Making Pasta using Kenwood Chef

whistler-alison

Hi - I'm going to make some pasta using my Kenwood chef pasta maker for the first time (the extruding type) and was hoping that someone could give me some extra information please. The recipe that came with the pasta maker ends by saying that the dough should resemble breadcrumbs. Now, does that mixure have to be kneaded into a ball or rested or anything else (like it says in other dough recipes i have) or do you put it in as it is (ie in the breadcrumb state)? Also, does 500g of flour make loads? I don't want to be overwhelmed on my first go so might make half. Or can the dough be frozen for another day (might be difficult if it is used a breadcrumb stage)? I know you can freeze the formed pasta but can you freeze the dough sucessfully before forming it into shapes? I'll be grateful for any pointers. Thanks

Rowan_2

I have had difficulty using the pasta machine attachment I have to say .... I found that it came out the machine and stuck together. I had seen people saying to sprinkle it with flour as it came out, but it still stuck together.

As for your questions

it doesnt need to be kneaded or rested, just put it in as breadcrumbs and it will come out the other end (just sticky!)

100g per person is LOADS, so 500g would make a helluva lot of pasta.


I dont think the dough can be frozen, so make it into pasta then freeze it.

If I am wrong I am sure someone will come along and let you know:j
In fact, I hope someone does, and tells me what I am doing wrong with it! I get great results out of the manual roller!

whistler-alison

Rowan wrote: »

100g per person is LOADS, so 500g would make a helluva lot of pasta.

Perhaps I'll stick to half then

Maybe kneading and resting it a bit will stop the stickyness?

Rowan_2

Give it a go and let me know how you get on :beer:

whistler-alison

Hi - I got on OK. I used the recipe in the instructions which was for 250g flour and 2 eggs (halved from 500g of flour and 4 eggs). I used type 00 italian flour. I just kneaded it enought to get it in a ball and as I was impatient, only rested it as long as it took me to assemble the machine. But when I fed it into the machine it was a bit too dry so I ended up breaking the ball up again and mixing it with a splash of water and reforming. I made some tagliatelle and rigatoni without any stickiness. The tagliatelle stuck together a bit as it came out but it was easy enough to pull it apart and put over the back of a chair to dry. And it was delicious. I used this recipe for the tagliatelle http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/porkandlemonpolpetti_80501.shtml, cutting right down on the butter used, but adding a dessert spoon of cream at the end.

yesterday I had another go, but this time I got too clever. I used an Anthony Carrluccio recipe of 300g flour and 3 eggs, but the mixture was too soft and stuck togther too much when it came out. I ended up making the lasagne so I could hold the two sheets apart as they came out.

So it seems you have to make adjustments (eggs will vary in size and different types of flour will have a different result) so that it will come out of the machine, but not fuse together as it does.

kate_white100

Hiya, i know this is an old post, but i thought i would offer my opinion.

We got bought a Kenwood and vatrious attachments for a wedding present.

I used the recipie in the instructions, thinking i was making proper pasta i swapped the plain flour for type 00 flour, and made a huge mess and got frustrated. Pasta maker went away in cupboard Grrr!!!

However on Sat went to the good food show and spoke to the people on the Kenwood stand, they said, make the mixture in the food processer and definately use plain flour, it MUST look like breadcrumbs not dough.

Pasta works fine, although still trying to work out why my tagliatelli seems to have teeth on!!