The pasta machine is a stand alone small kitchen appliance or tool that creates fresh pasta. There are more brands and accessories that are available today than there are types of pasta. It can often complicate one's choice when ready to buy.
Pasta machines are either electric, manual, or can be added as an attachment to other small kitchen appliances. For example, if you are a gourmet cook and a pasta lover chances are the price of a top of the line electric pasta maker will be your best choice. If you occasionally enjoy fresh pasta and have a thing for independently working kitchen gadgets, the hand crank manual pasta machine could be your best choice. Some may be happy with an few attachments that will transform your Kitchen Aid mixer (or other brand) into a pasta maker.
Many of the electric pasta machines do almost everything for you. With some you just add ingredients and the machine does the rest. Of course, it is not as easy as it sounds at first. Some practice is usually involved and there is still work to do.
With the hand crank version the cook mixes the dough, kneads it and does the preparation before using the pasta machine. The manually operated machines most often consist of passing the dough through the machine several times until the correct thickness has been achieved. Once the proper thickness has been reached, the cutting attachment is added for the final pass.
KitchenAid and other better mixers have special attachments that will allow the prepared dough to be passed through to create the specific pasta. Many of these pasta making attachments have been sold. However, we have found that for those who make pasta more than once or twice a year, a manual or electric pasta machine is preferable. It must also be added that while the attachments will get the job done, our patience was tried and our frustration levels reached their peaks.
Regardless of what you have heard, the pasta machine, electric or manual, has a learning curve. For those that have to be put together, the assembly can be enough to discourage you from getting around to making the pasta. We have noticed that today's machines are easier to work with than those of a decade ago.
For the cook who has an assortment of kitchen specialty machines, the pasta machine will make a nice addition. We have found that cooks who are particularly comfortable in the kitchen, there is nothing more enjoyable than a pasta machine and fresh pasta for the family.