# What Pasta Maker???



## Packedready (Mar 29, 2011)

I am thinking of buying a pasta maker and wondered what you all would recommend. I want electric. Thanks


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## Just Cliff (Nov 27, 2008)

i have been looking also. I prefer a manual one. Would like to hear what folks have to say.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

I have a titania.It works great. Manual. I'm considering getting an attachment for my Kitchen-aid. I make alot of pasta when the chickens are putting out.


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## Packedready (Mar 29, 2011)

Does the manual take a lot of arm power to operate?


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Packed Ready said:


> Does the manual take a lot of arm power to operate?


No, not at all.It is also a very heavily built machine,and adjusts for all kinds of thickness and widths.


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

I have an Atlas...absolutely love it.
They sell a motorized mounting for it so you don't have to crank it , but I don't find any problems with turning...it's not like a manual cream separator where you have to get a certain RPM to make it work.


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## andabigmac (Jan 10, 2011)

I have an Atlas too and I love it! I don't think there's much work involved in cranking it and I like having control over the speed. That is what I use for my spaghetti, linguine, etc. For tube pasta I use my Omega juicer. It works pretty well but I dislike that you can only mix up small batches at a time. You can easily make a meals worth but I make a months worth of pasta at a time. I had a Ronco and it quickly found a new home.


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## derm (Aug 6, 2009)

If you are talking a pasta roller, I have an Atlas as well and really like it. Sheets for lasagna or ravioli and cutter does spaghetti and linguini. It has other shapes. I have a cavatelli roller that I am still getting used to that will get practice tonight. If you are talking a machine that makes the dough from raw ingredients I dont have a rec.


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## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

I just started the homemade pasta. I am very primative. I use a homemade rolling pin. Just a dowel soaked in oil for butcher boards. SO....I am cheap and want to know do you get your money out of a machine. and How are you storing pasta for a month.


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## derm (Aug 6, 2009)

I have not priced if I have made my money on the machine. A good one is pricey. I did get it about 20 years ago and use it constantly and it works perfectly every time. Very well built. Will not ever need to get another one. I dont make and dry pasta, I make to order on the day we eat it. Very quick process once you get the hang of it. Almost as fast a using store bought dried pasta if you factor in the different cooking times. Really.


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## andabigmac (Jan 10, 2011)

I make a month's worth in advance. I hang it on drying racks until it breaks easily. Then I put it in bread bags. I live in a really dry climate so there's no worry about mold, etc. I've never had it make it a month though before its eaten. DH is Italian. Kasilofhome- since its humid where you live I would store in tupperware. You can also dry it in a dehydrator to speed up the drying process if the humidity is too high. 

I can say that my atlas has easily paid for itself many times over. My electric, not so much just because clean up is a pain so we never use it. 

A new atlas is 65 dollars on amazon. We eat pasta probably twice a week. If you were to buy pasta on sale for a dollar a package it would pay for itself in a year. An atlas would last years. 

I don't know if you have kids or gk but I have never had problems getting someone to crank the wheel when there's a kid in the house. My 19 year old still finds it fascinating.


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

I can't ever roll anything out to a uniform thickness, so the pasta roller really comes in handy for me. I also have a tendency to over-knead, so I get better consistency just rolling and folding and passing it through the machine a few times. I don't even know what kind mine is since I bought it for a quarter at a yard sale and it has no markings, it's definitely a cheap model but still does the job of rolling out satiny smooth sheets which I cut up into ribbons with a knife or use cutters for other shapes. 

Now that I know making my own is something I want to do more often, and that it's really easy to dry or freeze large batches for use later, I'm looking at getting a proper machine that has the cutting and extrusion attachments. When I make a lot of ribbon pasta, I normally dust it with a little flour or cornstarch, hang it to dry a little and then tie it up loosely in a serving size knot before drying it out the rest of the way in the oven or dehydrator. I have also done some hand-formed shapes, like shells, and dried them in the dehydrator. Stuffed pasta like tortellini or ravioli, I just dust, layer and freeze after I've added the fillings. (You don't need to thaw first, just add frozen to boiling water, and they're done when they float).

It's soooo much easier to make a huge batch of dough, make all the different types you like at once in an assembly-line fashion, dry or freeze as applicable, then grab and go.

I costed out the price of buying dried and frozen pasta vs making my own from scratch, and the savings is nearly 300%. The time savings using a machine over hand rolling, at least for me, is pretty substantial -- the machine cuts the labor time nearly in half.


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## Packedready (Mar 29, 2011)

I am pricing the Atlas 150 on Ebay. My son has let me borrow a similar unit so I will try it out to make sure I really want to go through all of it to make pasta. I would pay for its self in 1-2 years.


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

I found the Atlas Regina extruder on Amazon, but it looks like the largest die is a medium Rigatoni. It would be great for macaroni and fusilli, but I'm wondering if there is compatible die or another handcrank extruder that makes cannelloni. I'm currently stuck making handwrapped manicotti, which just isn't quite the same. I know that Kitchen Aid just came out with an extrusion attachment, but I don't have a KA and we're off-grid so nearly all our kitchen appliances are manual. Has anyone used the Regina or have other recommendations that won't break the bank?


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## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

I have a large work space that is very low for the normal person I am short-5 feet. So, the workspace is just for rolling things out. The rolling pin did not really work for me. My neighbor (wonderful great lady --gives out real resipes and leaves in all the tips and dear husband -anyone who shows up with a dirt machine and a load of gravel for a driveway are worthy of noteing) Well she showed me how to roll out toritas using her homemade rolling dowel. 

My family really loves pasta -I just started making it as a new skill. I am avoiding ele. machines for the kitchen. Since they like and it is easy I too find that it is just as fast as dried from the store. The rolling part is no issue for me but it would be nice to make different shapes. That is why this has been real important for me to know what the machine can do. I am learning.


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## Echoesechos (Jan 22, 2010)

I have a KA and have been wondering about their attachment. I know most cooks who make a lot of pasta prefer the manual machines. I keep looking for one at a garage sale without success and I also want a slicer. My nephew who loves to cook and has taken culinary classes through the college says they are told manual machines are the way to go.

So will look up the ones mentioned here.. Thanks


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

I have seen it mentioned but cannot recall references, that any pasta machine that makes extruded pasta is not as good as manually cut pastas.
We eat quite a bit of pasta as well...My Atlas machine I mentioned before has the standard dial part and also has an angel-hair ( might be called spaghetti but is very thin IMO ) and fettuccine cutter. DH recently did a computer repair barter deal and got me a linguine attachment. There is a world of difference in fresh vs pasta from the store dried in a box.

Now for making pasta I really love using my food processor...super simple and after a few tries you can eye it to know when it's properly mixed.
Rolling with a dowel is just fine for certain things but pasta dough is so heavy and dense rolling that way seems like it'd be rather difficult.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

I relooked at my pasta maker it's Made by Imperia, model-Titania.


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## Tommyice (Dec 5, 2010)

I've got an Atlas. You can get a motor for them--we had one at the bakery I worked in. I've never actually made pasta on mine. I use it for gumpaste, fondant and pastillage decorations for cakes. Maybe I should give pasta a whirl.

Suzyhomemaker do you use the recipe that came with your food processor? or did you use a "manual" recipe and how did you have to adjust it if you did?


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## Fowler (Jul 8, 2008)

Any recipes on pasta? I want to start making my own. Or is there just a common one for all?


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

I wouldn't use extrusion for ribbon pasta, I need it for hollow or shaped pastas like macaroni or fusilli which don't work so well by hand.


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## Packedready (Mar 29, 2011)

I made pasta with my sons pasta machine it is a Villaware that is a lot like the Atlas. It was a stuggle because I had the dough too wet to begin with. I had to fool around with the settings and found if I start with the thickest setting and then reduce the setting it seemed to work good. I made fetticini and we had it last night, it was great. I also made speggetii and it was more difficult because I had to hand separate each piece. Maybe the dough was still too wet???


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

Did you lightly dust the sheet of dough with flour as you were passing it through the machine? I normally only get pieces stick together if the dough is a little too wet or if I haven't dusted. I also don't make pasta when it's humid or raining... nearly guaranteed to make to it all stick together.


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## Packedready (Mar 29, 2011)

My dough was way too wet, because I am a beginner I made it the same as you would bread dough - big mistake.


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

I've been playing with different recipes to get just the perfect one...had tried some that were flour,salt,egg,oil,& water...think I'm going to go to an all egg,flour one.


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## andabigmac (Jan 10, 2011)

We just do as much flour as your eggs will hold. No water or oil.


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## Packedready (Mar 29, 2011)

I used water and oil, next time I will only use eggs.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

I make it with just flour,eggs,water and salt.I Never measure, call myself a Dump cook,dump this in, that in. But I do have a very nice book called,Pasta, by Linda Fraser. It has great pictures and recipes.


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