Love my new Kitchen Aid pasta attachment!

[Jenise]

Bob gave me one for Christmas. And no it wasn't on my wishlist: I was happy with my beloved little Atlas.

But this IS better. Surprisingly so. Put the mixer to work making and kneading the dough, then attach the roller. Which didn't sound all that great to me, since I actually liked the manual method of mixing dough (create the flour well, break in the eggs...) and cranking out those lovely pasta sheets. Trouble was, I who love kitchen work admittedly thought of home-made pasta as a mess that requires an afternoon to make and clean up after, so I don't make it all that often. Fine for the days I needed in-kitchen therapy, then, but not very practical and certainly not spontaneous.

Whereas, as we proved last night, using the single Kitchen Aid machine for all stages enables one to go from flour and eggs to this in about ten minutes:

IMG_3080.JPG

Atlas goes bye-bye.

Wow. 10 minutes to make the pasta... hours and hours to make the sauce.

[Jenise]

Wow. 10 minutes to make the pasta... hours and hours to make the sauce.

There's always butter and truffles.

[Robin Garr]

Wow. 10 minutes to make the pasta... hours and hours to make the sauce.

There's always butter and truffles.

Or that even simpler treat that Mary and I found at a cafe in Alba with Roberto: Spaghetti with butter and sage!

We use our KA pasta attachment frequently. So easy even a 'Winger can do it. We usually make a very large batch of dough and freeze it most of it, for those occasions we don't feel like fussing around with mixing.

[Jenise]

Wow. 10 minutes to make the pasta... hours and hours to make the sauce.

There's always butter and truffles.

Or that even simpler treat that Mary and I found at a cafe in Alba with Roberto: Spaghetti with butter and sage!

Make mine browned butter, please.

We have had one for a long time, but in all honasty have used it sparingly. We are not not that fickle about the pasta we eat so long as it comes from a good producer. Sometimes we buy fresh, but more often dry!

Thanks for you thoughts Jenise. I have looked at the KA pasta attachment and thought that probably my hand cranked Imperia was still the go.
Maybe I will have another look in light of your experience. The KA lives on the bench so that I can just use it easily.

Trouble was, I who love kitchen work admittedly thought of home-made pasta as a mess that requires an afternoon to make and clean up after, so I don't make it all that often. Fine for the days I needed in-kitchen therapy, then, but not very practical and certainly not spontaneous.

That's exactly what Stuart said when I first introduced him to the wonder of my KA with pasta attachment. Homemade pasta was a rare thing for him too, whereas I made it often since I had the super super tool.

Congratulations on a great gift, Jenise. The pasta looks fantastic! (We need a drooling smilie.)

Seconding Jenise on the pasta attachment.

It's always a true pleasure to use something that does what it is designed to do and does it so well.

Roxi insisted on getting this years ago after taking a class. I thought it was just another way to spend money on another useless attachment. But I have to say, it does a fine job; it's easy to use; and the output is superb.

You have to be a fan of freshmade pasta, of course---and there's a lot of people who aren't. I generally use dried pasta myself; but when a fresh egg noodle pasta is called for, the KA does the job.

[Jenise]

Thanks for you thoughts Jenise. I have looked at the KA pasta attachment and thought that probably my hand cranked Imperia was still the go.
Maybe I will have another look in light of your experience. The KA lives on the bench so that I can just use it easily.

Be sure to see what Cynthia and Hoke said. Also, I received an email from a friend who reads here but rarely posts and her experience was identical. We can't all be wrong!

[Jenise]

Seconding Jenise on the pasta attachment.

It's always a true pleasure to use something that does what it is designed to do and does it so well.

Roxi insisted on getting this years ago after taking a class. I thought it was just another way to spend money on another useless attachment. But I have to say, it does a fine job; it's easy to use; and the output is superb.

You have to be a fan of freshmade pasta, of course---and there's a lot of people who aren't. I generally use dried pasta myself; but when a fresh egg noodle pasta is called for, the KA does the job.

Yes, it's not a shortcut or abbreviated version of the original vs. the handcrank. Instead, it produces an identical and equally high quality product faster and easier.

Re fresh vs. dried, I have to admit that there are some things for which I will always prefer dried. But fresh has it's place, especially when flavored with fresh ingredients.

Thanks for you thoughts Jenise. I have looked at the KA pasta attachment and thought that probably my hand cranked Imperia was still the go.
Maybe I will have another look in light of your experience. The KA lives on the bench so that I can just use it easily.

Be sure to see what Cynthia and Hoke said. Also, I received an email from a friend who reads here but rarely posts and her experience was identical. We can't all be wrong!

OK already!! I do have a birthday coming up next month so I will drop a subtle hint in the ear of my cooking co-conspirator (my dear partner) and see what happens. If he doesn't take the hint a quick call to my friendly kitchen shop lady will do the trick!
Have a great new year.

It does indeed make the entire process much easier and faster. There is only one drawback and that is the limited selection of only two widths for cutting. Given the ease and speed of kneading and stretching it takes little extra time to cut your desired width by hand.
Since I got my attachment I have been much more interested in making pasta with different flours and combinations of flours - buckwheat for pizzocheri; wholewheat; fine semolina. This will expand your pasta repetoire considerably.
The other advantage is that once dried, it keeps a very long time and it is well worth the effort to make a huge batch, cutting it into different dimensions and packaging it up. I've done this for Christmas gifts along with an envelope of spices and a recipe.

So, how much does this thing cost? And, how many pieces are there? Looking for it cheap on Ebay was a waste of time, and I saw it anywhere from 1 to 6 pieces and from about $85 to $600.

So, how much does this thing cost? And, how many pieces are there? Looking for it cheap on Ebay was a waste of time, and I saw it anywhere from 1 to 6 pieces and from about $85 to $600.

Bob, IIRC, I paid around$125-$150 for the stainless (?) set that included a roller, a fettuccine attach and a spaghetti gizmo. At that time, they were also making some plastic versions which looked kinda flimsy.

[Jenise]

Bob, I just checked Williams Sonoma which is a good barometer of the top end of the market, and they want $150 for the spag cutter alone. That's all they had so I can't elaborate on that further. But to use that, you have to have previously or separately bought the flat roller. Not sure what my husband paid, but he did indicate that the set of three (flat roller, spag and fettucine cutters) was about twice the cost of buying any one of three separately. Should be able to find them on Amazon.

I bet that if I hang in there long enough I will be able to buy it on WOOT. I've picked up some good deals there lately. Got a ROKU2 1080p for streaming movies, and or music. Then got a middle end router to get the movie/music from the computer to the ROKU. Saved over $50 on the two pieces.

[Jenise]

Bob, what in the world is WOOT?

[Jenise]

Bob, looks like $159 will take the set home.

http://www.amazon.com/KitchenAid-KPRA-Roller-Attachment-Mixers/dp/B00004SGFS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325600132&sr=8-1

Bob, what in the world is WOOT?

Jenise, WOOT is an online deal maker kind of store. They have one sellout deal per day and when the day is gone the deal is gone. (might come back again sometime though) I get an email daily and if it is something I am interested in I look at the item in my browser and if it is something I want or need, I order it. Shipping is $5 no matter what the item is and is sent FEDEX. It worked out that they offered the ROKU and followed that with the router at just the time I was looking at them in local B&M stores. you can find it at the link below.

http://www.woot.com/

I had to resurrect this thread. I've had an Atlas pasta machine for a couple of years (http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=22669&p=194169). I think I tried it once since having the troubles mentioned in the linked post. Well, two weeks ago, I finally took the great leap and bought a Kitchen Aid mixer and saw they want $150 for the pasta attachment. After examining it and looking at my Atlas pasta maker, I thought "I'll bet I could make an adapter to use my Atlas with my Kitchen Aid." They also make a motorized drive for the Atlas that sells for $80 to $100. I finally figured out the design and was actually starting to look for some of the parts I'd need, when I was invited to a friend's for dinner Friday night and asked to bring my Atlas pasta maker. The dough was mixed, and went through the Atlas like a charm, and in about 10 minutes wed had a generous pile of noodles for shrimp scampi. I needed someone with experience to show me everything I was doing wrong. My dough was too dry and I was using too much dough at a time. I've concluded that I guess I don't need it attached to the Kitchen Aid, but I may just continue with my project anyway - just because.

I needed someone with experience to show me everything I was doing wrong. My dough was too dry and I was using too much dough at a time. I've concluded that I guess I don't need it attached to the Kitchen Aid, but I may just continue with my project anyway - just because.

And why not? Gotta do *something* with those 7 day weekends.

However, on Amazon.com today the 3 piece stainless set of roller and two cutters comes up at $129 for me.

[Jenise]

I needed someone with experience to show me everything I was doing wrong. My dough was too dry and I was using too much dough at a time. I've concluded that I guess I don't need it attached to the Kitchen Aid, but I may just continue with my project anyway - just because.

And why not? Gotta do *something* with those 7 day weekends.

However, on Amazon.com today the 3 piece stainless set of roller and two cutters comes up at $129 for me.

Good find.

And Howie, no you don't *need* it attached to the Kitchen Aid. But there's a delicious simplicity to being able to mix the dough in the Kitchen Aid bowl and then roll it from the top of your machine. It gets you as close to one fell swoop as possible. And I much prefer, for handling the dough, the height it rolls out of the Kitchen Aid at. But that's a small thing. The big thing is the convenience of being able to do it all with one appliance.