garlichead
Über Member
There's pasta and then there's shapes that resemble pasta. The amount of actual pressure needed to make a decent hard pasta is prohibitive and out of the realm of possibility to the home cook or even for restaurants.
garlichead
Über Member
Yes, because these can easily be made fresh they are found fresh, in Italy but rarely this side of the pond and they always come dry unless a rare occasion. We never see fresh durum pasta's here only pasta made with eggs and AP or 00.Here cavatelli orecchiette strozzapreti...can be easily found fresh in the fridges at the supermarketI wouldn't buy them dry...is for that I forgot to mention those shapes!
NailBat
Well-Known Member
I have both, making extruded pasta is fun! Cleaning the dies is a huge pain though.
Maybe I misunderstand what you mean by hard pasta? Do you mean dried pasta as sold in packets (which started life as fresh pasta in a factory and was then dried) or something else?
garlichead
Über Member
Yes exactly MG, sorry I just expect people know what I'm talking about lol. Professionally and generally speaking in Canada when we say hard pasta we mean dried pasta. The other distinction is that dried pasta is always made with durum semolina and water, nothing else. If there is a dried pasta at the grocery store and is not durum it's generally made with AP and eggs and then we'd refer to that as a noodle or noodles.
Surely the fusilli (for example) made with a KitchenAid could be dried at home to become 'hard'? I've certainly dried home-made pasta at home (many years ago). It takes quite a long time as all moisture needs removing.
garlichead
Über Member
Kitchenaid pasta for their extrusion machine is a noodle dough, with eggs and white flour generally AP or 00. This type of pasta can be dried and a dehydrator works best and can keep for a few months. This is not the fusilli that you buy dried, different product. Also because of the lack of pressure (thousands of PSI and specific humidity are required to make dried pasta) from the kitchenaid the texture and mouthfeel is quite different. If the dough is too 'wet' even though it may feel dry is a disaster waiting to happen. Personally this is just a novel jester for people that believe it can be done and kitchenaid being a company that see's a market, has obliged.
The kitchenaid dough is the same as if you were making fresh linguini for example and putting the dough into an auger that then pressing the dough out the other end is a fun experiment but it's not fusilli, it's linguini that is curly and that's a stretch and only if the humidity in the pasta is low enough to hold a shape. Making dough with actual durum wheat and water would burn out a kitchenaid mixer in short order or probably wouldn't even start.
Dried commercial pasta can never, ever be duplicated at home or even in a professional kitchen because the extruder to make it properly would be huge and worth hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. Cheers.
Last edited:
JAS_OH1
Forum GOD!
- Joined
- 12 May 2020
- Local time
- 4:22 PM
- Messages
- 11,115
I finally found some semolina flour that didn't cost an arm and a leg. Before it wasn't cost effective to break out the pasta attachment, but I think sometime soon now that I have it! Two of my grocery stores around here only carried Bob's semolina, and it was $5.49 for a 24 oz/1.5 lb package (less than 1 kg). The farmers market carries it for a decent price, but they are out of stock pretty regularly and the few times I have been they are out (and it's not close to my house). Hubby went to a new Asian market that opened up a couple of miles from me and they had a 2 lb. bag of it for $2.50. I am going to start out with basic noodles, though (which I like best anyway). I also would like to try to make spinach pasta.
Edited to add that I have no desire to dry my pasta, I would prefer it fresh. I have frozen fresh pasta that I have bought before and it was great when consumed, I suppose I could do the same thing with fresh pasta from my KitchenAid if I accidentally make too much?
NailBat
Well-Known Member
I don't even know why they even sell fusilli dies for home extruders, that's a shape that you really do need an industrial machine to do right. But a home extruder works quite well for straighter shapes like rigatoni.
You don't get a home extruder to "duplicate" commercial dried pasta. You get it to make fresh semolina and water dough pasta, which has its own unique taste compared to either commercial pasta or fresh egg dough pasta.
That said, for the price of the attachment versus the benefit it provides, I don't think its worth it. Mine was gifted to me.
JAS_OH1
Forum GOD!
- Joined
- 12 May 2020
- Local time
- 4:22 PM
- Messages
- 11,115
I bought my pasta attachment on a black Friday sale right after my husband bought me the KA stand mixer. One thing I have is plenty of time on my hands, LOL. I suppose I could have bought myself a new guitar (significantly more expensive) but I do like new kitchen toys!
garlichead
Über Member
Actually all the home extruder pasta makers including KitchenAid recommend a noodle dough and not a semolina dough.
Did I miss something? Wasn't this originally a favorite brand of pasta -- as in store bought? Did it expand to types, and how to make it?
Store bought pasta and homemade pasta, and the type of extrusion really makes this a wide topic. I feel like I answered the wrong question? Maybe I did.
CD
Store bought pasta and homemade pasta, and the type of extrusion really makes this a wide topic. I feel like I answered the wrong question? Maybe I did.
CD