Small Kitchen Appliances > Pasta Machines

Advantages: Can Experiment With Different Types Of Pasta, Eating Healthily.
Disadvantages: Takes A Little Getting Used To.

Making your own pasta isn't as hard as you think it would be.. well not if you own a pasta machine that does most of the hard work for you. Ok so it takes a bit of getting used to, but once you have *got it* you're set for tasty, healthy pasta for a long time to come. Not to mention the bonus of knowing exactly what has gone into it, which these days i feel is very important considering the amount of stuff that tends to go into prepackaged foods. ...
...little time and effort to get used to it but it basically consists of chopping a section of your pasta dough, and then reeling it through the rollers to make it thinner, taking it down a notch each time (so to make the pasta thinner gradually) making sure that you pull the pasta away from the machine as it comes back through the rollers. Once you have taken it through the last rolling, you set your machine to whichever attatchment you want to use ... Read review

Advantages: Fresh pasta - always
Disadvantages: A bit fiddly to clean

I thought long and hard before buying this electric pasta maker. i had wanted a pasta machine for some time but had been thinking of one of the manual versions with the turn-handle, a bit like a small mangle. However I saw this advertised and decided to go for it. It is like a small food processor on top with with an 'output' nozzle on the front. You add your flour and eggs to the bowl at the top and switch on. It kneads your pasta into a dough ...
...and direct the dough through the nozzle via a turn-screw. You can choose from several supplied - lasagne, spaghetti, tagliatelle etc. The dough is forced throuh the nozzle and you cut off with a knife at the required length. It works great! Getting the measurements right has not been a problem and the dough has been the correct consistency every time. It takes a little time for all the dough to be forced through and the last bit seems very slow ... Read review

Advantages: Quick and Easy to make pasta
Disadvantages: Can't shape it into other shapes such as twists or shells etc..

Like the idea of making your very own home made pasta, but you get put off by the idea that it will be far too difficult and time consuming? Well think again! I had this pasta machine given to me as a home warming present and yesterday I gave it a go and was really surprised at how easy it was! It's basically a metal hand machine that can be clamped to your work surface, that has a handle on the side that you can take out and move to which ever ...
...for making lasagne sheets, one for wide noodles, (tagliatelle) and one for thin noodles (spaghetti) To make the dough you only need basic ingredients of flour, salt, eggs and olive oil. I used general household plain flour, but you can use semolina flour or durum wheat flour. This is the recipe that I followed: Ingredients About 200g (7oz) semolina flour or strong plain flour 2 eggs pinch of salt or salt substitute 15ml (1tbsp) olive oil Method ... Read review

Advantages: fresh pasta, cheaply
Disadvantages: Can be fiddly to use

Last night I was watching Jamies Kitchen and the ease at which he passed the pasta through the machine was sickening. It was smoothe and silky and well, nothing like mine! This pasta machine is a manual machine that consists of a main unit, an attachment to make tagliatelli and spaghetti with, a handle to turn the rollers with and a clamp to keep it still. Mine was a present but I believe they cost in the region of £20 - £30, and tend to be sold ...
...first. The clamp does not fit my work surfaces (which are fairly standard ones) it is not realistic to use a board because part of it would need to hang over the edge to keep it flat and I am not going to use the dining room table. So I don't bother with the clamp which means I have to concentrate on keeping it still whilst rolling out the pasta. To roll the pasta you gradually decrease the size of the gap between the rollers, this is fine when it ... Read review

Advantages: Taste
Disadvantages: Time needed to make the dough

We have eaten dried pasta for years and recently was awoken to the fresh variety by our daughter. She started buying fresh pasta and experimenting more with the whole italian connection. After a few weeks of making our own sauces but still buying the pasta I realised that we could save a lot more by making our own pasta. I invested £25.00 in a machine and I can tell you once you make your own you will never look back. Two cups of flour and two ...
...and if like us you try your own sauces it is a very easy meal. The secret appears to be to let the dough 'rest' for 30 minutes and then it becomes more pliable. It takes a bit of getting used to the machine but after a few tries we had the hang of it. You pass the dough through a series of guides until the correct thickness is reached then you pass it through another guide to make spaghetti, tagliatelli or whatever. Having been converted I will ... Read review