Do I really need a pasta machine to make fresh pasta?

[MamaVoo]

I've never made my own pasta before but would like to have a go at a recipe I've seen for tortellini. I don't have a pasta machine though and I think they look very fiddly (I'm really not good at fiddly), so my question is, do I really need one? Would it be a total disaster to try rolling it out with a rolling pin?

I also wondered if it was possible to buy sheets of fresh pasta for this. If so where could I find them and would they be hideous?

I think sheets of fresh pasta might be too firm.
You could make you own, it will just take a lot of patience. I have a pasta machine and it drives me crazy as I find it quite fiddley.

I'm not very good at fiddly things and I find my pasta maker is quite easy to use. I would definitely say that you would need one. You couldn't use fresh pasta sheets, it wouldn't hold together.

Make sure you knead the dough really well so that it is really springy and make sure you flour the machine. Just roll small amounts so that you don't end up trying to control huge sheets of rolled dough. You should be fine.

My DD (3.9) loves helping me with it and it encourages her (a fussy eater) to eat what we've made.

Thanks ladies. I shall have to invest in a pasta machine - though it will have to be a cheapy one. I'll have to have a practice run too as I wanted to do the tortellini for a fancy schmancy dinner over Christmas. Think I'll buy a pack of ready made to have in the fridge on standby.

It is physically possible to do it without but it takes forever - my friend has never forgiven Jamie Oliver for the hours she wasted attempting it.

I agree with Kathy's friend.

hello it is very very easy to make pasta without a machine if you still have not bought a machine let me know and i will tell you how to do it.

You can make it without a machine, but it is hard work rolling it out so that it's thin enough.