Hamilton Beach Electric Pasta Maker & Noodle Machine with 7 Molds for Spaghetti & Fettucine and More, Makes 2-3 Servings in 15

Easy for a newbieThe media could not be loaded.

 Came back from Italy and NEEDED handmade pasta back home in the states! Who knew pasta could be so good!The trick with this machine is to follow the measurements to make cookie crumble like dough. It’s not like when you hand roll pasta at all.The ratio for the mixture is in the paper instructions that comes with machine: 400 flour to 140 (1egg/water). No oil, no salt. To make it PERFECT, I press start. Then I choose the “pasta” button—It zeros out the scale built into the container. Once the scale reads “400” for the flour, I mix one egg and water in the smaller measurement cup to 140 total. I think the egg is 50 and rest is of measurement is the water. Mix really well so egg is fully mixed with water. Otherwise when you pour the water egg mixture on the top of lid, it won’t go through the small holes fast enough for your patience.The crumbles then go through the tube like play-dough and get squeezed into noodles. As you can see in my video, it doesn’t look like dough. Which was weird at first and made me think it was too dry. If it’s clumping together (too wet), it can’t “fall” into the opening it needs to go through to get squeezed into noodles.I use Bobs Red Mill Semonlina Flour because it keeps the shape of the pasta when boiling.Buy this machine! You’ll never buy pasta from the store again.As far as cleaning: I just put everything in my top rack dishwasher. There’s a tile pull out tray on machine to put the several noodle disks in for storage. Keep the cleaning needle for the hard to clean little holes.

Easy way to make good home-made pastaI have had the Hamilton Beach Electric Pasta maker for more than a year now, and it’s time to pass on my thoughts.As others have said, the machine requires a pretty precise mixture in order to work well. It nicely weighs the flour for you and directs you to add the correct amount of liquid. I have found that using one beaten egg and 5 ml of olive oil mixed in with the water and using slightly more liquid than the machine calls for works best for me. I have not been successful at using any wheat flour at all, only white flour. Also, the nozzles for smaller pasta sizes, like angel hair don’t work at all. The dough just jams up in the nozzles and won’t go through no matter how much you thin it.The most frustrating aspect of using this machine is it quits multiple times during making of a single batch of pasta. I have to try multiple combinations of instructions in order to get it going again. Most often, I have to unplug the machine and then somehow get it started extruding pasta again.I had difficulty getting the machine to use most of the residual dough, but I have recently discovered that placing a thin plate under the back end during the extrusion phase makes the dough migrate to the nozzle end of the machine and results in better usage of the dough.Now that I think about all the difficulties in using this thing, I think I’ll change my rating to 3 stars instead of 4.

Follow the directions!The key to success is to follow the directions explicitly. Weigh the flour on the built-in scale, add precisely the correct amount of liquid. If adding egg, whip the egg and include it in the liquid measurement. The resulting dough will be dry, coarse and rather grainy, not doughy at all. But when it extrudes through the pasta disk, it will solidify into perfect pasta. All the negative reviews appear to be the result of improper measuring that resulted in thick, gooey dough that will not feed properly into the extruder. Cleaning the machine is time-consuming and requires patience, but so does cleaning up after you make noodles from scratch on your countertop with a rolling pin. The machine works as advertised and the fresh pasta is great! Again, measure exactly and follow the directions!

One of our best-ever purchases!Years ago I had a pasta machine that was very basic and the motor was easy to burn out. It made very good pasta, but I had to be very careful to get the consistency just right so as not to put too much strain on the motor. It was a bit “hit and miss.” This machine, however, is quite sophisticated and very easy to use. It has a built-in weighing scale, so that after the flour is added and weighed, there is a read-out regarding the approximate amount of liquid to add. Thus the pasta output has consistently been perfect and quite the crowd-pleaser. I love this machine so much that I have let it be known that any time my wife wishes, I will gladly make us some pasta. We have enjoyed spaghetti (both thick and thin), linguini, noodles, and penne. My ‘cacio e pepe’ is utterly fantastic – just like we had in Rome! Fresh pasta is SO MUCH BETTER than the dried variety. I expect to use this machine more or less on a weekly basis.

Water Ratio is TrickyWe love this machine, but you can’t just add the reccomended water ratio to the machine and walk away. Instead you have to keep a constant watch on the consistency. Too dry-nothing comes out. Too wet-nothing comes out. After a few times we now have it figured out, but don’t take your eye off of it. Easy to clean and fast.