Pasta Makers, do I really need one????

[bethie_alane]

Hi everyone.

Do you really need an expensive past maker to make noodles from scratch?

I was reading the review of one product on amazon.com and he said before he bought hte product he rolled the dough by hand and used a pizza slicer to cut into individual noodles.....

has anyone tried this before??????

Also, does anyone know if this prodcut
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]

requires a pasta maker????

[mama2calli]

We were given an expensive pasta maker, from my inlaws, which we have since donated to charity!!! It was a pain in the butt to make the pasta, and although I'm Italian, I hardly eat pasta (I have PCOS which makes me carb-intolerant) and my husband hates pasta for the most part...our daughters love pasta and do just fine on the local store brands which I buy on sale for 5 1-lb. boxes for $1...

If you are going to be making whole wheat/grain, organic, specialty and/or flavored pastas it may be worth it for you as those types of pastas tend to be a bit pricey...BUT so are the ingredients you'll be buying to make the pasta. Keep that in mind.

If you have your heart set on it, by all means go ahead...but just make sure you know what you are getting into first! Good luck!

Kath

[zefar]

My husbands grandmother taught me to make homemade noodles. I have adjusted the technique to fit my needs. I have a small two roller rolling pin I got through pampered chef but anything that will roll the dough very thin will work. She used to roll the dough then roll it up loosely and cut it into strips but I could never get the noodles thin enough. The pizza cutter works like a charm.

[cata5]

The one we have is similar to this:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]
We use it for fettucine and it also rolls the dough flat if you are going to cut ravioli. I bought a cut n seal from Pampered chef because someone told me it would work for ravioli. I've never tried it, but this is what it looks like.(Although there should be a smaller one)[Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]

I like fresh pasta and I like when DH makes it! That is not very often due to the time it takes, the mess, our chaotic household... I think you would do fine using the pizza cutter. Let us know how it works.

If I ever get around to using the cut n seal i'll let you know how that works.

[bethie_alane]

Originally posted by zefar
My husbands grandmother taught me to make homemade noodles. I have adjusted the technique to fit my needs. I have a small two roller rolling pin I got through pampered chef but anything that will roll the dough very thin will work. She used to roll the dough then roll it up loosely and cut it into strips but I could never get the noodles thin enough. The pizza cutter works like a charm.

could you post the technique here or e-mail it to [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now] ?????

thanks in advance
bethie

[zefar]

Do you mean technique on making the dough or just cutting the noodles?

In either case, bear with me I am horrible with instructions. I just use the basic betty crocker recipe for dough, 1c. flour, 1 egg, 1/4c. water. I mix it by hand until it forms the dough and only let it sit for 10 minutes. I then section it out into 4 piles. With each ball I roll it out as flat as possible. Then for noodles I just the section in half horizontally, then begin rolling the pizza cutter vertically so that each noddle is about 1/8" or smaller. I try to keep a tea towel with flour in it to the side so that I can toss the cut noodles in and wrap the towel around them as I do each section. Once done I slowly add them to a pot of boiling water. I have been taught to use this method when needing a gravy like mixture since the excess flour will add to it.

I did use this technique once to make raviloli. It was a huge mess. I had never made them before - the noodle part tasted just fine but I overfilled them and didn't seal them well so I had the filling going everywhere.

Please feel free to email me and I can attempt to actually get you a good recipe to follow!

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]