May 23, 2009 - 10:58pm
DLX Pasta Attachment or Atlas/Imperia Pasta Machine?
I use my DLX entirely for dough mixing and I adore it but have decided to give homemade pasta a shot. Which is the better option? Thanks!
I use my DLX entirely for dough mixing and I adore it but have decided to give homemade pasta a shot. Which is the better option? Thanks!
I'm not familiar with the pasta attachment for the DLX but I'm guessing it is an extruder type --- where the dough is compressed and pushed thru a die to form shapes. I have used extruder type machines for many years and have managed to make them work quite well. But a plain old roller makes much better textured pasta than an extruder.
It might be fun to have a pasta roller attachment but rolling pasta is so fun and easy with a hand crank Atlas roller that I never wish I had a powered roller. I make pasta several times a week and it really is one of the easiest things you can do in the kitchen once you get the hang of it.
For me, there just isn't any kneading required - a few passes of the dough thru the Atlas roller kneads it plenty for a nice texture. I use a cuisinart with the curved blade to mix the egg into the pasta flour (I buy extra fancy durum from Central Milling) ... gather the dough together with my fingers to press into a doughball and lift it out of the cuisinart and onto the tabletop where I press it down into a thick circle and cut into fourths with a knife and run each segment thru the pasta roller and then folding and running thru again (repeat about 5-6 time on the largest setting and the kneading is done). Then go thru each setting of the roller until I have the thickness I desire and cut into noodles or use the wide sheets for lasagna or ravioli.
There is an interesting YouTube video where the guy makes dozen of pasta shapes just using his fingers and/or a butter knife and/or a textured board.
https://youtu.be/Ew-3-8itpjc
I just used by Ank for making the pasta dough, but for rolling it out, I used a pasta roller.