What are techniques to make homemade pasta without a pasta machine?

What are techniques to make homemade pasta without a pasta machine? - Person cutting noodle with pasta machine

I would like to try making homemade pasta, but my significant other won't let me buy a pasta machine. It's understandable, they are expensive. What are good techniques to make homemade pasta without a rolling machine?



Best Answer

Many pasta shapes can be made without a pasta machine--home cooks have done it for generations. The only pastas that are really difficult to make without a special machine, I think, are the extruded pastas like buccatelli or macaroni.

One common method, which leads to a lot of different shapes, is to roll the pasta dough out into a sheet with a rolling pin. It can then be cut into a variety of shapes, with a knife, pizza cutter, or even a cookie or biscuit cutter:

  • To make tagliatelle or linguine, you would first roll out a sheet. Then, to make it easy to cut into strips, roll the sheet up, as if you were rolling a jelly roll. Use a very sharp knife to cut it into ribbons.
  • Cut wider strips for lasagna noodles.
  • Cut into rectangles for homemade cannelloni.
  • Use a biscuit cutter to make circles, and you can fill them and fold them into tortellini.

Some more interesting shapes, like orecchiette, can be shaped by hand as well. You create a small cylinder of dough, and then cut it into coins, then flatten these into the final shape. The linked article has detailed instructions and pictures.

I have not tried to go into a huge amount of detail, because you are going to want to read specific recipe and technique articles, and watch videos of the techniques, all of which you can easily search for. Each of the links above is to a recipe that has lots of helpful pictures and detail.




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What can you use instead of a pasta maker?

Making pasta by hand, you use a rolling pin to mimic the action of a pasta maker: roll out a small piece of dough until it's paper thin. Then, use a knife to cut it into individual noodles. It takes a little more muscle and patience, but you can absolutely get the pasta as thin as you would using a machine.

How do you make pasta shapes by hand?

Flour the palm of your hand and place one of the pieces in the center of your palm. Using your other hand, take your thumb and press in the center of the pieces to form a disk shaped pasta. If dough becomes sticky, dust your palm and thumb before using. The shape that is formed looks similar to an ear.

What are the steps in making homemade pasta?

How to Make Homemade Pasta
  • 1 Start Your Dough. Egg pasta is super simple ingredient wise: flour, salt, eggs and olive oil. ...
  • 2 Whisk & Knead the Dough. ...
  • 3 Let the Dough Rest. ...
  • 4 Divide the Dough. ...
  • 5 Roll the Dough. ...
  • 6 Keep Rolling. ...
  • 7 Slice Noodles. ...
  • 8 Loosen the Noodles.


  • What equipment do you need to make your own pasta?

    The basic equipment for pasta making is:
  • A fork \u2013 to beat the eggs before adding to the flour.
  • A mixing bowl \u2013 to mix the flour and eggs into a dough.
  • A rolling pin \u2013 to roll the dough.
  • A knife \u2013 to cut the pasta into the shapes you want.




  • How to Make Pasta - Without a Machine




    Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

    Images: Klaus Nielsen, Klaus Nielsen, Klaus Nielsen, Klaus Nielsen