dough.

Bring a saucepan of salted water to boiling. Add the spätzle, in two batches if it's a small pan.
Return to the boil for about 5 minutes. Test a spätzle to check that it is cooked through.
Remove with a slotted spoon.
Enjoy with your favourite vegetables or sauce.

Have you ever made pasta by hand?