Say bye to your traditional pasta machine! This recipe uses the KitchenAid attachment to make homemade pasta, and it makes this seemingly intimidating process and easy one!
There's just something about homemade pasta that makes it better than store-bought, packaged pasta. Maybe it's the fact that you've put effort into it, and made it with your own hands. Whatever it is, it's so satisfying to make, and eat!
This recipe for fresh pasta dough uses the KitchenAid pasta attachment as opposed to a traditional pasta machine, and the results are fabulous.
Kitchen Aid Pasta Attachment vs. Traditional Pasta Machine/Hand Crank?
A hand crank pasta machine is the traditional pasta machine used by many Italians.
I think the Kitchen Aid pasta attachment is a better choice than a traditional pasta machine for a few reasons:
- A pasta machine needs to be clamped to a table with a straight edge, which might not always be an option. Instead making pasta with the Kitchen Aid attachment can be done anywhere (as long as you have electricity).
- With a hand crank machine, you only have one hand free to handle the sheet of pasta, since your other hand will be cranking. Since the KitchenAid is mechanized, it allows you to have two hands free to handle the pasta sheet. This is a GAME CHANGER. It allows you more control when feeding the sheet through, ensuring the sheets don't stick or rip. You can also make longer sheets of pasta if you'd like.
What Type of Flour to Use for Homemade Pasta?
In this recipe, I used all purpose flour because it's the most common and easiest to find, and chances are, you already have it in your pantry. It also makes a great, silky and smooth pasta dough.
However, a very traditional Italian homemade pasta dough calls for two types of flour: about 60% 00 flour and 40% semolina flour. Semolina flour is a bit coarser than most flours and adds a grittiness and texture to the dough. If you'd like, you can substitute 00 flour and semolina flour for the all purpose flour called for in this recipe.
Do I Have to Dry the Pasta?
If you are cooking the pasta right away, as soon after you make it, you do not need to dry the pasta. Just keep it in its nest shape and throw the nest in once your pasta water is boiling.
How to Store Homemade Pasta
If you would like to dry the pasta out, simply sprinkle it with flour and use a pasta drying rack to dry it out for 12-24 hours. It should snap when you twist it and not bend. You can then store it in an airtight container at room temperature.
You can also freeze the pasta (without drying it out). Lightly flour the nests and place them in a ziplock bag and store in the freezer for up to one month.
How to Make Fresh Pasta with the KitchenAid Pasta Attachment - Step by Step
In a mixing bowl, add flour. Make a well in the center of the flour and add the eggs. Add the eggs, salt and olive oil (photo 1)
In the bowl, start mixing the ingredients together with your hands, about one minute (photo 2)
Once you have a work-able "ball," that holds together (it will still be crumbly at this point), transfer the dough to a working surface, whether that's a table, or a wooden board.
On your working surface, knead the dough until it's yellow in colour and holds together nicely, about 10 minutes (photo 3)
Form dough into a ball and wrap in saran wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Attach your pasta roller attachment to the power hub of your KitchenAid stand mixer.
On a lightly floured surface, cut your ball of pasta dough into 3 equal-sized pieces (photo 4) Flatten each piece with your hands.
Lightly flour your hands. On speed 2 and setting 1 on the pasta roller, feed one piece of flattened dough through the roller. Once it has gone through, fold the dough into 3, rotate and feed through again. Rotating the dough is what makes it rectangular in shape. Repeat this process two more times until you've fed all sides of the dough through at setting 1 (photo 5)
Now change your roller setting to 2 and feed the dough through the roller once. Keep flouring your hands if dough is sticky.
Keep feeding the dough through on each roller setting (only once) until you've reaching setting 7. I found this was a good thickness for fettuccine. Set your dough sheet aside on a floured surface and sprinkle with a bit more flour. Repeat these steps for the remaining pieces of dough (photo 6)
You now have basic, work-able pasta dough sheets! You can make spaghetti, fettucine, ravioli. tortellini, whatever you want from this dough.
Grab a sheet of pasta dough and cut it into about 3 equal pieces. If you feed the whole sheet through without cutting, your fettuccine will probably be too long to eat.
Add the fettuccine or spaghetti attachment to the power hub of your KitchenAid stand mixer. On speed 2, feed the pasta dough sheet through (photo 7)
On a floured baking sheet, place each set of fettuccine/spaghetti on the baking sheet into a pile or "nest" shape. Sprinkle with more flour (photo 8)
Extra Tips for Making Pasta with the KitchenAid Pasta Attachment:
- This recipe will serve 4 people, but if you want to make more or less pasta dough, a general rule of thumb to follow is: use 1 egg per 100 grams of flour. Ie. if you use 500g of flour, use 5 eggs.
- If you can, when you're kneading your dough, knead on a surface that's room temperature like a table or large wood cutting board. I've heard that if you knead on a cold surface like marble or quartz, the dough won't turn out as well.
- Kneading this dough takes me about 10 minutes, but depending on your strength, it could be more or less time. When kneading, you will notice that there's always an "open" side to the dough, where the dough looks like it's cracking and about to open. Try to keep this open side face up when you're kneading.
Recipe Suggestions to Use Your Homemade Pasta:
- Burst Cherry Tomato Pasta with Creamy Burrata
- Short Rib Ragu
- Fettuccine with Bacon, Peas, and Asparagus
If you’ve tried making this KitchenAid Pasta Recipe, or any other recipe on the blog please let me know what you thought of it in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK, TWITTER, AND PINTEREST to see more delicious food and what I’ve been up to.
Recipe
KitchenAid Pasta Recipe
Making fresh, homemade pasta dough isn't hard! This simple recipe takes the guesswork out of making the dough, and using the KitchenAid pasta attachment makes it extra easy.
Ingredients
- 300 g all-purpose flour, plus extra flour for handling the dough
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- pinch of salt
Instructions
To make the pasta dough
-
In a mixing bowl, add flour. Make a well in the center of the flour and add the eggs. Add the eggs, salt and olive oil.
-
In the bowl, start mixing the ingredients together with your hands, about one minute.
-
Once you have a work-able "ball," that holds together (it will still be crumbly at this point), transfer the dough to a working surface, whether that's a table, or a wooden board.
-
On your working surface, knead the dough until it's yellow in colour and holds together nicely, about 10 minutes.
-
Form dough into a ball and wrap in saran wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
To make the pasta sheets with the KitchenAid pasta attachment
-
Attach your pasta roller attachment to the power hub of your KitchenAid stand mixer.
-
On a lightly floured surface, cut your ball of pasta dough into 3 equal-sized pieces. Flatten each piece with your hands.
-
Lightly flour your hands. On speed 2 and setting 1 on the pasta roller, feed one piece of flattened dough through the roller. Once it has gone through, fold the dough into 3, rotate and feed through again. Rotating the dough is what makes it rectangular in shape. Repeat this process two more times until you've fed all sides of the dough through at setting 1.
-
Now change your roller setting to 2 and feed the dough through the roller once. Keep flouring your hands if dough is sticky.
-
Keep feeding the dough through on each roller setting (only once) until you've reaching setting 7. I found this was a good thickness for fettucine. Set your dough sheet aside and repeat these steps for the remaining pieces of dough.
-
You now have basic, work-able pasta dough sheets! You can make spaghetti, fettucine, ravioli. tortellini, whatever you want from this dough.
To make fettuccine or spaghetti:
-
Grab a sheet of pasta dough and cut it into about 3 equal pieces. If you feed the whole sheet through without cutting, your fettuccine will probably be too long to eat.
-
Add the fettucine or spaghetti attachment to the power hub of your KitchenAid stand mixer. On speed 2, feed the pasta dough sheet through.
-
On a floured baking sheet, place each set of fettuccine/spaghetti on the baking sheet into a pile or "nest" shape.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
- This recipe will serve 4 people, but if you want to make more or less pasta dough, a general rule of thumb to follow is: use 1 egg per 100 grams of flour. Ie. if you use 500g of flour, use 5 eggs.
- If you can, when you're kneading your dough, knead on a surface that's room temperature like a table or large wood cutting board. I've heard that if you knead on a cold surface like marble or quartz, the dough won't turn out as well.
- Kneading this dough takes me about 10 minutes, but depending on your strength, it could be more or less time. When kneading, you will notice that there's always an "open" side to the dough, where the dough looks like it's cracking and about to open. Try to keep this open side face up when you're kneading.
- Extra all purpose flour is required at many stages of the pasta making process so that it doesn't stick together. Add flour to the pasta sheets once you've rolled them out and placed them aside, on a floured surface as well. Add flour to fettuccine or spaghetti once you've formed them into a nest shape.