I have no idea what this wheel is for. I can not find it in the directions.
Please Note: I had more success the second time I used it. You can find the update here.
I am going to be totally honest right from the start. Product Testing Round 1 of Philips Pasta Maker was a nightmare. I know I should have probably not used it at the same time as making dinner. I figured there was a chance someone might do that after buying it so I figured I would go for it.
The Components
The body of the machine is quite simple. You have the mixing chamber that sits in the middle of the machine. You slide in the paddle/kneading attachment, add a shaping disc and then close it all up.
I chose the fettuccine shaping disc.
The Recipe
I carefully measured out the flour, enough for 1-2 servings according to the directions. I scraped off the excess flour and did not shake or hit the flour cup to remove the excess flour. There were so many little side notes, “important” sections and directions. It was very confusing and overwhelming, even if I was not cooking dinner.
I carefully measured out 90 ml of water which was not pointed out in the directions with the flour measurement. I had to go to the flour/water ratio table two pages farther into the book to find out how much water to use.
In the “Note” section of the second page of the pasta making recipe table it says that seasonal changes may affect the flour/water ratio and you may adjust measurements based on the recommended proportion. This happens to me when I make bread all the time. The dough is always too dry. As a result, I started to get nervous about the perfection of this particular cooking ratio of flour to water.
The “Pasta Making”
It took me a second to figure out the math and realize that for a single serving, I needed to select the ~ 300g/10.5 oz option. If you do not hit the start button pretty quickly, the cups graphic starts flashing and you have to select it again. As far as I can tell, the only difference between the serving options is time. The larger serving kneads 5 minutes longer.
I put the flour in the machine, put on the lid, turned it on, selected my single serving and hit start. The paddle attachment started rotating and I added the water, as instructed.
I watched as the dough “came together” and thought to myself, it is going to be too dry. And yes. Sigh. I added a little more water.
At first this was the most exciting moment of my night! OMG, pasta! But then, um, it did not come out. It just stayed like this until the kneading was over. Crap!!! OK, I still had some time so I took out the dough, cleaned the disc (a total pain in the ass), added some flour and tried again.
The Foodie Results
Looks good right? I was personally so happy and excited and was freaking out. We were going to have fresh pasta for dinner!
The problem? It was still too wet. Everything stuck together and was completely unusable. I threw out the dough, cleaned the machine again (seriously not fun) and…
Boxed penne pasta to the rescue!
Foodie Reflections
I am really not entirely sure how everything went so horribly wrong. Was I supposed to use that wheel to help with the pasta extrusion? If so, how?
How are you supposed to tell if the ratio to flour and water is correct without having to do a lot of troubleshooting?
Is this a problem with me as a user or with the machine? It is too early to tell. I have a lot more product testing and research to do.
My whole wheat pasta
Pasta making is not easy which is why this product appealed to me so much. Normally you have to crank it, fold it, crank it, fold it… This develops strength for the dough. I am wondering if 10 minutes of kneading water and flour together can actually be capable of making “real” dough.
I will keep investigating foodies! There is just too much potential with this machine to give up. I hope I can make it work.
Click here for product test part 2.
How frustrating! I’m glad you had other pasta on hand. It’s so hard when you can’t tell where the adjustments need to be made. I can’t imagine that you’d have to go through that trial and error every single time. Too much! I look forward to hearing what you discover as you keep exploring, Suzie.
It was frustrating Jamie! I wrote the company and they’re looking into the mysterious wheel for me and have sent me some advice but next time, I am not betting on the pasta for my dinner. Thanks Jamie, I am on the hunt for solving the problem! And hopefully it’s an easy fix.
I just used mine for the first time last night. When I read the manual, it said to use the supplied cup to measure the flour; They claim that it is not a standard “1 cup” size. I think that might be the issue, as my penne turned out perfect.
Yay Devon! I am glad to hear your penne turned out and you’re right, using their measuring tools seems to be the clear to making perfect pasta.
I just got one of these ala Woot! My daughter and I removed from the box, washed it all up, and read the directions. You can use their measuring cups (provided) or just weigh your floor for a particular recipe. Our first attempt turned out perfectly (we did the small tubes). My daughter LOVES pasta so now she’s in charge of pasta making. At 11 years old, she found it easy and straight forward. I get to clean up (which is fair I suppose considering I finally I finally have another cook in the kitchen). Clean up is quick and easy. I wish someone was posting recipes for it.
I did find a link for some recipes… thought I’d share with you Suzie.
https://www.usa.philips.com/content/dam/b2c/pasta-maker/master/recipes.pdf
I lost my flour cup so now I can’t get a measure on how much flour. Can someone use the cup provided and tell me what the measurement is?
Oh crap, that sucks Cassandra. That is the big problem with this system. I donated mine so I’m sorry, I don’t know. I hope you find someone who can help. Write to people via these comments directly if you can since I no longer have mine.
You just need a kitchen scale and then any measuring cup will work. With a scale, just follow the recipes such as 250g flour, 80g water, etc so that you are weighing the ingredients exactly. I just got the Philips compact model recently and just using the cup is not ideal if you use different types of flour so a scale is a must (and they’re cheap!).
I came upon this blog. I just got this machine as a gift and so far have made only penne. The flour “cup” is provided and is not a measuring cup (8 oz) it actually contains about 2-2/3 ounces. They just call it a “cup.” Use the cup provided for flour and the scraping tool to level the flour. Your other option is to weigh the flour. I used the cup provided and it worked fine.
That metal “wheel” is part of the lasagna cutting disk. There are 4 cutting disks. Two disks come in two parts (to separate for cleaning): the lasagna disk and the penne disk. The other two disks have the grey cleaning tools. They suggest you freeze the used disks for about two hours and then put on the grey cleaning tool to punch out pasta.
The dough you made was a mess because you used a standard measuring cup and followed with the correct water so there was too much water for the flour.
The dough is dry and when extruded it is easier to handle and doesn’t stick. When dough is extruded versus hand made, it is much dryer. As I was making the penne (cutting them at every inch or so) it fell into a bowl and none of the pasta stuck. Don’t need to flour them at all.
I am correcting my typo. The Phillips flour “cup” is kind of equivalent to 1-2/3 standard measuring cups. It is designed to be equivalent to the metric weight they recommend.
Yes, as I wrote in my follow up post, http://www.suziethefoodie.com/philipspasta02/ it had to do with not using their measuring cup. Second batch went much better!
You were supposed to use the big cup that came with the machine. It is not a standard cup size 😉
Just read replies lol …well done 🙂
I’m probably way too late but you used a standard measuring cup rather than the cup that comes with the pasta maker for the flour. The ones that comes with it measures slightly more than a standard cup (about 1.5 cups)
the wheel is for inside the lasagne maker wheel
Yes, thank you!
If you read the instructions again you would notice that you don’t use 1 standard cup of of flour it’s actually 1 and 2/3 which would make the pasta definitely less wet. I have used mine twice a week for over year and never had any issues
Do you add eggs? I’m not sure but my Mom always added eggs. This was 40 years ago and her pasta machine is basically the same as the machines used today.
For the second test I did add eggs!
I believe the wheel is for rigatoni. I haven’t tried it but that’s what the shape looks like to me. Good luck……. FYI…. I have had good luck with this machine, after figuring out what the right combo for liquid to flour looks like!
Hey Suzie, My guess is that mystery wheel is used for pasta like Penne that are short in length. It likely cuts off the supply of dough as it is extruded to make the specific length. I would expect to find it directly behind the the die.
I am curious to see how this all works out since we love fresh pasta at home but don’t have the time to make it.
Turns out the wheel is used for making Lasagna noodles! I think next time I will make egg dough since other people have had success with it. I haven’t given up!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU1iyxiuCV8
Perhaps this one can help you ^^
Yes, it did Kahte! Her dough was made with eggs and I think that is necessary for this machine! Thank you so much.
No, it is NOT necessary to use eggs with this machine. I am vegan, and my first batch of noodles (made last night) came out PERFECTLY. I think the trouble was you used a standard 1 cup measuring cup for your flour. The book clearly states that the cup they provide with the machine for measuring flour is not a standard 1 cup measure.
Try using a scale to measure flour instead of a cup. When I used the cup that came from the machine on top of the scale, the cup has an extra little mountain over the rim to reach 250g.
Christine, that was the next step for me. Oh wow, really, good to know, thank you!
I just got the machine for Christmas yesterday. My daughter and I decided to test it. First off, I saw you used a regular measuring cup and that’s wrong. If you did that and used the liquid cup you will get pasta that’s too wet. When I makes pasta using a food processor and then a manual pasta maker, I used I cup of flour, one egg and maybe a half egg shell of water.
You are supposed to use the larger cup to the top, don’t pack it down but gently scrape the top with the scraper to even it flat.
Use that cup and pour cold water to that measure that says 1 cup (half way up).
I made penne and got frustrated trying to clean the white disk. After I spent some time at that, I discovered this disk separates leaving the base and where there is a protruding circular plastic piece–it pops up and leave parts that are easier to clean–like a snap. I was angry because the booklet never mentioned that. The linguine and spaghetti disks each have those grey tools that fits over the white disks and punches out the dough. They recommend you not wash it immediately–let it dry before you punch out the dough. So all these shapes have a grey tool except lasagna and penne. The lasagna has the grey wheel which pops out and is easy to clean.
So, the rest of the stuff is very easy to clean because it all comes out. It was just that darn penne that I learned how to do after the fact.
You should get a good digital scale to measure flour by the grams–they say to be accurate.
I think your problem was that you relied on the cups measurement, instead of doing what the manual recommends and weighing out the ingredients on a food scale.
Yes, I had much better luck using the measuring cups the second time: http://www.suziethefoodie.com/philipspasta02/
Need to use the flour cup provided by Philip n that’s a true 250g cup. The cup u used was 125gm of flour, that’s why it’s so wet.
Thanks everyone and you’re right! I had much better luck using the measuring cups the second time: http://www.suziethefoodie.com/philipspasta02/
Thanks for this review. I have used this machine and found that you can make the recipe easiest if you just weigh the ingredients and use their measuring cup. I had no problems at all making my first batch of past from this machine.
Thanks everyone and you’re right! I had much better luck using the measuring cups the second time: http://www.suziethefoodie.com/philipspasta02/
I got this product and the lid would not open, the plastic parts were fused together, I will be returning this back and getting an exchange another machine, maybe it will not be faulty the second time around.
Totally sounds like a defective machine Elena so yes, exchange it for sure!
You have to follow the directions for the flour and water ratios EXACTLY. Even if it looks too dry in the machine, leave it alone. The reason why your pasta was wet is because you added more water. I have made pasta with mine many times and it is perfect each and every time.
You obviously didn’t follow the instructions right. If you just use the cups the machine comes with, it’s very straightforward. 1 cup flour with water up to the first mark of the water cup, and option 1 on the machine….. just 1, 1, 1 for 1 portion size. Can’t get any easier.
I have this machine and the pasta comes out perfect each time. Don’t give bad reviews for a product when it’s the reviewers fault for not following instructions.
Foodie Steve, I put this update at the beginning of the post so people knew that I changed my approach and had better luck – “Please Note: I had more success the second time I used it. You can find the update here.
My first try was this last Sunday. I made lasagna sheets, because I thought it would be the easiest way to start. And it was!!! I followed the recipe, two times the 600, and it came out perfectly!
This week I’ll try the penne and I’ll let you guys know. But what I am really curious about are other recipes, like gluten free or whole wheat pasta, those are my favorites. Do you guys know if we can find them somewhere?
Thank you so much!
Lulu.
That’s amazing Lulu! I am so glad it came out so perfectly for you. I have not tried it for gluten-free because in the booklet it kind of suggests not doing so. You could always prep the dough ahead of time and then use the machine just for the pasta press, perhaps?
OMG just bought the newest version. It’s sooooo awesome. You can place any amount of flour between 1-2 cups approx and it will weight it for you and tell you how many mls of liquid to add (tall liquid measuring cup provided). I’m in love and I’m telling everyone about it 🙂
I am thrilled to hear they made some upgrades Ginelle because the one I had was driving me crazy. Enjoy!!!
We just wasted 2 smaller batches with the “egg style” noodles. The first first batch seemed too dry, but we left it. It started to extrude, then went to error. Clean up, throw it all away. Thinking it was too dry, for the second batch we put in a bit more water. The dough clumped up around the paddle and wouldn’t extrude at all. Clean up, throw it all away. For the third time (the charm, right?) we decided not to waste any more eggs and used only flour and water. It made perfect spaghetti noodles. Oh, yes and because we were thinking the single batches looked like they wouldn’t make much for the two of us, as quite often portion sizes are quoted small, we doubled the recipe for the third batch. Yikes !! Way more pasta than two people should eat at one sitting. So we figure we just won’t ever make egg noodles with it and that should be that. It’ll be ready to eat in a couple more minutes. 🙂
The question we have that isn’t addressed in the manual or recipe book is what size egg? Does it matter? I always buy jumbo because they are the best value, but there is a choice between small, medium, large, extra large and jumbo, Each with it’s own increasing amount of white and yolk. We’re thinking of trying the double batch with one jumbo egg. If the measurements are so fussy, maybe that is an issue?
It really shouldn’t matter what size egg you use because the liquid measurement is one egg then add water until you get to the line on the cup. I usually have large eggs and they have been fine.
Oh man! That’s sounds like quite a mess and that’s my biggest complaint. When it doesn’t work, it is one hell of a “pig” to clean (as my mom used to say). Almost all recipes these days assume that people are using large eggs, at least that’s what Anna Olson says about baking recipes so I think here you’re safe with that assumption Phil!
Size of egg doesn’t matter if you weigh your ingredients. Crack open the egg, and only add enough water to equal the amount of grams called for in the recipe. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.
Suzie, I bought the NEW phillips pasta maker three months ago. they have addressed most of the difficulties people have had with the old machine. The well where you put the flour into now automatically weighs the flour and they furnish a measuring vial marked in Milliliters with the machine. After the machine weighs the flour it tells you EXACTLY how much liquid to add (with or without eggs, a button that switches back and forth on the read out for water only, or egg pasta). Then you slowly add the water once the kneading begins and VOILA perfect pasta every time. I love this machine. It also now comes with a recipe book that is beautifully illustrated in full color, the measuring vial, several extrusion devices for various pastas (I cut out the side of the cardboard shipping carton it has an illustration of each pasta delivered by which disk), a cleaning device with prongs on it to push into hard to reach places and dislodge dried flour, and the ubiquitous “cup” that is not a “cup” but rather nearly TWO cups in volume – the recipe book addresses the use of this cup but in a footnote and easy to see AFTER you mess up your batch thinking you’ve measured a cup properly. We made thanksgiving lasagna yesterday using that mystery extrusion device you have since found out is for lasagna noodles. It extrudes as a large tube, you lay it flat after cutting it off at the proper length and you have beautiful, and tasty lasagna noodles. The recipe book recommends all purpose flour and water (no eggs) and it’s delicious. I’ve been experimenting with 00 flour, Semolina flour and all purpose flour. so far, I like the normal flour for results best. Also, I’m not sure about the first version of this machine, but Ive found this version very easy to clean. I disassemble it after use and set all of the pieces out on a towel on my cutting board and leave them overnight. The next morning simple finger pressure removes all of the dried dough (it simply flakes off). they furnish a small tool for getting any stubborn pieces from the small holes on the spaghetti extrusion disks – they pop right out. The materials used for all of the pieces that come into contact with the flour/dough are made from materials that are smooth and the dough doesn’t adhere to after drying. Yeah, it’s scary at first and I did the exact same thing that others have done, ignored the instructions and added water because it looked too dry. That was a mistake and ruined the batch (and in one instance caused an error code on the machine. but after using it a few times, it’s become simple. I’ll never eat packaged pasta again.
Wow Len, thank you for letting me know that the new version of the product has come such a long way! Sounds like a massive improvement than the one I had. Enjoy it for me!
I also found this pasta maker not always efficient. Have a look at my Youtube video that I made about my experiences!
It takes some practice to make it right and lots of clean up for sure.
6 Big Disadvantages of the Philips Pasta Maker: Must See Before you Buy! https://youtu.be/PQ3nWuqjPrk
Jessica
Great video Jessica and thank you for sharing the truth about the challenges with this machine! Yes, so big and what a pain to clean and not consistent results.
This post & all of these comments are shocking to me! We’ve had our pasta maker for well over a year & use it at least once a week and have never once had a failure. We usually use half 00 flour and half semolina but sometimes use whole wheat, or 00 & whole wheat. I’ve made it with up to 3 large eggs replacing that volume of water, which makes it very similar to our handmade recipe. But in under 10 minutes instead of all day!! And all the parts go straight into the dishwasher when the batch is complete.
I stumbled to this post while searching for an egg-noodle recipe for chicken noodle soup & felt compelled to jump in because I love this thing so much!
I would give up every other small appliance in my pantry (and I have them all!) before I’d give up my pasta maker, I haven’t bought the boxed stuff in over 6 months. If I could get a disc that would make bucatini I could rule the world. 😀
I hope others who read this take the time to read the updates, the manual, and give it a try! Don’t overthink it, just follow the booklet the first couple times!
Wow, you are lucky Dharma! If mine worked that well, I would use it all the time too. Never part with that treasure! I wish mine had worked that way. I finally got rid of it because it was such a pain.
That makes me so sad! But it reminds me of the MANY items I read reviews for where some people really like an item & a few despise it. I suppose there has to be some number of units that just don’t work as they should.
We’ve bought three of these machines so far (2 for adult kids) and so far, so good, but I don’t look forward to the day I have to replace this one!
Perhaps there were some that went out that were just duds like mine Dharma. So glad that the ones you bought for yourself and your kids works!
I read your review, and was quite baffled. I had no problems making spaghetti the first time, and Penne pasta the second time. The pasta machine directions were quite clear on page one that their measuring cup is not 8 oz. I see that it appears you used a measuring cup. Anytime weights are given in a recipe, use a scale, which is especially important to do with flour. That’s cooking 101. Both times, we weighed our dry ingredients, and wet ingredients. Perfect pasta each time. Seems that your review of a great product is based upon user error.
David, it seems as though I am in the minority when it comes to having problems. I have since used their measuring cups, once with success but every other time failure. I followed the recipes exactly. The amount of time I spent cleaning up after all the disasters just wasn’t worth it and I got rid of the machine. Glad yours works!
I have this machine and just love it. If you RTFM! It works perfectly every time. I also find the clean up easy. If the dough isent too wet it extrudes perfectly and also doesn’t stick to the machine, so dough wipes off with damp cloth.
I am so happy your machine works well, wish mine did!
I just took four batches to learn my lesson, I had every problem discussed here and that was AFTER I watched the videos. I wish I had read this thread first. My conclusion — this is chemistry. The liquid and the flower have to be exact. And also I finally had good results with just flour and water. I think it is a great machine, but takes practice.
Oh Marie, I am sorry you went through all of that and you’re right, absolute exact measurements! Good for you for practicing and getting the hang of it.