To start you will need:

250 grams of all-purpose flour

3 whole eggs

1 teaspoon salt (I used fresh ground sea salt)

90ml of water

While you are gathering all the ingredients, heat a large pot of water to a boil. This way, you don’t have to wait for the water to heat up once you’re done mixing the batter. Multitasking is important in any kitchen! Add a bit of salt to the water to help season the noodles as they cook, but not too much! We don’t want salty noodles!

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix with a wooden spoon. If you see that the dough is going to dry out, you can add another touch of water. Whether or not you will need to add more water may depend on the size of the eggs you used (how much moisture they added to the overall recipe) and the measuring cup you used to measure the water. Some measuring cups appear to be slightly larger than others.

Once the batter is smooth and dripping off the spoon in large clumps, it should be ready to use. It’s okay if the mixture is a little thicker, this will simply result in a denser, less fluffier noodle. You can adjust the amount of water in future recipes to create a thinner dough if you like.

To cook spätzle, there are generally 3 main methods used. Running the dough through a handheld pasta extruder will result in long noodle-like spaghetti. You can also place some of the mixture on a specially made cutting board or spatzle board and with the help of a wet knife or spatula, push/cut small sections of the dough into the boiling water. The method I use is with a strainer (or perforated hotel tray) that has large holes about 5mm in diameter. Press the dough through the holes directly into the boiling water. Traditionally, you’d use a spätzlehobel, but if you don’t have access to one, you can even use a table cheese grater, although it’s not quite as fast and a bit more fiddly.

You’ll know the spätzle is done when it floats to the surface. Be sure to remove them from the water immediately with a slotted spoon or strainer so they don’t overcook and become tough. For this reason, it is best to boil the spätzle in smaller batches.

Once the Spatzle is cooked, you can chill and refrigerate it to use in casseroles, or substitute in any pasta dish! They are delicious fried until lightly golden and just coated in butter too!