Pasta Dough in Bread Maker

[Khadija]

Today, I acquired a bread maker from a friend who is moving and needed to get rid of some stuff. I have never used a bread maker, and I haven't particularly wanted one because I am comfortable making bread dough by hand or sometimes in my food processor. However, I am always up for a cooking experiment, so I took the bread maker just to see how it works.

After examining the bread maker, I have found that it has a setting for pasta dough. Has anyone tried making pasta dough in the bread maker, and if so would anyone recommend it? If so, why? If not, why not? As in the case of bread dough, my interest in using the machine for pasta is not motivated by any aversions to doing the work by hand. I'm just curious about different methods of making things, their pros and cons, etc.

Edited March 28, 2006 by Khadija (log)

[miladyinsanity]

Why would you make pasta dough in a breadmaker? You don't need the dough to rise, after all.

[chiantiglace]

Its probably easier to make pasta dough by hand, less to clean up at the end.

[Daniel]

Today, I acquired a bread maker from a friend who is moving and needed to get rid of some stuff.  I have never used a bread maker, and I haven't particularly wanted one because I am comfortable making bread dough by hand or sometimes in my food processor.  However, I am always up for a cooking experiment, so I took the bread maker just to see how it works. 

After examining the bread maker, I have found that it has a setting for pasta dough.  Has anyone tried making pasta dough in the food processor, and if so would anyone recommend it?  If so, why?  If not, why not?  As in the case of bread dough, my interest in using the machine for pasta is not motivated by any aversions to doing the work by hand.  I'm just curious about different methods of making things, their pros and cons, etc.

←

If you want to know the pros and cons of making pasta in a bread maker, its simple.. Con,Cleaning the bread maker.. Con, not being able to see it to make adjustments.. Con, did I mention cleaning the bread maker. Hands are the best tools in the world..

Edited March 28, 2006 by Daniel (log)

[Anna N]

My bread machine died recently and I have no intention of replacing it, however, I would not dismiss them purely on the basis of clean up. There is very little clean up as the bowl is non-stick and cleans up quickly and easily. If you have one, I suggest you try making pasta dough in it and judge for yourself. After all, it takes no expensive ingredients and there might be times when it is very convenient to toss the ingredients in there and get on with something else.

[Khadija]

I don't really expect the bread maker to make better pasta than the traditional hand method -- after all, I've never noticed anyone else on egullet talking about pasta in the bread maker. I don't even expect it to be easier, though it might be.

I did think that perhaps it might be convenient for the reason Anna pointed out -- that sometimes in cooking you want to just "set it and forget it." Stick the stuff in the machine and then make a sauce or something. If the bread maker is really a pain to clean, then maybe it's not worth it. But it does look like there's just one non-stick bowl to deal with. I also thought that the contained environment of the bread maker might provide the advantage of ensuring that the pasta dough doesn't dry during the kneading a resting process. I know that I can do things to avoid dryness when I make the dough by hand, but under certain circumstances it's nice to have one less thing to worry about.

Despite what I say above, I don't find making pasta dough to be terribly onerous, and I don't think I'm a lazy cook. I'm not talking about replacing the hand method with the machine method. Like I say, out of pure curiosity, I'm just interested in how the bread maker does. I guess the best thing to do is to try it myself. I'll report back.

[SethG]

I don't own a bread machine and I never will. But pasta dough needs a throrough kneading, and a bread machine would probably do a fine job of it.

The only disadvantage I would expect from the method is that I'm always adjusting the amount of flour v. liquid in my pasta dough as I knead, arriving at a final ratio by feel. You can't do that with a machine.