Introducing my new favorite appliance, the Kitchen Aid pasta roller.
I’ve had this since last Mother’s Day but have been waiting for the new kitchen to try it (what? You think I should have been able to find noodle drying space with no counters, 2 toddlers and 3 dogs?). I actually did not originally want it for noodles–I wanted it because I saw these crackers that Susan over at Wild Yeast made with one. Wow. I am terrible at rolling dough evenly and thin–what a revelation.
But before using it for crackers, I wanted to try it with pasta.
I am planning to try to make my grandma’s Beef and Noodles recipe soon for my Grandma’s Recipes event and homemade noodles are a must for that recipe. Grandma of course hand rolled and cut them–and was justifiably proud of her consistently thin egg noodles. So proud that I bet she would have rolled her eyes at using a roller. But I am not so proud (or good at rolling dough!) and so I settled for handcutting them after rolling them for Grandma’s handcut noodle look.
I also made a spaghetti that the kids requested. The handcut noodles went into the freezer pre-drying and we had the spaghetti for lunch. I tossed them in garlic sauteed in extra virgin olive oil and peas, and they were excellent. I can hardly wait to try more unusual pastas–and Susan’s cracker recipe.
The dough starts out dry and crumbly, as you can see.
After squeezing and kneading it forms a ball. Unlike handmade pasta, this is not intensely kneaded–the roller does it for you. You place the dough through the thickest setting (see photos below), several times, folding it inbetween.
Ta Da! Now you can either leave as is for lasagne, hand cut or shape, or put it through the roller for fettucini or spaghetti.
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon water
- 3½ cups (440 g) AP flour (whisk to break up lumps before measuring)
- ½ t salt
- Place eggs, water, flour, and salt in mixer bowl.
- Using the flat beater, mix for 30 seconds on speed 2.
- Switch to the dough hook, and knead for 2 minutes also on speed 2.
- Dump the dough onto a clean surface, as shown above. Use your (clean!) hands to bring the crumbly dough together and knead for 1-2 minutes, during which time the dough will come together in a ball.
- Let the dough ball rest for 20 minutes.
- Divide dough into 4 pieces before running through the pasta roller.
My pasta roller is still in the box..I need to GET IT OUT.
Pasta rolling seems like so much fun! Glad you finally got a chance to play with your new toy!
@Cathy from NoblePig: I’m with you. My Kitchenaid attachments are still in the box since I got married (almost 5 years!) Thanks Laura for sharing, it gives me motivation to make my own pasta.
I want one too!!!
The pasta looks delicious, and it looks such fun making it!
I think I may ask for one for my birthday…
There are few things as rewarding as making your own pasta….well done!!!
I love my pasta roller! Can’t wait to see the crackers.
I need one of those. A friend gave us an old electric one that ended up not working the other day…We found this out after I had made the pasta dough, so I spent the next hour trying to roll the stuff out myself. Not as easy as pie dough, I’ll tell you that much. I rolled and rolled, but our noodles still came out too thick. Oh well. Guess we should invest in this KitchenAid…
Oh, and how do you like being part of Foodbuzz? I haven’t decided whether we should join or not.
Brittany: I’ll tell you the very notion fo trying to roll out pasta dough makes me shudder! I cannot emphasize how easy this was–my mom had the old KA attachment and it did not work very well. This was astounding. And no I am not being paid by KA. 😉
Re: Food Buzz, at the risk of outing myself as a total idiot I don’t think I understand how to use it completely effectively. But if it gives me even enough money to say pick up a brand new cookbook instead of a sale/used one, that will make it worth it to me. I am still figuring out the site itself.
kudos, kudos, and kudos to you! pasta-making is something i’ve never attempted. awesome results, laura!
How cool is that! Now I need to get me a pasta maker. lol.
Looks like fun!
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Laura,
Now that you’ve mastered the “plain” pasta, you can really wow people and make striped pasta from both plain and spinach doughs. 🙂
It is seriously fun. Let me know if you want the (really simple) directions. It looks best for stuffed pastas like ravioli. I cut it into 3″ x 2″ rectangles, placed a dab of ricotta filling in the center, rolled it into a tube, then twisted each end– pasta “candy”!!! Looked great with a white sauce at Christmas.
Great post! Love homemade pasta- it is the best!
I am terribly jealous – I’ve been wavering back and forth on the pasta attachment for years. I love homemade pasta!
I love my pasta roller! …well, I love pasta period, but after having fresh pasta (chicken noodle with FRESH noodles, fresh ravioli, fresh noodle snippets in soup), I am finding it hard to go back to packaged pasta.
My boyfriend actually laughed at me when he saw me stock up on *gulp* Michelina’s one afternoon (they were supercheap!).