Homemade Noodles a la KitchenAid

I received my Christmas present a tad bit early from my soon to be in-laws. They got me the KitchenAid pasta roller and cutter attachments. Basically the perfect gift for a food blogger. I have been wanting to make pasta from the minute that I unwrapped the present. Luckily within a few minutes I was making pounds of spaghetti. The KitchenAid attachment makes it super easy.  Thanks Jane and Bill!

Basic Egg Noodles – (From KitchenAid)

• 4 large eggs
• 1 tbs water
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt

Using the bowl of your mixer, add the eggs, water, flour and salt.  Then use your flat beater to mix the ingredients.  Turn the mixture to speed 2 and let it mix for 30 seconds.

Then pour the mixture out onto a flat surface and knead for a couple of minutes.

When the dough comes together, let it rest for about 20 minutes.

While the dough is resting attach the sheet roller attachment to the mixer.  Then divide the dough into four equal pieces.  Then flatten the four pieces slightly before running them through the roller.

Set the roller to 1 and then run the dough through it.  The first time is going to be a little hard.  You will end up with dough that is a little patchy.  That is ok.  Fold the dough in half and run it through again.  This time it will be easier.  The dough will look more uniform and things only get easier from here.  Fold in half and run through again.  Repeat another 4-5 times until you have a nice uniform dough sheet.

Change the roller setting to 2 and run the dough through.  Repeat changing the dough setting until you reach the thickness that you desire.  I roll mine out to 4 to make spaghetti using the spaghetti attachment.

Set the dough aside and lightly flour while you change the attachment to spaghetti.  Then run the sheets through to make the perfect strings of spaghetti.

Cook the fresh spaghetti for 2-4 minutes and you have a great meal.

Overall the KitchenAid attachments were awesome.  It took me a few minutes to get everything up and running, but in the end it was the easiest way I have found to make pasta.  I would totally recommend that you get these if you have a KitchenAid mixer and eat pasta at all.

Tips for Using the Attachments

1. Flatten the dough before running it through for the first time.
2. Lightly dust the dough between each run through the machine.
3. Take your time and run the dough through the sheeter a couple of times.
4. Use a bowl to catch any little bits of pasta that might break off when cutting the spaghetti or other shapes of pasta.
5. Make sure to let the pasta rest before rolling.
6. Egg pasta does contain perishable ingredients so don’t let the pasta sit out for more than an hour.
7. Don’t over-cook the pasta.