Fresh Pasta

[Mike D]

I found my old pasta m/c in the back of the cupboard today....anybody used strong bread flour for making pasta??...and can I use the breadmaker to mix and knead it??

Any other suggestions welcomed!!

I feel a slow cooked bolognaise sauce coming on

[beardedwonder5]

I've often made pasta dough wth stong bread flour. I don't have a bread machine, but I understand that most of them allow you to interrupt the normal programme to make various non-loaf products. So interrupt. But then, after forming the dough into a ball, set it aside for half an hour to "relax" the gluten, (which is higher in bread flour than normal flour.) After that, it's the rolling pin or the pasta machine. Marcella Hazan (google) tells you how to do it with the rolling pin. Much easier with the machine.

If you become adept you can make a mind-blowing lasagna, just the opposite of clumpy lasagna made with store-bought pasta - whether dry or "fresh".

(N.b. if you become adept.)

[Mike D]

Thanks for that BW5 - I only use the bread machine for mixing the dough anway...it is a bit useless for baking it - had too many bricks!

Do you have any quants for use??

[wheels]

Mike

I use 2 eggs per 8oz flour. If it's too stiff I add (part or all of) an extra yolk. The only other thing I add is a pinch of salt. I'm of the 'no oil' camp!

I do it in the food processor, but it doesn't form into a ball, it just mixes it all up. I tip it out and bring it all together by hand. Wrap in clingfilm, put in fridge for at least 20 mins and use. Make sure to put each piece through your machine on the widest setting 2 or 3 times until it's really silky, before reducing the thickness.

HTH
Phil

[Mike D]

Cheers Phil...

Taglietelle with bolognese sauce for tea tomorrow night!! (Just finished some of your soft rolls - well, not yours, but your recipe - house smells of warm bread !! )

[wheels]

If you mention the rolls again I'll send the boys round - where do you think I got the pasta recipe from

Enjoy!

[johnfb]

If you mention the rolls again I'll send the boys round - where do you think I got the pasta recipe from

Enjoy!

This must be like an actor who got type cast in a certain role and cant get another job becasue everyone always thinks of them as that character. Mark Lester as Oliver springs to mind, now its Phil and his rolls..."we dont care what other stuff you've made...you'll be remembered for the rolls..." :lol:

[wheels]

Do you mean those pappy hamburger type rolls that most people make their own bread to get away from?

[Ianinfrance]

Hi

I feel a slow cooked bolognaise sauce coming on

Take what you like from this recipe. It's what we regularly cook.
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/souvigne/recipes/main54.htm

[Mike D]

Thanks Ian for the recipe - but I started my sauce this morning and it slow cooked all day.

I did the pasta - a bit of a faff really, maybe I need to get a bit more practice. I put it through the fine grooved rollers on the pasta m/c and it looked more like noodles than spaghetti both when it went in and came out of the pan. Tasted great though - I did think the OH would pull her face, but no, she enjoyed it. I'll be doing it again.

[beardedwonder5]

The grooved rollers are difficult to use. Try letting the final plainly rolled piece dry out a bit. And use more loose flour than you think is sensible. The problems I have encountered stem from the strands sticking together. I womder if spag (the shape) only took off when the extrusion process took over.

[saucisson]

My fine rollers aren't grooved they are square, so certainly don't produce "round" spaghetti. Still tastes the same If you believe the "experts" you wouldn't serve Tagliatelle con Rag� alla Bolognese with spaghetti anyway:) .

Dave

[Mike D]

My fine rollers are square too. I think I was expecting it to come out and like spag does when you buy a bag of 'fresh' pasta from supermarket..

[Patty]

Hi - I wonder whether any of you have made ravioli? I tried my ravioli attachment (to my Atlas 150 machine) for the first time today. The ravs got caught on the sharp metal fingers that are (I'm guessing) meant to guide the ravioli back toward the body of the machine before they spill out.

Quite a mess! I got about 18 ravioli out of an 8oz/2 egg batch of dough, but smooshed all the failures, together with a little more flour, and got a batch of very interesting fettucini out of it all, so not a waste, just not enough ravioli.

Patty.

[wheels]

Patty

Ravioli tins are probably easier for quantities.

http://www.verynice2.com/imperia-italian-ravioli-tray-24-hole-and-rolling-pin.php
Phil