I suddenly had a hankering to make pasta. 20 years ago I had a hand cranked pasta roller that was kinda fun but definitely a lot of work. I’m not a noodle fanatic, but do like good noodles include Italian, Chinese and Japanese. Plus, I want to use the lasagna attachment in order to make Chinese dumpling skins. So, I went on line to check the current state of pasta making technology…
Philips has the Avancepasta maker (and a higher end special SKU for Williams Sonoma) that looks pretty interesting. Makes a pound of pasta in 15 minutes. Even though pricier, I’m also looking at the Williams Sonoma version as my kids should have much drama using it.
I do have a kitchenaid but many reports feedback that their attachment is kinda a pain, tough to clean, and certainly isn’t a bread machine approach.
I’m not wedded to any one approach or brand, so please share your experienced recommendations.
Given that the automatic machines are basically equivalent to bread machines. And bread machines make ok fresh baked bread, but nothing like a long slow rise hand kneaded and crafted loaf. So, is it fair to say that the fresh pasta from these types of automatic machines are much much much better than dried supermarket pasta? How does it rank between supermarket pasta vs automatic pasta maker pasta vs grandma’s handmade pasta for Sunday dinner?
Never tried the type you dump everything in and push a button. I always make the dough by hand and use a Mercato Atlas 150 to roll and cut it. Not as easy but the process is part of what I enjoy along with the fresh pasta of course.
I have the phillips. You dump the stuff in the top, it kneads it up and spits it out. Pretty much what it shows on the videos. I think it’s nicer than dried pasta. (you can also do biscuits (cookies))
I’ve made skeptical comments recently about homemade pasta, essentially on the basis that flour and water is flour and water and you might as well buy in a box, but I hadn’t really considered (should have been obvious to me) making filled dumplings, ravioli, etc, where the home cook really can create a product that’s better, or more to their taste, or whatever.
Even if you\re not going to fill it fresh pasta really is different from dried. If you live in a neighborhood with a fairly large Italian population chances are you can buy fresh and give it a try before shelling out for a machine.
Many supermarkets sell fresh pasta in the refrigerated section. Perhaps not quite as good as homemade, but better than the dried stuff? And you can get things like ravioli and tortellini that aren’t really available dried.
This looks really good after checking out reviews and videos. Costco has a sweet deal but I’ll prolly go with the Williams Sonoma model because it has automatic weighing of the flour and then tells you how much liquid. Saves a step and would be much easier for my kiddos to do themselves. And they like pasta.
Don’t trust that computer completely. It will get you close but for the best pasta, it just takes an experienced, human eye and mind. A few points of humidity in the air can throw everything off and I doubt the machine can compensate for that no matter what claims it makes on the box.
Even flour and water isn’t nessesarily flour and water. The boxed stuff if usually made with very high protein Semolina flour. Homemade pastas are usually made with some, if not all, flour from a softer wheat.
Yes, from binging on Pasta Grannies on You Tube, it seems most use just 00 flour for egg pastas, which is a finely milled soft wheat flour that is used often in Italian recipes, and durum flour or semolina (which is also made from durum)for the water-based ones (which are often dried.)
My uncle’s wife makes her own pasta, and I can only say that it is delicious.
Rather than the type of flour, etc, making the difference, I think it is the freshness. How old are those dried, brittle spaghetti strands in the box of spaghetti in your cabinet? Right now I can envision a box of pasta in a drawer in my apartment that has been there for at least 3 months.
I have the pasta attachments for my KA mixer and they work just fine. Takes more time, most likely, but it’s fun to do on occasion. I’m not sure there’s a real benefit to fresh pasta over dried, however, as pasta is just a vehicle for sauce. I used the attachments more when I lived in Africa, as dried pasta wasn’t available where we were.
Fresh pasta isn’t any better or worse than dried pasta, but they are different things and they taste and feel different in the mouth. I tend to view pasta more as something to highlight in its own right, and the sauce merely a decorative accent to it, though, but it depends on the sauce. (My usual favorite pasta dishes are very simple, with no more than three or four ingredients in the sauce. All-day ragus are another matter, entirely, though.) Something as simple as olive oil or butter and parmesan cheese is delicious (or add black pepper for cacio e Pepe or red pepper flakes and garlic for whatever that’s called.) Now, dried pasta work perfectly well for those dishes (and the usual choice and that is what I usually use), but I also enjoy those types of prep with fresh pasta for a change of piece. There’s something really homey-feeling about egg pasta/noodles to me.
“Something as simple as olive oil or butter and parmesan cheese is delicious (or add black pepper for cacio e Pepe or red pepper flakes and garlic for whatever that’s called.)”
Aglio, olio, and peperoncino; usually with spaghetti. Oddly, for me at least, around Rome area, they look at you funny if you want to add parmesan to this dish. Northern Italy, it was a given.
