Duh, we've been making the pasta too fast.
We had been at it willy-nilly in our sessions, eggs in the flour, out on the board and into the water without letting the ingredients just sit, to meditate cross-legged on the counter.
We added two pauses now to the process -- first after the eggs are incorporated, before rolling, and second after rolling into the final shape. We also used a technique from Hazan, allowing the rolled pasta to hang over the back of a chair for a period of 20-30 minutes. The air was quite dry that day, unlike most days here in the Hudson River Valley, and the texture was quite leathery by the time it went into the water.
The mouthfeel was excellent. Our best so far.
Sauce -- hope to remember to get pictures next time -- was 4 pounds of mussels, a stick of butter, about six cloves of garlic and a mass of minced smooth-leaved parsley expertly cut by our pal Dr. Nicholson.
Seconds all around, needless to say.
