Making pasta from scratch - worth the effort?

[Wearegoingtobedlehem]

Hi all.

I have recently got myself some hens- who are now laying well and would love to put the eggs to all manner of good uses ( today's was custard )
Is it really hard to do? Do I need a rolling machine?

I have a rolling machine as it's so much easier than using a rolling pin. Home Bargains have them at the moment for a fraction of what mine cost.

That said, I only make my own if I have bags of time as it's soooooo much quicker to use packet pasta. But I dothink that mine tastes nicer and you can experiment with different flavours.

My DH makes fresh pasta - either 'pasta hats' or spaghetti and it is delicious. He unbends wire coat hangers to hang tagliatelle off to dry!

It's an interesting project, pretty easy to make pasta ribbons, ravioli tastes real skill to get the pasta thin enough.

Can I cheat and get my kenwood to knead it, like I do with bread?

Absolutely!

I prefer home-made lasagne, and can get it on the lowest setting. Much easier to cut fresh pasta to fit the dish.

Have wondered if I could use it to make wonton wrappers, but haven't bothered - yet.

I make the dough in the KitchenAid and then me and the dc roll it out using the machine. It's too much hassle for every time we want pasta, but lasagne is so much better with freshly made pasta, and fresh tagliatelle, dusted with semolina and rolled up into nests freezes really well for a rainy day cheer-up meal (it cooks from frozen) . Farfalle is good fun to make, too, the dc really enjoy that....

Pasta is easy and a lot of fun the DGCs love helping. I use the pasta dough cycle on my bread machine then roll it out using a hand pasta machine. You can colour and flavour it with veg like spinach or beetroot too. You can't beat homemade lasagne sheets.

If you make too much you can dry and once dry it stores well in a jar.

I make ravioli with a special gadget from Lakeland. It freezes well.

Oh I forgot to say you have to use '00' flour. Available in any supermarket.