Recommend a pasta maker?

[Mario149]

I made fresh pasta today for lunch. It was very good but a massive faff. I saw a couple of electric "put the flour and eggs in and forget about it" ones as the kneading was a pain, but they get bad reviews. does anyone have one of them? Or is it best to stick with the basic rollers or extruders?

[Shaw Tarse]

Is it really that difficult to make fresh pasta?

[zygalski]

Make a fairly large batch by hand & then freeze the dough in cricket ball sized portions well-wrapped in cling film.
Not quite as good as fresh, but at least you can forget about most of the kneading.

[Mario149]

Shaw Tarse said:

Is it really that difficult to make fresh pasta?

About 15 mins to make and knead the dough, then about the same to roll out and make enough pasta for 2 people. It's also difficult roll thin as it should be. It's not the end of the world but if I could get a machine to remove one of both of those stages I would be nice. My gf, housemate and I eat a lot of pasta anyway, so having easier to make fresh stuff available by using a machine seems a good idea for the sake of £50 - £100 or so

[zygalski]

You can get a decent pasta roller for £30 or so.

[21TonyK]

Surely pasta has to be just about the quickest and least messy things to do by hand. Can't see any machine making it easier.

Just mix with a spoon handle in a bowl until everything is combined, kneed for a minute or so, cling and fridge for 20 minutes. Then run through a manual machine and cut.

Only bowl and a spoon to wash up and about 5 minutes actual work tops.

[Mario149]

21TonyK said:

Surely pasta has to be just about the quickest and least messy things to do by hand. Can't see any machine making it easier.

Just mix with a spoon handle in a bowl until everything is combined, kneed for a minute or so, cling and fridge for 20 minutes. Then run through a manual machine and cut.

Only bowl and a spoon to wash up and about 5 minutes actual work tops.

Recipes I've looked at are more like 5-10 mins of kneading to get the correct texture. Anyway, ditched the mixer idea, just ordered a regular mechanical rolling/cutting job

[FurtiveFreddy]

Can't say I've ever kneaded pasta dough for anything like 5-10mins.

Combine the flour/eggs into a dough. Put in fridge for 30 mins then put it through the rollers a few times until the consistency is right (adding a little flour or water if necessary to get it just right.

Spend the money on a good rolling machine instead!

[Japveesix]

Shaw Tarse said:

Is it really that difficult to make fresh pasta?

Takes me 5 mins at most. It turns out lovely as well.