Making the dough
Measure the flour and shake it through a sieve into a medium sized mixing bowl. However, if you are making a mixed flour pasta, don’t try to sift or whisk the flours to blend them.
Drop the eggs or egg yolks into a small bowl or measuring cup; beat briefly with a fork to break them up. Pour in the measured amounts of oil and water and mix well with the eggs.
Pour the wet ingredients into the flour. Toss and mix everything with a fork until the flour is moistened and starts to clump together. Lightly flour with your hands, then gather the clumps-or use a flexible plastic dough scraper-and begin kneading right in the bowl, folding the ragged mass over, pushing and turning it, then folding again. Use the kneading action to clean the sides of the bowl.
When you have formed a cohesive clump of dough, turn it out onto a small work surface lightly dusted with ½ teaspoon of flour and continue kneading for 2 to 3 minutes, until the dough is smooth and shiny on the outside, soft throughout, and stretchy.
Form the dough into a disk and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and elt it rest at room temperature for ½ hour. Store, very well wrapped, in the refrigerator for a day, or for a month or more in the freezer. Defrost frozen dough slowly in refrigerator, and let it return to room temperature before rolling. Defrosted dough will need a bit more flour.
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Rolling the dough.
Cut the dough into four pieces. Work with one piece at a time and keep the others moist in a closed plastic bag. Roll the first piece of dough using the machine method and make sure your strips are 5 inches wide on the first setting. When you have stretched the dough to approximately 20 inches-having narrowed the setting twice-cut it crosswise into two 10-inch strips. Roll each of these to 20 inches-long enough for five ravioli. Measurements need to not be exact; if your dough stretches to 24 inches, make six ravioli; if your strips are a bit shorter, that’s all right too.
Filling and forming the Ravioli
Lay two strips out on a very lightly floured surface. The strips should be the same length and width; stretch them gently by hand to widen or lengthen by needed. If one strip is clearly wider than the other, use that as a top strip to drape over the filling. Keep the strips covered with a moist cloth to prevent drying.
With a scoop or a spoon, place a measured amount of filling in a mound on the top left or right end of your designated amount of filling in a mount on the left or right end of your designated bottom strip. The center of the mound should be 2 inches in from the edge. Place the next portion of filling 4 inches from the first, measuring center to center of the mounds. You should have room for five or six mounds on the strip. Press the top of the mounds slightly to flatten and spread them just a bit.
Brush a thin strip of beaten egg along the top, bottom, and side, edges of the dough strip and right in between each mound of filling.
Pick up the top strip and drape it over the filling mounds, lining up the edges with the bottom dough strip on all sides, and stretching it gently so it covers the bottom completely.
Now press the dough layers together lightly, but only alonf the strips of egg “glue” Do not press the dough together in the clear area around the filling mounds-in fact you want to leave a bit of air space in each of the ravioli. If you see a big bubble of air around the filling, though, push it out gently before you have pressed the edges together. Press the filling, flattening it lightly.
With your pastry-cutting wheel, cut along the top, bottom, and side edges of the ravioli, as shown in photo. (you can save and cook the dough trimmings, if you want, but don’t try to reroll them.)
Arrange the finished ravioli on the lightly floured towel-lined or parchment-lined tray-check each one, and pinch closed any edges that may not be welled sealed. Cover with a cloth, and make more ravioli from the next piece of dough.