Product Description

Discover the tasty thrill of do-it-yourself pasta and make it like the pros with this Bethany Pasta Machine. Everything’s included in this complete set: a dough roller/kneading unit, removable double cutter head for spaghetti (1/16”) and fettuccine (1/4”), plus cutters for pasta or pastry in 4 other thicknesses. Machine has roller adjustment dial and wood grip handle. Part of the Bethany Housewares collection of Scandinavian/Norwegian cookware (sold separately). Clean with damp cloth. Made in USA.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50328 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Brand: Villaware
• Model: V150
• Dimensions: 6.75" h x 7.50" w x 13.00" l, 8.00 pounds

Features

• Easy-to-use hand-cranked machine creates a variety of homemade pasta
• Sturdy clamp safely steadies the machine against a tabletop or counter
• Comes with cutters for spaghetti (2 mm, round) and fettuccine (6-1/2 mm, flat)
• Includes easy-to-follow directions and recipes to get your started
• heavyweight chromed steel construction; made in Italy

Amazon.com Review
Nothing beats a plate of truly fresh pasta. And now it's easy to roll out your own at home, with Villaware's Italian-made pasta maker. Whether the craving is for spaghetti or fettuccine, this sturdy machine handles the job with efficiency and style. Made of heavyweight chromed steel, with an attractive wood grip handle, Villaware's pasta maker looks great on the counter and is easy to use--there's nothing to plug in as this is the tried-and-true hand-crank variety. The easy-lock adjustable dough-dialer rolls thick or thin pasta, and it comes with spaghetti and fettuccine cutters. Cutters for tagliatelle and angel hair pasta are available separately. --Meg Heffernan

Customer Reviews

Fresh pasta is irresistible
What is more digestible and appetizing than a plate of fresh pasta lightly dressed with a fresh sauce, or just olive oil and parmesan? If you want to make pasta, this is a good device. Just some helpful hints for using the Villaware.

1. The thin noodle (tagliatellini) attachment will produce spaghetti-like thin noodles. But you need to dry the pasta sheets somewhat before you cut them. Otherwise they stick together and you will be saying nasty words in your kitchen.

2. You don't wash this thing. Flour and water equals paste and cement. So resist this bad idea. Just brush the thing out with a stiff pastry brush.

3. The pasta dough is best left to rest for 20 minutes, at least, under a damp tea towel. This allows the gluten in the flour to relax enough for you to roll it out. If you are impatient and neglect this step, you may think the pasta maker is having a tough time rolling the dough, but it is not--you have to allow the dough time to relax.

4. You go through the thickness settings from widest to narrowest, rolling out the dough and folding it into thirds, then re-rolling. If the dough piece gets unwieldy and way too long, just cut it in half, then process the halves separately. It means shorter noodles, but a lot easier handling for you.

5. Unless you really insist, you don't have to use semolina flour. In fact, this flour is often grainy and produces a less smooth result at home. I use bread flour. It's fine. And if you don't want egg yolk, just add egg whites, or those imitation eggs that are mostly egg white. Works fine.

6. If you want spinach or carrot or beet pasta, you can buy powdered vegetables that have been freeze-dried and sprayed to a fine consistency. This is an easy way to add color and flavor, without having to squeeze out pots of spinach into a nasty mess. Commercial cooking catalogs from baking and gourmet supply companies often sell these powders.

7. The home-made pasta is brittle, so really, making extra and storing it is less successful than making it fresh. The Villageware machine is so easy to use, however, once you get the knack, that you may find, as I do, that it is easier just to whip up a fresh batch than to try to process extra and store it.

ONE more hint--and it's why this is four and not five stars: the clamp has about a 2 to 2.5 inch clearance to attach to your counter. Your counters may be quite a bit thicker. So it can be hard to figure out where to mount the machine. Sometimes a kitchen table will do instead of the kitchen counter. Or you can drill a cut out under the lip of the counter for the clamp. If you are clever, it won't be visible.

Takes some practice but it's all worth it!
I don't know why I decided I wanted this pasta maker, but sometime last December, I did, and I asked my mother for it for Christmas. And I'm sure glad she bought it because this pasta maker rocks! It's a little tricky to get the hang of at first, and it helps to get the dough just right (my first batch had too much flour and wouldn't roll out). A touch of olive oil seems to help.

Once the dough is ready, rolling it out is a snap. The first few passes through the machine are the trickiest, and it helps if someone holds the machine down (especially if you can't clamp it down, like me). The best thing about using the machine is that it works the pasta as it rolls it (you should send it through the highest setting several times and fold the resulting strip back into itself, in thirds, then roll it again), so even if your dough starts out sub-par, by the time you reach the second-lowest setting, it looks professional. (I don't recommend the lowest setting, it rolls too thin and the dough begins to tear.)

It comes with two cutting attachments, one which produces thin angel-hair/spaghetti-like noodles, and a thicker one which is closer to linguini. Both produce delicious pasta. If you're looking to make pasta from scratch, I highly recommend this pasta maker. I've never been disappointed by the results.

Lots of fun. Well built.
I've had mine for about 5 years and through about 3 cycles of enthusiasm. It is relatively easy to use but does require some patience and testing. What is the 'right' thickness for your pastas? Depends on how you prepare the dough (amt of water, eggs -- if any). Also, it is also critical to set up a drying rack of some sort. I ended up with about 10 dowel rods that I had to hang from the ceiling. There are drying racks on the market but I have not been impressed by their construction. Next best alternative it to temporarily lay out the pasta on wax paper as you work -- make lots of room.

All that was for perspective on the logistics, but otherwise I have to say this is an easy way to make yourself feel like a gourmet. The taste is unlike anything you'll get at the store -- notably better than pre-packaged fresh. And yes, friends will be impressed. Solid construction -- I promise you won't need to buy a second one. A great book to go with is 'The Pasta Bible' -- one of the few books with dough recipies as well as sauces.