Making Pasta at Home,Kitchenaid Rollers

[thebikingengineer]

Hey all,

I was wondering if anyone's made pasta at home. I've made a batch and it was wonderful, but I was rolling it out for more than an hour getting it thin enough. Has anyone used the kitchenaid pasta roller attachment or something similar?

Thanks,

Mark

[wedwards]

what were you using to roll it out? i have a pasta machine that you can operate either by hand or you can buy the additional motor for it. my one is made in italy and my wife's family (who are italian) use the same one. its similar to the following;

http://www.pastamachine.net/pastamachine.html

(note, that was just the first one that came up in my google search)

these are (in my opinion and experience), the best types of machines you can get for making pasta, and with a motor, they speed the process up dramatically.

[Kouros]

I just mix some flour, water and egg on a clean, floured table and use a rolling pin. Fold up the flattened sheet and cut with knife to make linguine. It does not look quite as neat as a machine but it tastes just as good.

[thebikingengineer]

I used a rolling pin, but it took forever to get thin enough. What kind of flour is everyone using? I was using some All-Purpose, but I'd imagine a lower protein flour might work better for me.

[ouch]

I like the old hand crank models. Great for linguini or fettucini.

[chainfire]

I like the old hand crank models. Great for linguini or fettucini.

I have one of these as well and even with my wife helping I never got it to work. :frown:

I could never get the right consistency to thin the pasta out, let alone cut it into nice noodles. The few times I tried, the dough either stuck or crumbed apart.

I can't imagine trying to crank out pasta by myself without an electric motor to put it through if I ever tried to make the stuff again.

[ouch]

The manuals work great. A key (and this should apply to any roller) is to pass the pasta through the rollers at least two or three time at each setting, folding in thirds between each pass, before proceeded to the next setting. You should get a lovely, pliable final product. The finest setting may even be too thin, and you may have to stop at the penultimate setting.

[ginantonix]

I have the manual, and later got the kitchenaid rollers.

The results were the same (wonderful!) but the Kitchenaid made it MUCH less work. They work great. Also much easier to use one-handed, and easier to get the first roll started (something I always struggled with in the manual one.)

Because it is much faster, my results were better with the kitchenaid rollers - with the manual the pasta sometimes started to dry out before I was finished.

And, as usual, Ouch is right on the money with his tips. :thumbup:

[ginantonix]

Oops - That should have read 'single handed,' not 'one handed.'

I can't actually make pasta with one hand tied behind my back....:blushing:

[ouch]

Now you guys have me hungry for some fresh pappardelle, lasagna, or ravioli.

[JECIII]

I have used the pasta extruder for the kitchen aid. It is weird but it works. Hardest part is keeping it from sticking together (extruding generates heat). Definitly not as good as the roller though! The rollers may be coming for christmas.

[Confuzius]

No dough recipes? C'mon guys!

[PeterFrancis]

No dough recipes? C'mon guys!

Recipes are really only good enough to give you a starting point. I've found that nearly every pasta dough recipe I've found ends up being way, way too wet if I follow it to the letter. It's all about experience, and perhaps watching someone else do it.

I usually take one cup of flour for each egg I'll be using, and then add a tablespoon of olive oil or so. You start with dumping the flour on your counter/board, making a well, and putting the wet ingredients in the middle. Then with a fork you start mixing the eggs, slowly incorporating the flour until you can start working it with your hands. Then you knead it until it's homogeneous, adding flour or water as necessary to get it to the right consistency, then let it rest covered in plastic wrap for 10 minutes or so before rolling it out.

It really just takes experience to figure out the consistency that you need and adjusting accordingly. I always err on the side of being too wet, because then you can just roll it out to the thinnest setting, and let it sit and dry out a bit before you cut it.

[JohnDoom]

We used the kitchenaid attachment last time for some smoked salmon tortellini. The first pass was WAY too thick, so we adjusted the thing to sit at a super thin setting, which ended up being a hair thicker than we would have liked but "good enough". Just keep it well floured to avoid sticking and it works out fine.

[BobS]

I have made a fair amount of pasta with general purpose and bread flour and also with semolina. I actually prefer the bite and the taste of semolina, but whatever you use, fresh pasta is a treat!

I do not even measure anymore. I add what looks like the right amount of semolina, about a half teaspoon of kosher salt (kosher is not important, but you only use half the volume of table salt) and eggs. I find that three eggs is enough pasta for about 6 people.

Dough in a bowl and then turn it out on my counter top to kneed. I let it rest for 20-30 minutes, if I have time. I use a hand cranked pasta roller and make a bunch of passes through the widest setting to help improve the consistency and then gradually work it down to the setting I want.

[The Nid Hog]

We've been talking about getting a hand cranked model. Anybody have any specific brands they like?

[wedwards]

the hand operated models produce just as good a result as the electric ones - you just have to work a bit faster. with pasta making i found initially that you need to make (read...destroy :) ) a few batches before you get the hang of it. its a very subjective process, and once you do it a few times you will be able to see and feel when the pasta is ready to go to the next setting on the machine.

as for recipes, i always go to the very basic but effective one found in the book "The Silver Spoon" as follows;

200g/7 oz plain flour (preferably 00 or bakers flough)
2 eggs
pinch of salt (you can leave this out if you want, as you should be salting the water anyway)

I like this recipe because, from memory, this equates to one cup of flour and one egg per person, so if you are cooking for 8 people you simply adjust to 8 cups flour and 8 eggs, etc.

Taken verbatim from the book, the method is;

Sift the flout and a pinch of salt into a mound on the work surface.

Make a well in the centre and add the eggs.

Using your fingers, gradually incorporate the flour, then knead for about 10 mins.

If the mixture is too soft, add a little extra flour; if it is too fim, add a little water.

Shape the dough into a ball and rest for 15 mins (note: i never do this).

Roll out on a lightly floured surface or use a pasta machine to make a thin sheet, and cut out tagliatelle, lasagne, etc.

Incidentally, the silver spoon is my go-to book for "real" italian cooking based on how i have seen my wife's family cook. Its and awesome book and I cant recommend it enough. Runs to just under 1300 pages and is well worth the cost.

[Aevum]

the good thing is that flour is a really nice material to put impurities in to it, calamary ink, tomato paste, chopped spinach, maybe parmesan (just cut the salt out for this one), chayanne peppers, so you can get really creative making pasta,

[BobS]

We've been talking about getting a hand cranked model. Anybody have any specific brands they like?

I have a Marcato brand roller, made in Italy, but as I recall I just bought what was in the cooking store at the time.

If I was comparing rollers side by side, I would check the adjustment system to be sure the thickness adjustment worked easily and all other things being equal, I would select the one with the widest initial opening.

I use the rollers, on the widest setting as part of the kneading of the dough (rolling, folding in half, and rolling again) to get a nice elastic dough that is the full width of the rollers.

[Thebigspendur]

I've used a pasta attachment for my Viking Mixer and it works and the product tastes great but the fact of the matter is the secret to making really good pasta is the dough must be kneaded way beyond what most mixers do. There used to be a pasta machine, simac made in italy and once you taste pasta made in that machine and compare it to the others, well it doesn't compare.