Kennaeco Article Archive

Producing ones own pasta is not as complicated as you might believe, and the result is just amazing, nothing like the stuff you most likely usually purchase in your neighborhood store. Although it is feasible to make pasta without the need of a pasta maker machine, it's very hard work and the end result, unless of course you're a professional, might not be very good. Pasta makers can be bought in 2 main varieties - manual and electric powered, both types do in essence perform the same function, although an electric design is a lot quicker and much easier to operate and might have extra capabilities.

A normal pasta recipe consists of nothing other than the following: semolina or durum wheat flour, olive oil, eggs, salt and a little water. All these components are blended together, in a food processor, or by hand, until the correct consistency is achieved - if it gets too sticky then you can add a bit more flour; if it's excessively dry then it's best to put in a drop more water. Next, after you've let the dough rest a short while, you must knead it for approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Now's the time to break out the pasta maker machine. Regardless of what sort of machine you decide on, the procedure is pretty much the same.

You have to adjust the device to its thickest option and roll out the dough by passing it through the device three or four times - if you own a manual brand then you have to wind the handle to achieve this; an electric or automatic unit will do the hard work for you. Then you change the machine once again, picking the next lowest thickness setting, and pull the dough through 3 or 4 times. This operation is duplicated until you end up with a thin sheet of pasta. This is then cut to the desired length. At this time the second function of the pasta maker machine comes to the fore. All devices possess a cutting function to slice the pasta dough into strips. Merely select the width you require and put the dough through the pasta cutter. That's all! Just leave the finished pasta for an hour or so to dry - a pasta drying rack will assist with this bit - and your fresh pasta is ready to cook.