« Organic Health Foods Explained | Home | A Unique Investment Strategy: Put Peer To Peer Loans In Your Portfolio »
Pasta Maker Basics
By Gerri Lauder | February 28, 2010
Simple ingredients of flour, eggs, olive oil and water become pasta; the soul satisfying comfort food of generations of families. Even if you did not grow up in an Italian home, noodles are a staple of many cultures around the world. Making your own pasta at home is easy and rewarding. If you’ve never tasted freshly made pasta, you are in for a real treat. You will have as much, if not more fun making it as eating it and it is an activity that can bring the whole family together. So, roll up your sleeves and plan on having fun.
One simple tool can really make pasta making fun, and that is a pasta machine. There are electric models as well as the more familiar hand crank types, but either version will make delicious pasta and make the process easier. The big advantage a pasta maker has over the hand roll method is that you get a consistent thinness throughout the dough and the dough becomes very stretchy, which is a quality you are looking for. If you are not familiar with pasta makers, some of the name brands to look for are Lello, Imperia and Weston, for electric models, and Atlas, CucinaPro and Imperia for the manual types. If you already have a Kitchenaid mixer, you can buy the Kitchenaid pasta attachment and mix and roll the dough with the same machine. My hand crank Atlas pasta machine has been the favored tool in our kitchen for rolling thin sheets of dough and everybody gets a turn at the crank.
There is really no difference between mixing the dough in a food processor, with an electric mixer or by hand, except that in the hand method you will begin to knead the dough in the bowl. With electric appliances, the dough comes together rather quickly, and it takes a bit more time by hand, but that’s part of the fun. Put the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Mix the eggs together slightly and then add the oil and water and mix well. Pour this liquid mixture into the center of the flour and start mixing with a fork until the dough starts to clump together and the flour is incorporated with the liquids. At this point, you need to get your hands into the dough to finish mixing.
Put a small bit of flour on your hands before touching the dough so it doesn’t stick to your fingers. Begin kneading the dough in the bowl by taking the dough from the sides, folding it onto the center, pressing down and out with the palm of your hand and repeating the process. Rotate the bowl as you are kneading to make sure that all of the dough gets folded and pressed into itself. When the dough becomes one clump and is no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl, turn it out onto a lightly floured board and continue kneading for 2 to 3 minutes. The dough should be soft and elastic, smooth and shiny.
The purpose of kneading the dough is to make sure that all the ingredients are fully incorporated together and to get the gluten in the flour to begin its work. If your dough is not coming together, sprinkle it with a little water and continue kneading. If the dough is sticking to your hands or the board, add a little flour by dusting the surface of the dough and the board. The dough is ready to rest when it becomes smooth, soft and pliable. Let it sit on the board at room temperature covered with a clean kitchen towel for about 30 minutes before rolling the dough.
Your pasta machine will come with basic instructions on how to process the dough. The basic steps are to roll pieces of dough through the rollers at thinner and thinner settings until you get nice, elongated, resilient pieces of dough. From there you cut the dough into whatever shapes you want. Dough may be cut and formed by hand, like simple papardelle, which are strips about 1 1/2 inches wide. All the pasta maker machines come with some attachments for cutting the dough. Tagliatelle and tagliolini are common pasta shapes that most of the manual machines produce. Electric pasta machines frequently have attachments that can extrude the dough into shapes like spaghetti and capellini.
Once you have cut your pasta into the desired shapes, gently take the pasta and dust it lightly with flour. Let the pasta sit undisturbed on a baking sheet or bread board for the surface to dry a little before cooking. You can cook your pasta straight away, and enjoy it with a favorite sauce. If you are making more than enough pasta for one meal you can dry little “nests” of pasta and use them within a few days, or you can freeze them. Some people prefer to use pasta drying racks, which will dry the pasta in long strands rather than little nests.
Homemade pasta has a rich, delicate flavor and a softer texture than commercially processed pasta. It is made with fresh ingredients and they say that the good energy that goes into the making of the food you eat is healthier for you. Once you have eaten a dish or two of your own pasta and had the pleasure of making it with family or friends, you will realize that you want to make fresh pasta a regular event in your kitchen. Now that’s comfort food. Start your own family tradition of making pasta together and create some special family memories.
Making fresh pasta at home has been a Lauder family specialty for years. Kids, grandkids, friends and neighbors all take a hand in making the dough and gathering at the table to feast on the results. Watch a video on rolling dough through a pasta machine on Geri’s website, browse great cookbooks and select a pasta machine for your next family pasta party.
Topics: Recipes | No Comments »