Pasta Making Tips
NOTE: Mixer must rest at least 1 hour after extruding 2 consecutive pasta dough recipes.
Dough
•Learning to make homemade pasta is simply a matter of practice. If you have not made pasta, you may have to prepare several batches of dough before you feel comfortable. We recommend experimenting with the Basic Egg Noodle Pasta Recipe.
•The ratio of liquid to flour is small, making the pasta dough firm and leathery, but still pliable. It is extremely important to have the correct proportion of ingredients for proper dough consistency, as dough that is too moist or too dry will be difficult to work with. To help you achieve consistent results, the pasta recipes in this booklet specify sifted flour. To sift flour, follow this procedure: Place dry ingredient measuring cup on a large piece of waxed paper and hold sifter directly above and close to cup. Scoop flour into sifter and sift until flour exceeds top of cup. Using the flat edge of a spatula, remove excess flour from measuring cup.
•Occasionally, there may be unmixed pieces of dough in the bowl after initial mixing with the flat beater. These pieces will be sufficiently incorporated by stand mixer kneading followed by hand kneading which firms and smoothes the texture of the dough.
•Many factors, such as humidity, brand of flour used, and size of eggs, can affect dough consistency. To compensate for humid conditions, start the initial mixing process with only the sifted flour and eggs. Check the dough for proper consistency by pinching a small amount of dough together after mixing with the flat beater. The dough should stay together without sticking to your fingers. It may be necessary to add a small amount of water or flour to reach correct dough consistency.
•If the prepared dough is too moist or sticky to extrude, simply dust with flour or pat some flour into the dough before placing in the extruder.
Using Your Pasta Press and
KitchenAid® Stand Mixer
•Long noodles and macaroni tend to curl in different directions as they extrude through the plate. The first 10"
(25.0 cm) of curled noodles may be pulled off and returned to the hopper to be extruded again. Pasta will extrude slowly at first, then faster as more dough is extruded.
WARNING
Food Poisoning Hazard
Do not let foods that contain perishable ingredients such as eggs, dairy products, and meats remain unrefrigerated for more than one hour.
Doing so can result in food poisoning or sickness.
•Separate pasta immediately after extrusion. Lay a group of noodles on a towel placed on a flat surface and pull apart from drier ends of strands. Dry in a single layer. Long strands of pasta may be placed on a KitchenAid® Drying Rack (KPDR).
•Homemade pasta behaves differently than
Storing Your Pasta
•Store dried pasta in an airtight glass or plastic container almost indefinitely in a cool, dark place. However, do not store dried
•To store fresh pasta, air dry for 1 hour, then wrap in an airtight plastic bag and refrigerate for up to 5 days. To freeze, double wrap the pasta and keep frozen for up to 4 months. To use frozen fresh pasta, do not thaw – it should go directly from freezer into boiling water.
ENGLISH
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