I just got my pasta maker and I can't wait to try it

[Brooksy]

Have Marcato will roll. Have hand crank extruder as well.

Will never use commercial pasta again & I've been making my own for years.

Back to basic pasta recipe:

Rule of thumb: For every 100 grams of flour, use 60 grams of egg. For cutting (rolling) this works perfect.

For upper class pasta use a third AP flour to 2 of semolina. Use egg yokes for richer result.

 

[Alix]

Thanks Brooksy, my recipe says I can use the basic flour, egg mixture...or I can substitute mineral water for the eggs. Anyone try this?

 

[Brooksy]

Thanks Brooksy, my recipe says I can use the basic flour, egg mixture...or I can substitute mineral water for the eggs. Anyone try this?

I'm not too sure about the conversion eggs to water, I've only ever used eggs, But according to Stephano De Pieri :
"Strozzapreti is a specialty of central Italy. It is a traditional pasta made without eggs............."

His recipe is:
500 grams strong white flour
1 Cup hot milk (about)

This is about 100 grams flour to 50 mls milk. Water would possibly be about 10% less due to fat content.

Quality of flour is also a major thing. Taste is everything. Pasta I've made with cheap flour didn't taste as good.

Here's another one:

Cavatelli

500gms strong flour
125mls hot water
125mls hot milk

Good old Stephano........

(250mls in a metric cup)

Strong flour = Duram flour (minimum 12.5% protein)
Semolina is (for all intents and purposes) duram flour ground to various grades of fineness.

 

[Darkstream]

Chris 629

Can not find any details of your machine.

According to Google, Rival is not a manufacturing company and does not have a web
site. I would be interested in it’s ability to operate. Can you post any more pics of the
product actually working? (Try increasing the exposure and focus-if your camera does
that) I am really not going to go through all the hassle to acquire one of these
machines if it does not work.

And you Brooksy also for your machine. I just am not convinced that these machines
can actually make spaghetti or capellini, let alone macheroni, bucattini or tortiglione.

For anyone interested, Ada Boni’s basic recipe for pasta is 4 ounces of flour (good
and strong) to one egg (plus of course a good pinch of salt). This should produce
perfect pasta every time, and in my experience, it does. You might need to add a
LITTLE water depending on the weather/relative humidity etc.

I am sure your pasta tastes good. The question is, does it retain the correct texture,
particularly the correct texture for the shape?

 

[chris629]

Ok I froze the noodles (rigatoni) and then I cooked them the other night to use in a recipe I had and they fell apart in the water. I can't remember who said it but is that what soft pasta is???
I can't do all these types of noodles myself. I can do the simple egg noodles myself and roll out lasagna noodles (as long as I don't have to worry about the pretty crimpy edges) but to make the tube shaped noodles I can't do that. I try to do things to make them homemade but yet save me time so I can still do other things.
According to my pasta machine recipe on the front is there something wrong with it to make it do that? Do I need to add another ingredient? I don't add salt to it just because I salt the water like crazy, could that be why?
I really like the machine but not what they do when they cook, so actually its the recipe.

 

[Alix]

I'm not too sure about the conversion eggs to water, I've only ever used eggs, But according to Stephano De Pieri :
"Strozzapreti is a specialty of central Italy. It is a traditional pasta made without eggs............."

Again Brooksy, thanks. I will try your milk one and see how it goes. I will also check my recipe to see what amount it suggests for the water instead of eggs. (BTW, no worries about converting mls to cups for me...we are metric too)

I am still wondering why particularly MINERAL water though? Taste? or something else?

Audeo? Darkstream? any insight would be helpful. Googling doesn't seem to help me here.

 

[Audeo]

Hmmm... Beats the heck out of me, Alix!

Can't wait to find out from someone else who knows....

 

[Darkstream]

Chris,

If your pasta fell apart in the water, then they were far too wet or were not made with strong flour. This is precisely the problem that I had with extruders. Basically, if it will not work with the basic pasta recipe (4 oz flour to one egg) then it WILL NOT WORK AT ALL.

You could try adding more egg or egg whites to make a softer dough that will extrude in the hope that the egg will "set" when put in the hot water. But what you are trying to do then is fiddle the ingredients because the machine does not work. Your best bet is to demand your money back. I beleive the manufacturers and retailers know these domestic machines do not work.

Alix I see no reason to use mineral water except for flavour. But then you would need to use something like San Pellegrino.

Strozzapreti: lit "priest stranglers"

actual meaning ".....whatever...."

There are at least3 totally diferent pasta related products called Strozzapreti.


1. Macheroni
2. A mutilated tagliatelle
3. Spinach and ricotta gnocchi (of the bullet like variety).

So the meaning is whatever you want it to be.

I suggest you stick to the traditional forms. If you want to see pasta shapes taken to extremes, go here: Tortured Pasta

 

[chris629]

I got the pasta maker for free. I thought well if I could do something to help just a little then it would be great.
I used just regular AP flour.

 

[Darkstream]

Well, if you can not get your money back, then you have three options.

1. You can experiment, in small quantities along the lines I suggested.

2. You can make your own experiments along completely different lines.

3. You can throw the machine in the bin, which it probably deserves. Because here you are dealing with the question of whether it will ever work at all, and how much dissapointment and wasted effort (and ingredients) you are prepared to put up with.

I hope you succeed in finding a recipe that works. I tried for a long time before realizing there was not one. But you may be luckier.

But at no cost, in my opinion, best to just chuck it. (Sometimes that is the kindest thing, for everybody involved).

Regards,

 

[Alix]

Thanks Darkstream. I am just going to stick with the egg/flour thing. It works, and tastes great. Thats all I care about.