Pasta Machine problems

[KerrynN]

Hi everyone,

I received a pasta maker (Imperia) for my birthday from my wonderful in-laws. I was very excited to be able to use Thermie to make the dough and then my machine to "do the rest".

The first time I used it I had some trouble with grease getting into the pasta from the extreme edges of the roller. The manual said to keep rolling pasta through until this cleared. I did but now on second usage it is still putting grease in. Any suggestions?

Also on my second use (tonight) I used the fettucine style cutter attachment and some of the pasta stuck in the cutter. Of the bits that stuck, some of them eventually continued coming out but then had clumps in the middle (see first picture). The remainder just stayed in the machine and were (are) really difficult to get out. I am nearly at the point where I think I will need to dismantle the attachment to get the pasta out as I can't imagine it is going to work very well next time with dried pasta stuck in it...

Can anyone suggest why this happened? I did read afterwards that the dough should have rested between rolling out and cutting - would the lack of resting be the problem?

Also, if anyone is familiar with the Imperia machine, can you suggest what the pictured attachment might be for? The instructions that came with the machine were limited and they certainly didn't include a listing of what was in the box or what it was for.

Thanks in advance,
Kerryn

[Zan]

no help really but I don't rest mine between rolling and cutting and never had a problem.

[opi2kenopi]

I've never rested my dough either and the only time I've ever had a problem is when the dough is too sticky.  Only thing I could think if is to flour your pasta sheets well before you cut - that could help with preventing them stick to the cutters, and will also help to prevent the pasta sticking to each other when you cook it.

[fundj&e]

what type of flour are you using ?

ciao

[KerrynN]

I am using the recipe in the EDC, using pasta flour (00).

I read in a few posts that semolina was suggested for dusting to prevent sticking. Opi2kenopi would you use flour or semolina for the dusting?

[opi2kenopi]

I always use flour (for the dough and dusting), but some pasta dough uses semolina as well as flour.  I guess it probably comes down to  personal preference.  Semolina is coarser than flour so you'd possibly end up with more texture in your pasta which might be to your liking.

I just pulled out my pasta roller's instructions (brief though they are), and in mentions to keep rolling pasta through and "if necessary sprinkling flour in the middle so that the strip is of a good homogenous consistency, neither soft nor sticky."

Hope this helps

[opi2kenopi]

Oh, and check out this post - very informative for pasta making in TMX.

http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=372.15#bot