Pasta Doughs from Your Bread Machine

Until lately, unless you lived in an Italian neighborhood or were invited to an Italian family dinner, it was rare to see fresh pasta. In the past decade, the availability of a wide variety of fresh, frozen, and factory-made premium dried pastas (from old Italian families like de Cecco and Ronzoni) has exceeded all hopes—to the delight of hungry diners.

Fresh pasta dough is easily made in any bread machine that has a motor capable of mixing heavy whole grain doughs. This is one of the newly discovered uses for the bread machine. Some manufacturers, like Oster, even have a special setting just for pasta making. You make the dough in the machine, let it rest, then roll it out by hand or in a pasta machine. The no-fuss ease of making your own pasta dough in the bread machine is a satisfying culinary adventure.