Pasta Makers

Welcome to our site which is here to try to help you know everything you need to know about Pasta Makers.

Kitchen Craft Hand Cranked Pasta Machine

Pasta makers are becoming quite common in kitchens recently. Although it takes slightly longer to prepare than prepackaged pasta, everyone agrees that fresh pasta tastes much better. And with the modern machines it is very easy to make.

Imperia Italian Pasta Gift Set

From a manual handcranked pasta machine, to larger, automatic, electric ones, there is bound to be a pasta maker that will suit your budget and needs.

Making pasta is much easier than most people think and using a pasta maker is not complicated - all it is realy is an easy to use rolling pin! ….  with the advantage that the lovely fresh pasta comes out thin and even.

Some also cut the pasta into tagliatelle or spaghetti.

Pasta - the versatile food

Pasta has existed since the times of the Roman Empire and remains one of the most flexible cooking ingredients -  no storage cupboard should be without it. It can freshly  prepared with your  pasta maker and then cooked and mixed with beef, fish, vegetables, fruit, or maybe an easy herb sauce to make a mouthwatering and healthy meal inside minutes. 

Most pasta is created from durum wheat flour and contains protein and carbohydrates. It’s a good source of slow-release energy and has the extra advantage of being good value. There are as much as 200 different pasta shapes and about 3 times as many names for them.

New shapes are being designed and named all the time and the same shape could be called a different name in different regions in Italy. Some kinds of pasta are the agnolotti, anelli, bucatini, cannelloni, capalletti, ditali, elicje, farfalle, fettuccine, fusilli, lasagne, linguini, macaroni, penne, ravioli, rigatoni, spaghetti and tagliatelle. Many can be discovered in both dried and fresh forms, but unless you can access to a good, Italian delicatessen, it is not worth purchasing fresh unfilled pasta, even from shops that sell top quality tortellini, capalletti, ravioli, and agnolotti. Best of all is to make fresh pasta at home in a pasta maker. It takes a small amount of time, but is reasonably easy and definitely worth the effort.

You can mix the dough by hand or prepare it in a mixer. Pasta might be coloured and seasoned with additional ingredients that are typically added with the whisked egg. To cook pasta, first bring a large pan of gently salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and one big spoon of olive oil, but don’t cover the pot or the water will boil over.

Quickly bring the water back to a steaming boil and avoid overcooking. When the pasta is tender, but still firm to the bite, drain and toss with butter, olive oil, or your prepared sauce. The cooking times provided here are guidelines only : - Fresh unfilled pasta : 2-3 mins - Fresh filled pasta : 8-10 mins - Dried unfilled pasta : 10-12 mins - Dried filled pasta : 15-20 mins Pasta can be employed to make anything, from soups to more significant pasta-based meals, which are great as a tasty starter, or as a quick and simple lunch or light dinner.

Making Pasta using your Pasta Maker - 3 Top Tips

If you are anything like me, I am sure that you just love Italian food.  And what better way to get that authentic taste of Italy then by making your own fresh pasta. Although this can be a little bit fiddly, and the results somewhat hit-and-miss, the whole process is made much easier if you use a pasta machine. Good pasta makers are designed to still give you full control over the type of pasta which you create, but the pasta machine takes most of the hassle out. Most pasta machines which are available on the market will not only help you to roll out pasta, but will also cut it into spaghetti, fettuccini, or other various shapes for you. Here I am going to give you some of my top tips to help you get great-tasting pasta out of your pasta maker every time.

Thickness of the Pasta

Rolling pasta with a pasta machine allows you to make the dough much lighter than if you were to do this by hand. This makes it easier for the pasta to absorb juices and sauces, which will add to the flavour of the dish. In order to be able to get the past through your pasta maker several times, you need to make sure you cut only small pieces of dough. You should feed the pasta through the pasta maker several times until it is paper-thin. This will not only make better tasting pasta, but will also mean that it takes far less time to cook. One of the more important features which you need to look for when looking at buying pasta machines is that it has a good range of settings for the thickness, or you may not be able to get the thickness you want.

Stopping the Dough from Sticking

One of the most frustrating things when you use a pasta machine can be when the dough sticks. To stop this from happening, make sure you sprinkle some flour on the pasta maker as well as the dough before you begin. When you buy a pasta machine it may be better to buy an electric pasta maker. As well as making the whole process a little less labour intensive, the speed of the rolling on the electric pasta machines makes it less likely that the dough sticks than on manual ones. In addition, buying a pasta machine with more than one speed may help you to better control the rolling process - if the dough is a little too sticky then going either too slow or too fast will make your pasta fall apart!

Getting Nice Even Pasta Strands

Once you have finished rolling the pasta, you should leave it to stand for about 10 minutes before you put it into the cutting section of the pasta maker. This will help to stop it from sticking, and will also help to prevent clumping, which will mean that you get nice even pasta strands that will cook like a dream. If you make sure that you buy a pasta maker with different attachments this will also mean that you can get all kinds of different shaped pasta out of the machine.

Posts about Pasta makers as of March 26, 2009