What Equipment Do I Need To Make Pasta?
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April 3rd, 2018
What equipment do I need to make pasta?
The basic equipment for pasta making is:
- A fork – to beat the eggs before adding to the flour
- A mixing bowl – to mix the flour and eggs into a dough
- A rolling pin – to roll the dough
- A knife – to cut the pasta into the shapes you want
Using this equipment is good to start with, but you’ll want to look at more specialist equipment to make your homemade pasta even better. For example, one of the best pasta making gadgets is an Imperia pasta maker.
Imperia pasta machines are found in professional kitchens all over the world. But don’t worry – this one is small enough to fit in your kitchen at home! It’s the easiest way to roll pasta to a uniform thickness – once you’ve tried it, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without. The pasta maker also lets you roll pasta sheets thinner than you ever could with a rolling pin. Imperia pasta makers have six thickness settings and come with two different cutters for perfectly even tagliatelle and fettucine.
What other pasta making accessories are available?
Sous Chef stocks lots of pasta making accessories to make your experience easier and allow you to get more creative:
Use this ridged rolling pin to fill and seal sheets of homemade pasta, and form perfectly uniform ravioli. The wooden pasta rolling pins are also available in tagliatelle, pappardelle and fettucine styles.
Or, you can seal and cut your homemade ravioli in one step! The stamps come in a variety of shapes in sizes – pick your favourite or try a set of different ones.
Brush the edges of homemade ravioli with a little water, then press the two layers of pasta together to seal.
What ingredients do I need to make pasta?
The basic homemade pasta recipe has only two ingredients – flour and eggs. You can use almost any flour to make pasta. But ask any Italian, and they’ll tell you that the best flour for pasta is 00 flour.
Also known as ‘doppio zero’, 00 flour is highly refined from the whitest part of the wheat grain. The flour grains are smaller than semolina, but larger than cornflour.
Another ingredient you’ll see a lot in pasta making is durum semolina. This is made from durum wheat that’s milled until it chips into tiny, hard granules instead of being ground into a flour. All dried pasta made in Italy is made with durum semolina, which gives a distinctive bite and slightly nutty flavour.
When it comes to fresh egg pasta, durum semolina is usually mixed with 00 flour. The ratio varies depending on the final texture you want to achieve. The more durum semolina you use, the firmer the texture of your homemade pasta will be. Once you have the hang of the basic recipe, you can use other ingredients to flavour and colour your pasta.
Turns homemade pasta a deep, dusky shade of pink. It also gives a hint of earthy, sweet beetroot flavour.
This South American ingredient will impart a deeper orange-red colour to pasta than tomato powder. It has a mildly nutty flavour with a hint of sweet pepper – great for ricotta tortelloni.
Give your homemade pasta a dramatic black hue. Squid ink is often used to colour linguine and flavour it with the mineral notes of the sea. Enjoy with ‘nduja and seafood pasta dishes.
If you love the visual impact of black pasta but don’t want the briny flavours of squid ink, use charcoal powder instead.
OK, I’m ready to make my own pasta! Where do I start?
When you’re learning how to make pasta from scratch, it’s a good idea to have some handy tips under your belt first. Take a look at our 8 Top Pasta Making Tips before you start.
Once you’re confident with the basic pasta making process, move on to filled pasta like ravioli. Our article, Ravioli In No Time: How To Use A Ravioli Rolling Pin, is a great place to start. The accompanying recipe for pumpkin and amaretti ravioli is split into sections that take you step-by-step through the whole process.
After that, the sky’s the limit! Try this recipe for Lobster Tortellini made with squid ink pasta for a stunning dinner party dish. And if you can’t get enough of filled pasta, there’s also a recipe for Slow-Roasted Shoulder of Pork Tortelloni. Happy pasta making!
You can find our full range of pasta making equipment here.
Now that you've mastered the art of pasta, why not try your hand at pizza making? First step: get yourself a pizza peel.
