How to make homemade pasta with a pasta maker - Buy a pasta machine online

Making home-made pasta is a great experience. It is fun to do, and even more fun to eat. There are some great kitchen appliances on the market to help you out, to make it even more enjoyable. Opposed to what many people think, making your own pasta is easy. You can have a lovely spaghetti or tagliatelle on the table in no time. All pasta starts with the same basic recipe. For different pasta variations you have to adjust the recipe slightly.

A pasta maker is a must for making your own pasta. And there are many different kinds in all price ranges. Just have a look and there is one that will suit you budget and your needs. They are great gifts for pasta lovers or family and friends who love to cook.

For the basic pasta recipe all you need are eggs and durum grain flour. You should use 1 egg per 100 grams of flour. That is enough for one person. So for 5 people you would use 5 eggs and 500 grams of flour. For variation you could also add some salt and a teaspoon of olive oil. Just have a look around the internet, or there are some great pasta recipe books with ideas for other additions and other types of pasta.

The basic dough will be ready in 10 minutes after a bit of practice. Make a little pile of the flour and make a little hole in the middle. Make sure the hole is wide enough to fit all the eggs in. Break the eggs in the hole and stir them gently with your fingers or a fork. Be careful not to break the pile of flour, so the eggs won’t spill out. Keep stirring until the egg and the flour start mixing and become a bit more syrupy. Now mix in all the flour. Knead until you have sort of solid dough, it should not have any lumps left. If you push your thumb into it and it kind of moves back into position, it is done. If it is still too sticky, add a little more flour. If it gets too dry, sprinkle some drops of water onto it. When it is finished, wrap it in foil and let it sit for a little bit for about half an hour.

Now make sure your pasta maker is ready to go. Divide you pasta dough into three or four portions. Take one and put the others under a tea towel to keep them from drying out. Slightly roll out the one portion you want to use first and sprinkle a little flour on it. Now put the dough through the pasta machine. Fold it in three turn it one quarter and put it through again. Do this 8 to 10 times until the dough feels supple and soft, and until it is as thin as you want it to be. The sheets that are ready are to be spread out on a tea towel or hung on a drying rack. If you want it to be plain pasta, leave it dry uncovered for about 10 minutes. If you want to make filled pasta (ravioli for example) cover it up.

Put the roller for the type of pasta you want (shapes or spaghetti for example) in the pasta maker and put the sheets through again, or just cut it into the right size for lasagne sheets. It is ready to be cooked.

A pasta drying rack is ideal for drying your pasta on, as otherwise you have to spread out several sheets all over the kitchen. They come in wood, plastic or metal, so have a look at which one you would prefer.

If you want to make ravioli, a ravioli press is a must. Some of them are just a ravioli press, which means you have to make the dough yourself, but a ravioli maker usually makes the dough for you as well. Most of them come with several recipes to suggest some fillings you could make. My favourite is spinach, cheese and nuts, but you can also make meat fillings, the options are endless.

Give your home-made pasta a different colour. Only do this after you’ve made pasta a couple of times and got a feel for it.

Green

Cook 250 grams of fresh spinach for 2 minutes. Make it cool down by rinsing it with cold water. Squeeze out as much water as possible en chop it very finely or put in a kitchen processor. Now mix it in with the eggs and then put it in the hole in the flour.

Dotted green

Add some fresh, finely chopped herbs to the flour. About 4 to 6 tablespoons should do. Use for example oregano, thyme or basil, or use your imagination and go crazy.

Red/ Orange

Mix a small tin of pureed tomatoes in with the eggs, before putting it in the hole in the flour.

Red/ Pink

Puree 200 grams of cooked beetroot with the eggs. Use one egg less than you normally would. Now put it in the flour hole to mix it together.

Yellow

Mix 1 gram of saffron powder in with the flour.

Black

Mix 4 grams of squid ink in with the eggs before adding them to the flour.