Pasta without a machine

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Jmadams13

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Thinking of giving making pasta by hand to try it out. I have a machine, but wanna try it by hand. I know, I'm punishing myself, but after trying my hand at soba by hand with pretty good results, I figured it was time for pasta. So what I'm getting at.... Same proccess, as in roll, fold, roll, fold, on and on till desiered thickness?

I always like to think anything is possible if I put my mind to it, so has anyone here tried it, any tips. I know I could just use the machine, but I like things the hard way, lol
 
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Are you talking about by hand but you have a roller, or a pasta machine that you put the ingredients in and out they come as pasta? I have made it by hand and it is much like making bread. Quality ingredients, the right amount of kneading, and the right combination of moisture/dry ingredients. Then I roll it out and let it dry a little before I cook it. It's not hard, but you do need patience and space. I've never tried it strictly by hand and rolling pin if thats what you mean. Although I have made knochi (sp).
 
No need to roll/fold/roll/fold. Tear off a hunk of the dough (after you've let it rest for a half hour in the fridge), flatten it by hand, and start rolling. Keep rolling until you get to the thickness you want.

If you are using a hand-crank pasta machine, and not truly making it 'by hand', then put the machine on it's widest setting and run through a piece of the dough that you have flattened by hand. Fold it over and pass it through again. Change to a slightly narrower setting and pass it through. If it's not very straight, fold it over and pass it through again (you can also just fold over the rough ends and pass it back through). Keep narrowing the setting and passing the dough through until it's the thickness you want.

With either method make sure you have flour handy for the board/ rolling pin, machine rollers. When using the crank machine I usually lay the dough out after the first couple passes and lightly spread flour over both sides with my hand.
 
I'm talking truly by hand, as in rolling pin. I have a hand crank machine, and love it, but want to try something different. Thanks for the input. I will let you all know how it goes next week
 
Honestly, if you're gonna try to pin out pasta dough by hand, you're gonna hate life. Good pasta dough, flour, semolina, egg, water, evoo is wildly dense and tough. Trying to pin it down to anything thin enough to enjoy will take more time and effort than it's worth. And the process of stretching and thinning the dough with every pass through the machine adds to the texture of the pasta, which to me is a good thing.

But that said. If I HAD to do it, I would make my dough and let it rest in the fridge for a couple hours at least. Pin it out to about a 1/4" (with flour, just enough so it doesn't stick), tri fold and repeat the process a couple times or so, until it feels smooth and silky. I'd probably also brush the excess flour off the dough as you make the tri folds, so you're not working much new flour in. Then pin as thin as you can stand, dust liberally with flour, fold to a size you can cut, then cut your noodles. Profit :thumbsup:

Good luck with it and let us know how it goes!
 
old italian ladies just use a broomstick to roll it out, watch a youtube video I'm sure they are out there. I use a crank roller, but since you are trying to be authentic, better forget the rolling pin and grab that broom stick :justkidding:
 
I have made pasta entirely by hand several times, takes a bit of time with a rolling pin, but certainly can be done.
 
LOL, it's the only way I did it for years until I aquired a most beautiful dough rolling machine. I will never use a rolling pin again.
I can tell you that rolling by hand helps build the lats and tri-ceps but don't expect to see any size. It tends to tone and lengthen the muscles. I see better results going to the gym these days.

but hey, knock yourself out.:biggrin:
 

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