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I'm gluten intolerant and tempted to have a go at producing my own pasta. Does it make sense to use an extruder attachment for a kitchen machine to produce e.g. rigatoni or fusilli, or will this never match the quality of store-bought dry pasta?

I remember with horror the first commercially available packs of gluten-free pasta, which were brittle and slimy when cooked. Luckily most manufacturers have now improved their recipe. Can I recreate - or even improve - their result at home, or would one need the high pressures and precise temperature control of commercial machines for this?

I would be extremely grateful for some honest opinions of people who've actually eaten home-made extruded gf pasta before I invest in a dedicated attachment. (Possibilities are Kenwood AT936 or AT910 - any shared experience with those would also be very welcome, along with good recipes).

If pasta rollers are sooo much better, I can of course make do with tagliatelle...

Many thanks in advance!

Edit in response to Joe (thank you!): Extruders appeal to me, because I suspect that the real value of pasta rollers is to develop the gluten - and that's obviously superfluous in gf pasta. The difference between wheat or no-wheat dough should be less obvious when using extruders - unless you really need the high pressure of commercial machines.

klip
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    I suspect that there are reasons that so many of the gluten free pastas are extruded is become there's some benefit to it over strands (eg, it holds up better in sauce). Also see http://www.cakeandcommerce.com/cake_and_commerce/2011/05/gluten-free-pasta-doesnt-have-to-suck-a-simple-kitchen-trick-that-will-blow-you-away.html – Joe Jul 28 '15 at 10:19
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    Clearly it's not impossible... it's how most commercial GF pasta is made. – Catija Jul 28 '15 at 14:42

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I have never used extruders, but I make a lot of tagliatelle using my pasta roller. I expect extruders to not be as easy to use with gluten free pasta (please correct me if I'm wrong), as the gluten free dough is shorter than normal pasta dough.

The pasta roller doesn't really change the dough too much with gluten free pasta, as you say a big thing is to develop the gluten, so it's mainly to get the correct shape. One thing with gluten free pasta is that the resting period is really important, if it doesn't rest long enough you will end up with a dough that is impossible to work with.

martiert
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