Anyone bought a pasta maker?

[MangoesAreMyFavourite]

I am lying in bed with a mild fever today and nothing better to do.. so pondering over buying a pasta maker.
I have visions of me making fresh pasta and my happy, smiling kids devouring it....

Anyone actually bought one recently and using it now that there's non available in the shops?

I do have a lot of Chapatti flour, and while that's not the same, I'm sure it will be doable.

I have, and used it for the first time last night - lobster tagliatelle for my dd’s very subdued 21st!

It was frigging difficult. How those Masterchef contestants produce something in 30 minutes I have no idea. First lot, following the machine instructions (wasted 500g of precious flour and 4 equally precious eggs - anyone know what to do with slightly too dry pasta dough?) was too dry and wouldn’t roll , so I then googled recipes and found that the flour:egg ratio was a bit suspect, so made a smaller batch which was better, but still took me two hours!

Results were good, and I’m going to spend the next x weeks perfecting my skills, no doubt increasing my size as well.

If you have a supply of flour, its great, but takes ages. The flour may be tricky for another week or so though...

Hmmm ... I do have some flour. Maybe I'll try a small batch by hand and see how it turns out.

I don't want another appliance sitting unused on my shelf but I also have visions of being an insta-mum which I am putting down to being delirious!!

I saw a Jamie Oliver tv prog where he made some by hand with flour and water in about 5 minutes! Not tried it myself tho.

No but this morning I planted a spaghetti tree

It’s bloody difficult, i’ve had one for years and have never yet managed to make good pasta. You can make it by hand with a rolling pin and make shapes with a pastry cutter.

Oooh! The spaghetti tree sounds amazing

I can picture myself harvesting with my little cherubs!!

I got rid of one a few months ago & am slightly kicking myself now! Tbf, I rarely used it & it spent a LOT of time gathering dust.

I might try it without at some point though :)

We have had one for many years and it does take time to learn to get the consistency right. We tend to cut tagliatelle by hand rather than extrude spaghetti. We have a wooden drying rack to put it on as we cut it. We always make double and freeze some.

No but I did buy a yogurt maker.

I bought one.
Offered to cook for my NHS neighbour and use it for the first time ever with the kids. What a fucking disaster!!
We spent AGES making it, rolling it through, cutting it with the ravioli cutter, stuffing with spinach and ricotta.
Don't get me started on the rue sauce...that we binned twice and cracked open a jar of dolmio white sauce
After about 90 minutes we had 18 squares. so I cracked open a precious packet of dried pasta and cooked that. Threw in the home made stuff which allegedly takes seconds to cook....It takes a while, especially as we hadn't rolled it thin enough.
I ran round to her house with a bowl covered in tin foil with my gloves on, left in her kitchen on the side and let myself out (pre lockdown but still being sensible)
I ended up giving my poor neighbour packet pasta with 3 raw ravioli squares smothered in white sauce, brocolli and chicken.
It was also about 2 hours after I promised her tea.

The worst part? She was really nice and dropped off a pack of creme eggs the next day

Do not attempt pasta
Do not promise it to your exhausted NHS neighbour

I am so glad it isn’t just me who found it incredibly difficult, I feel a bit better now. As mine is an attachment for my Kenwood , and I had to buy an attachment to make the pasta attachment fit, and thus ridiculously expensive, I am going to master it, and by the time lockdown finishes I shall be producing the most beautiful, silky, translucent pasta....

Dd has just said she thought last night’s effort was better than standard tagliatelle so perhaps there is some hope.

I dug ours out the other day to use and it was delicious, although initially I thought it was disastrous. I used 1 egg per 100g flour. Mixed these then tried to knead but it was a bit like concrete. Persevered. Put in fridge in covered bowl for 40 mins. When it came out it was "relaxed" and easy to work with. Put it through machine twice, made spaghetti which I then boiled briefly. I'm the meantime I melted 175g butter, added half a dozen sage leaves from the garden and some sea salt. With a bit of Parmesan on top it was amazing. Really chuffed and everyone loved it!

I have an egg, flour and sage growing in the garden. Now for some energy.
Maybe I'll try it for lunch tomorrow

I find it fun as like a social eating thing, so a group all having fun with it every so often and each having a go etc. Not so much for everyday use. It does take quite a while. But as a Sat night 'thing to do' for dinner, it can be quite fun

It is not for the time poor....
I use 100g flour per egg - if it is too dry add a bit of olive oil or water or a bit more egg. Aim for a firm dough. Knead well, rest for an hour.

Shape into a flatish rectangle and whizz through the rollers a couple of times... when it gets long enough join the ends together to make a loop. Enlist one child to wind the handle of the pasta roller, stick your forearm through the loop and gently tension. As it gets longer move further away.

I find using rounds / discs quickest to fill. Make the filling add a teaspoon of filling, moisten the edges, fold over & seal making sure you don't leave any air (it causes them to explode). If you are feeling fancy you can shape into a tortellini shape.... it doesn't make it taste any better.

We've had one for a few years now and use the 1 egg to 100g flour proportion, with a little salt and if the mixture is too dry, a little extra virgin olive oil.
Yes, it's time consuming but the pasta is delicious. I use spelt flour which you can't get at the moment unfortunately.

I was recently taught how to make pasta by a Michelin star chef, so I immediately bought myself a pasta roller . Dd loves helping me roll it. We usually make extra and freeze it.

A complete faff but great fun. We had a couple of excellent parties once where everyone brought some sauce (different ones) and we got pissed together, taking it in turns to roll and re-roll it in between drying it.
Scoffed the lot at the end which did a great job of soaking up the alcohol.

I have a motor so it is easier than turning by hand.

1 egg to 100g flour. Get sheets ready and when water is boiling put through the cutter and drop straight into water.

Thank you for this thread. I was wondering about getting a machine.

My DH wanted one. I bought it. He used it once. It wasn’t that good.

He also wanted a mandolin.. never used it yet

He watches too many cookery programmes.

My DP bought me one about 5 years ago and confidently predicted it would be used once and stuck in a cupboard. Wrong! I used it very regularly for tagliatelli (sp?) and ravioli and love it

Basic pasta recipe - 100gm of flour and 1 egg per person with a good pinch of salt and a splash of olive oil. Don't mind the bollocks about making wells in the flour - just chuck it all in a bowl and mix well. Knead it for several hours until it feels silky and bouncy and chill for an hour. Save time by rolling with a pin before the first pass through the machine and double it up a few times to get it really smooth.

Egg yolk raviolo!

Kneed for several hours?!