Cooking For Engineers

[opqdan]

I got a pasta extruder attachment for my KA mixer for christmas, and I just recently decided to play around with it (normally, I play with my toys immediatly, but this was postponed as I moved across the country).

I played around with it yesterday and ended up making some pretty terrible pasta. Not that it tasted so bad (it was okay), but as soon as the noodles came out of the die, they stuck together in a gooey clump. Obviously, I had added too much liquid. I also think part of the problem was that rather than following a single recipe I used a mixture of 2. The KA recipe uses AP flour but I wanted to use semolina (turns out that KA says you shouldn't put semolina dough through the extrude, oops).

I figure that if I am carefull, I could still use a semolina dough with the extruder, I just need to go slow. Does anybody have any expecrience with this?

Also, the doughs I have found seem to be rather eggy. I really want to make plain pasta, especially one that can be dried (which I assume means no eggs).

[Guest]

I've never used the KA or any kind of extruder (though I have made flat pastas with a hand-cranked Atlas). If it makes you feel any better, that's almost exactly what James Beard described happening to him in Beard on Pasta. Sorry I can't help with the problem, but thought you'd be heartened to hear you're not the only one.

[Pickles]

for every 100g of flour (just ordinary flour is good) use one medium egg.

The egg must be at room temp.

Place the flour on a large board of counter in a large heap and make a hole in the center of the heap of flour

place your eggs in the middle and start mixing the egg and flour slowly incorporating all the flour into the egg.

Once mixed it should be a firm ball that could be sort of soft, but don't worry.

Once you have a ball of flour and egg mixed flour the board or counter and need the dough until it is firm and elastic.

Then place through the pasta machine on the first sheet setting about 7 times folding once each time through.

Every now and then the past will start getting sticky, at which point dust the pasta heavily with flour, don't be scared of the flour, the flour is your friend, it doesn't matter when the past gets sticky, just dust is with more flour.

The consistency you are looking for after the 7th time is something with a light luster that stretches nicely (but not too much) and is nice and firm

at which point start going up the numbers until you get to a thickness you like.

Give the pasta another dusting of flour and place through the pasta cutter.

You will have to hang it up nicely try to give each piece of pasta some room, of if you don't have that, I have thrown the pasta into a large bowl, with a good amount of flour and tossed it to coat the pasta in flour and then just pulled it out and placed it somewhere out of the way.

Don't be scared of using the flour to stop sticking, I have made tons and tons of pasta (and used literally tons and tons of flour to do it) and I have never in my life gotten an over floured pasta.

To answer the eggy problem, most flour

I have never used an extruder? is that an american term for a pasta machine?

Cook in boiling water with a good handful of salt for about 3 minutes or until eldentay (I have no idea how to spell that word)

[Keely]

As to your problem with the dough sticking together after coming out of the cutting rollers, before you put it in the cutter make sure you flour both sides of the dough well. That solved the problem for me. Although it may not help much if your dough is too wet.

I use the recipe in the KA book that came with the pasta attachments with a minor variation and it comes out well. 4c flour (I use unbleached AP) 4 eggs and 3T (rather than 1) of water.

My father makes it with just flour (unbleached AP) and water. He just drizzles in a few table spoons and starts the mix with the paddle and then, while it is still very dry and crumbly switches to the dough hook and adds water a tsp at a time (waiting for incorporation each time) until the dough just barely comes together. It usually is in several larger chunks and there's a few crumbs at the bottom of the bowl that he kneads in.

As far as drying goes, you're going to throw it in boiling water so egg is fine. I've been doing it for a long time with no problems.

[ElsaLSA]

Great to join and thanks for all the sharing for the cooking tips.

[yocona]

No one has mentioned giving the pasta dough a rest before rolling. This helps prevent elasticity as well as stickiness. I always let my pasta dough rest (in plastic wrap, at room temp) for at least half an hour.

[gladio77]

[londonboy]

hey could u just show the pics for us

[Thoth]

Part of the reason they advise against running semolina pasta dough through the extruder, is that it is abrasive in nature and would eventually damage the extruder nozzle. This is a definite concern on the industrial scale but if you do it occasionally at home you should be fine.

[healthbenefitsoff]

I also like pasta. If you want to increase the taste of pasta please add some amount of MSG (Monosodium glutamate).