Does anyone make fresh pasta? I’m wondering if anyone uses their dough mixer or sheeter in the making of fresh pasta or if it’s simply not worth the extra effort? It’s hard to beat the simplicity of boiling water too. Thanks.
I’ve been playing with this at home. I think it would be a unique “selling point”, but there’s some pretty decent frozen pastas out there and people are simply “used to” dry pastas. With filled pastas, you now have an endless selection of fillings. The downside is that filled pastas are very labor intensive.
One point of reference, for what it’s worth. “Hell’s Kitchen” appears to use dried pasta in their spaghetti appetizer. He does make them learn how to roll out pasta, but I figure if they can use dried pasta, it might not be a huge selling point.
Where you can really push the differentiation is in the ingredient list. Flour, water, egg, and oil, in varying combinations. I’ve been just using flour and egg, but you can use flour and water or flour and water and oil.
Thanks snowman. I was just thinking of using simply flour and egg too. You make a good point about filled pastas. I’m going to make some fresh fettucini just to see if there’s a noticeable difference in flavor/texture/etc. I guess you never know until you try.
YOU will taste the difference, but have someone try both side by side and see if they can. There’s something about cooking something yourself and knowing what’s in it that seems to make it more obvious when you taste it.
also, never underestimate the marketing value of “hand crafted pasta” on your materials and signage.