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Shaping

Pasta can be transformed into hundreds of shapes. The simplist is the lasagne sheet, pasta rolled through the pasta machine to the thinnest setting. These thin sheets are also used for filled pastas. This pasta sheet may also be cut into a variety of shapes. The most recognizable is the noodle. Most pasta machines come with an attachment that will cut the pasta sheet into a noodle. Alternatively, a sharp knife could be used to cut the pasta into noodles. When making noodles experiment with the pasta thickness. Eventually you will find a thickness that you favor. I use a thickness that is one less than the thinnest setting on my pasta machine. In the future, I will attempt to add instructions on how to shape pasta into different shapes, but for now I will focus on the noodle.

Noodles

Depending on the cutting attachment, spaghetti, tagliatelle, angel hair etc. can be created. The technique is the same for all types of noodles when using a pasta machine attachment.

Begin to shape pasta into a sheet by pressing the dough flat to the width of your pasta machine.

Rough Shape

Load the Pasta Sheet into the Pasta Machine at the thickest setting.

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Crank the pasta through the machine

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Lower the pasta thickness setting by one. Reload the Pasta Sheet into the Pasta Machine and crank. Repeat until pasta is at the desired thickness.

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A sheet of pasta that may be used or shaped further.

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Load pasta sheet into cutting attachment and crank the pasta machine. If necessary flour the attachment to keep the pasta from sticking to the attachment.

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Noodles

Noodles have been created. 		Pasta noodles
Proceed to Cooking
Copyright 2001 Greg Douglass

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