Electric, Automatic and Manual Pasta Makers
Imperia, KitchenAid, Popeil, Atlas and Other Kitchen Pasta Machines
Jun 5, 2009
Pasta enthusiasts swear by the superior taste of fresh pasta. Anyone who enjoys baking cookies and cakes should give making pasta a try. Pasta sheet rollers can even be used to roll cookie dough.
Popular brands of pasta makers include Villaware (Imperia), KitchenAid, Cuisinart, Ronco (Popeil), Marcato (Atlas) and Delonghi,
Traditional Hand Crank Manual Sheet Rollers and Cutters
The basic piece of equipment is a sheet roller to roll the dough. This is enough to make lasagna. Most are quite small, 4 to 6 inches wide. The roller spacing should be adjustable to make sheets of different thickness.
For spaghetti, a rotary cutter attachment is added. Different cutters are used for different types and sizes of spaghetti. These can be bought separately or as a set together with the roller. It helps to have two people to make pasta. One to operate the crank, the other to collect and cut the pasta with both hands.
Most rollers and cutters are stainless steel, with the rest of the machine chromed steel or stainless steel. The machine needs to be clamped to the counter table for stability. There will be difficulties with kitchen counters that don't have an overhanging lip.
Depending on the number of different cutters supplied, manual pasta makers (including those made in Italy) can cost as low as twenty to over a hundred dollars.
The hand crank is normally removable and often longer than the pasta machine's height. This means that the machine needs to be positioned so that the handle hangs out from the counter. Loose handles that slip off are a common complaint.
Some models allow an electric motor to be added to replace the hand crank.
High-end food mixers (KitchenAid, Cuisinart) have optional roller and cutter attachments that work like hand crank machines. However it is possible to overload the electric motors of lower power food mixer models. This should be checked with the mixer manufacturer. These attachments can cost the same or more than the hand crank machines.
Extrusion Pasta Machines
These squeeze dough out, like toothpaste from a tube. They work a lot like meat grinders. Some food mixer manufacturers actually sell pasta making accessories for their meat grinder attachment.
Advantages
- Can make tubular pasta such as macaroni.
- Can make different types of pasta by simply changing the die (like the discs on meat mincers). For pasta cutters the entire cutter needs to be changed, which is expensive, limiting the types of pasta that can be made.
Disadvantages
- More difficult to get good results compared to rollers and cutters. Getting the right dough consistency is more difficult. Floppy pasta that sticks together is a common problem.
- Pasta is normally squeezed out in a circular spray, like a shower head. This can make gathering the pasta more difficult, compared to the single flat row from pasta cutters.
- Can't make lasagna.
All-in-one automatic electric pasta machines are normally extrusion machines. They combine a dough mixer with a pasta maker. An internal feed mechanism feeds the mixed dough into the pasta maker, though not always reliably. Prices range from 50 to 200 dollars.
Food mixers also have extrusion pasta accessories. These can overload the electric motors of lower power mixers, more so than other attachments. The manufacturer should be contacted about any such issues before any accessories are purchased.
The Best Pasta Maker
Traditional hand crank pasta machines are the safe choice. They make excellent pasta and are more tolerant of different dough mixes.
Dedicated all-in-one automatic electric machines are more convenient but may need more work to get the dough right.
Extrusion attachments to food mixers will have similar issues, but roller and cutter attachments should work as well as hand crank machines.
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