Hi. Thinking of purchasing a pasta maker for my wife for Christmas. I'm not
finding as much information as I thought I could. I'm wondering, primarily,
which is more practical: electric or manual. What are the advantages of
each? Also, are there any features or attachments I should look for? Avoid?
Any particular brands to look for or avoid?

Thanks in advance.

-jk

We use the KitchenAid stand mixer with the pasta roller attachment. The
electric motor allows you to feed with one hand and catch with the other.
An experienced pasta maker can feed and crank, or catch and crank
successfully, but for a beginer you can't beat the motor. And, you don't
get tired so you do roll the pasta out adequately.

And, you can make the dough in the mixer first.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Louis Cohen
Living la vida loca at N37° 43' 7.9" W122° 8' 42.8"

Bah! Humbug!

"contrapositive" > wrote in message
...
> Hi. Thinking of purchasing a pasta maker for my wife for Christmas. I'm
not
> finding as much information as I thought I could. I'm wondering,
primarily,
> which is more practical: electric or manual. What are the advantages of
> each? Also, are there any features or attachments I should look for?
Avoid?
> Any particular brands to look for or avoid?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> -jk
>
>

Quite a few years back I received an electric pasta maker as a gift. I know
it was not a cheap unit because I returned it for a cash refund the day
after its first use. We didn't even get a single batch of pasta out of it.
After we added the flour and water and turned the unit on it started to
knead the firm pasta dough. The firmness of the dough strained the gearing
and within a couple of minutes the unit stopped turning. When I opened up
the case to look inside I was chagrined to see that the entire drive train
was composed of cheap plastic gears, one of which had stripped itself of
teeth and was now spinning freely. Certainly not worth repairing as it would
only strip again in a short time. I suppose this problem could be minimized
by only making less dense doughs, but who wants to worry if their dough is
going to cost them a lot of dough when it breaks their machine?

I now hand knead my pasta dough and use an atlas hand crank machine for
rolling and cutting it.

--Brian


"contrapositive" > wrote in message
...
> Hi. Thinking of purchasing a pasta maker for my wife for Christmas. I'm
not
> finding as much information as I thought I could. I'm wondering,
primarily,
> which is more practical: electric or manual. What are the advantages of
> each? Also, are there any features or attachments I should look for?
Avoid?
> Any particular brands to look for or avoid?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> -jk
>
>

Brian wrote:

>
>
> I now hand knead my pasta dough and use an atlas hand crank machine for
> rolling and cutting it.
>
> --Brian
>
>
> "contrapositive" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>

way to go brian! even if i still prefer hand made for the texture and i
end up using often the hand crank machine because is faster.

see this on my website.
http://www.annamariavolpi.com/page28.html

ciao, anna maria




www.annamariavolpi.com

contrapositive" writes:

>Hi. Thinking of purchasing a pasta maker for my wife for Christmas. I'm not
>finding as much information as I thought I could. I'm wondering, primarily,
>which is more practical: electric or manual.

Another vote for manual (Atlas style). I had an all-in-one electric and the
performance was substandard. With the powered extrusion machines you've got to
watch the dough carefully - too moist and you get glop, too dry and you get
crumbles and will probably strip the gears as someone else noted.

If you've got kids they'll help crank or catch, it's like a big playdoh fun
factory.

>What are the advantages of
>each?

AFAICT the consumer extrustion machines suck majorly and have no benefits.

The manual machines allow you to create a variety of pastas, especially wide
noodles like lasagne, or filled pasta like raviolis. Or different thicknesses.

Also, the electric mix-n-press aren't very forgiving on the dough and you can't
make spinach, garlic, or other types of noodles.

Also also you can buy a motor attachment for about $70 which replaces the
handcrank. The few I've looked at appear to have good (non-plastic) gear
boxes.

>Also, are there any features or attachments I should look for? Avoid?

Meh. My Atlas came with the ravioli press. It works, sorta, and it was free.
If it hadn't of been I don't think I'd have bought it. I'd say a basic Atlas
with the noodle cutters (fettucine, linguine, spaghetti and angel hair) is all
you really need. You can buy aftermarket ravioli molds and if you're into
other types of filled pasta you'll be doing it by hand anway.

>Any particular brands to look for or avoid?

Atlas/Mercato(sp?) are the ones I've seen around here. I wouldn't bother going
upscale, they're good value, $30-40.

Best,

Marc

On Fri, 5 Dec 2003 23:31:06 -0500, "contrapositive"
> wrote:

>Hi. Thinking of purchasing a pasta maker for my wife for Christmas. I'm not
>finding as much information as I thought I could. I'm wondering, primarily,
>which is more practical: electric or manual. What are the advantages of
>each? Also, are there any features or attachments I should look for? Avoid?
>Any particular brands to look for or avoid?

Another vote for the manual. They're pretty much all the same 'Atlas
Marcato' style. Absent a disaster, cleaning just involves dusting off.
They come with a dual cutter for narrow or wide pasta, and other
cutters are available. As someone else has posted, you can buy an
electric motor to do the cranking. Manual operation doesn't exactly
*require* 3 hands, but the extra one is helpful. I've never used an
extrusion machine, but have heard plenty of horror stories. Consider
getting a drying rack of some sort as a frill. I've been drying mine
on a broomstick on 2 chair backs, but just got a sort of 'spacesaver'
thing like a mini-clothes drying pole which will be a lot easier than
dodging the chairs. :-)

"Brian" > wrote in
:

> I now hand knead my pasta dough and use an atlas hand crank machine for
> rolling and cutting it.
>
> --Brian
>

I got a motor for my Atlas hand crank. I find it way easier to make pasta.
I can feed and catch the dough easier and don't have to clamp the machine
down. Previously I felt like I needed 3 hands for pasta making.

--
And the beet goes on! (or under)
-me just a while ago

On Fri, 5 Dec 2003 23:31:06 -0500, "contrapositive"
> wrote:

>Hi. Thinking of purchasing a pasta maker for my wife for Christmas. I'm not
>finding as much information as I thought I could. I'm wondering, primarily,
>which is more practical: electric or manual. What are the advantages of
>each? Also, are there any features or attachments I should look for? Avoid?
>Any particular brands to look for or avoid?
>
>Thanks in advance.

I have both types, an electric extruder and a manual roller-type, with
an attachable motor.

The electric extruder s a Cuisinart, heavy in the extreme, and is
definitely up to the task of mixing and kneading stiff pasta dough.
You can't go cheap with the extruder type and expect it to knead the
dough well or to last. I recently received it because the previous
owners are moving; they used to make really lovely spaghetti with it
and I hope to do so as well, plus other types of pasta with the many
extruder dies.

If you only have one, the roller type is probably the best option.
It's cheaper, it's simpler, versatile, and better for small batches of
pasta. I finally bought a motor for it about a year ago and that is
definitely the way to go. Not only does it free up both hands, but it
eliminates the need to clamp the machine to a surface. Because of the
limited counter space I've had in all of my kitchens, I could never
find a secure and convenient place to clamp it.

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

"contrapositive" > wrote in message
...
> Hi. Thinking of purchasing a pasta maker for my wife for Christmas. I'm
not
> finding as much information as I thought I could. I'm wondering,
primarily,
> which is more practical: electric or manual. What are the advantages of
> each? Also, are there any features or attachments I should look for?
Avoid?
> Any particular brands to look for or avoid?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> -jk
>
>

The manual is fine if you are working with someone else. THe electric is
better for working alone because it leaves both hands free to handle the
dough.


--
Peter Aitken

Remove the crap from my email address before using.

This is all excellent info. Manual (Atlas) seems to be the way to go.
Thanks!

"contrapositive" > wrote in message
...
> Hi. Thinking of purchasing a pasta maker for my wife for Christmas. I'm
not
> finding as much information as I thought I could. I'm wondering,
primarily,
> which is more practical: electric or manual. What are the advantages of
> each? Also, are there any features or attachments I should look for?
Avoid?
> Any particular brands to look for or avoid?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> -jk
>
>

On Sun, 7 Dec 2003 12:45:41 -0500, "contrapositive"
> wrote:

>This is all excellent info. Manual (Atlas) seems to be the way to go.
>Thanks!
>
Atlas isn't the only manual brand. Imperia (and probably others) work
the same.

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

I have and Imperia as well as a Pastamatic electric extruder.

"Curly Sue" > wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 7 Dec 2003 12:45:41 -0500, "contrapositive"
> > wrote:
>
> >This is all excellent info. Manual (Atlas) seems to be the way to go.
> >Thanks!
> >
> Atlas isn't the only manual brand. Imperia (and probably others) work
> the same.
>
> Sue(tm)
> Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

Curly Sue wrote:

> On Sun, 7 Dec 2003 12:45:41 -0500, "contrapositive"
> > wrote:
>
>
>>This is all excellent info. Manual (Atlas) seems to be the way to go.
>>Thanks!
>>
>
> Atlas isn't the only manual brand. Imperia (and probably others) work
> the same.
>
> Sue(tm)
> Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

Atlas also makes an electric drive motor for the machine.

LIMEYNO1 wrote:
>
> I have and Imperia as well as a Pastamatic electric extruder.
>
><snip>

We have a nameless manual pasta machine, bought in Belgium. Works
nicely.
Rummaging in my mother's disorganised 'baking' cupboard, I found a
manual pasta extruder! Weirdly enough, it is an accessory to a meat
grinder. Instead of the grinder plates, one instals the extruder plates.
Haven't tried it yet, but I've put it with the pasta machine.