KitchenAidKSMPEXTA Gourmet Pasta Press Attachment with 6 Interchangeable Pasta Plates, White

The pasta I made is completely gluten free and grain free since I used red lentil flour! I have wanted this attachment for some time now but I was concerned that a wheat free dough wouldn't work, would be too sticky, or wouldn't run through.I have not had commercially made pasta in over 4 years since my body went haywire from a worsening chronic illness and suddenly could no longer eat wheat/gluten or corn. Within 6 months my life had been dumped on my head. I would react to the corn added into salt and even in tap water, leaving me in excruciating pain and violently sick. Also because of my chronic illness I have very low energy levels and get worn out exceedingly easily. So even though I figured out my pasta dough a couple years ago I rarely make it because it is so physically demanding. Plus I specifically missed macaroni noodles.I was thrilled to see the orange dough coming out of the machine the first time! It will certainly take some practice to get the noodle lengths correct but that's not a big deal at all. I think my dough is still a little too sticky as the large macaroni kept regularly sealing on the end. Next time I'll add a bit more flour to see if it works better. Red lentil flour makes for a sticky dough anyway simply because it is not wheat so it behaves differently. Out of all my tests of the kinds of flour I can still have (brown rice, garbanzo/chickpea) only the red lentil held together when cooked. Red lentil flour is super easy to grind at home. I use my WonderMill for convenience and because I have it, but before I had that it would grind just as easily in an inexpensive ($20) coffee grinder dedicated to grinding flour. Even in the grinder the red lentils pulverize easily and leave a superfine flour. I do not know where or if commercially ground red lentil flour can be bought. Grinding it at home is so super easy that i just didn't worry about it.I am also very pleased to have a pasta that is better for my diabetic spouse to be able to eat! Because of the severe food restrictions imposed by my body, there is almost no prepackaged 'convenience' foods that I can have anymore. I also can't have commercially extracted starches (like tapioca, potato, etc.) due to corn cross-contamination issues so finding flours that worked for me was far from easy. I am THRILLED to be able make noodles ahead and dry them. I have done this before with the red lentil dough and it works great. I'm only 42 years old but I thought macaroni was something I'd never be able to eat again. Funny thing about red lentils when cooked is the color changes, so these look like and FEEL like regular wheat noodles when eating them! At least to the best of my knowledge; I grew up eating homemade macaroni and cheese so I'd think I know rather well. ;DIt certainly takes a bit of work to clean up the machine, but honestly it isn't too bad. The only thing I wish I could change is to have two more die plates, one for small shell noodles, and another for mini lasagna noodles like the size found in Hamburger Helper. I would be utter thrilled to have those options! I can't stop imagining all the pasta dishes I can have again! :D---------------------------Red Lentil Egg Pasta250 g. Red Lentil Flour*3 Large Eggs1/4 tsp. Salt1.) Mix & kneed dough until fully combined.2.) Divide into 30 g. balls for 'walnut sized' portions.3.) Use pasta machine as directed.4.) Bring water to boil & cook fresh pasta for 7 minutes. Drain.Dried noodles: Boil 5 minutes & cover and let sit 7 minutes before draining. (This was the cooking directions listed for the (thicker) hand rolled dried pasta I made in the past. I'm including it here in case you needed a bit of a guide for cooking the dried pasta. The pasta from the KitchenAid attachment has much thinner walls so I'd assume the 7 minutes can be reduced but not entirely sure by how much right now.*Next batch I'm going to try 275 g. Red Lentil Flour to see if it makes a less sticky dough that doesn't seal the macaroni tubes when cutting off.

I have used this attachment three times so far and it works great! And it's a lot of fun. My daughter really enjoys kneading the dough because it smells so good. I think the trick is to make sure the dough isn't too dry and to feed the dough balls in slowly as to not jam the machine. Speed setting will vary. For tube noodles, I've used a high speed on the motor. For fusilli, I used a mid-speed setting. I haven't tried the spaghetti plate yet. For clean-up, the user manual recommends waiting until the pasta is dry (the next day) to remove the last bits of dough from the plate using their picking tool. After seeing a YouTube video about how the dough can accumulate inside the plate, I took the video creator's advice and opened the extruding plate with a case opening tool. You can buy that tool on Amazon, it's called The Opening Tool, by Unlimited Innovations. The plate easily opens, and easily goes back together and it makes cleanup very quick. The quality of this unit is very good too. I use the 325-watt KitchenAid stand mixer.We made a big batch of noodles two days ago, and I put the uncooked noodles in the refrigerator. I used them for soup tonight, and besides being delicious, I had to smile thinking about the fun we had making them. I highly recommend this product. Using this machine feels like you are playing with play-doh, but you get to eat it.

Turned out to be the 100% correct decision to purchase this instead of the Philips pasta maker:- The right machine: I have been making pasta for 7 years using the Mercato hand roller + rolling pin + old fashioned chitarra. But you cannot replicate high-end restaurant al dente extruded noodles. Yes, egg and 100% 'double zero" noodles and stuffed pasta can be made using the roller and the chitarra, but not water and 100% semola spaghetti. This is the next best thing unless you want to pay $3000 for a junior professional extrusion machine and make enough pasta for a month.- Adequate power: I have a Kitchenaid professional 600 that delivers 575 watts, vs the wimpy Philips with 200 watts. Even the Kitchenaid Artisan comes with 325 watts. How can you extrude great spaghetti without power? No need to worry about over working and burning the motor either.- the right dough: You have to have the correct dough texture. Every day is different in terms of ambient temperature and humidity. Here you can make sure it is right before you extrude it. You can feel it in your hands. With Philips, it is mixed within the machine. I don't see how you can control the dough using the latter.- the right flour: 100% durum wheat that is finely ground called semola rimacinata (not to be confused with semolina), Water at 150 degrees F and nothing else. Make it a little drier than you would if you were to roll it instead. If you want egg noodles, that is an entirely different thing, use the Mercato roller.- is it easy to clean? If your dough is right, absolutely. Marginally more work than the Mercato and chitarra -- you clean those too, right? Small bit of dough in the machine can be easily scraped and stored in fridge to be reused in the next batch, especially when it is just flour and water.Caution: rigatoni and elbows crack after drying at room temperature for more than a day. Best to eat them fresh after extrusion. For bucatini, can store in fridge wrapped for another day or two and no cracking. Otherwise comes out perfect. Just a little semolina (now you use this) to sprinkle on spaghetti. Don't hang fresh noodles on hanger -- it only distorts the shape and if your dough is right, no need to dry any further by hanging.

Great pasta maker. Easy to install on your kitchen aid mixer. Very quiet. Only draw back is it takes a while for the dough to extrude from the machine. It specifically tell you what setting to put the mixer on and NOT go higher because you will burn out the machine. Overall I would still recommend! Have fun and enjoy. Buon Apetite!