Thickness guide
Pasta machines vary in setting sizes, so here
I’ve given millimetre measurements for those
hand rolling, as well as indicating the thickness
that each setting approximately gives.
0 setting on a machine – or the thickest –
is what you run your dough through a couple
of times to start. Once you’re happy with the
dough in feel and shape, you’re ready to roll.
You should only feed the sheet through once
for the remaining settings, although if you do
make a mistake and end up with air bubbles
or a wonky sheet, feel free to run it through
the same setting to smooth things out.
0) 4.8 mm roll your dough through
a few times
1) 3.8 mm keep it rollin’
2) 3.3 mm keep it rollin’
3) 2.5 mm keep it rollin’
4) 1.9 mm yep, keep going
5) 1.5 mm I like my garganelli, paccheri,
pappardelle, and reginette/mafaldine
at this thickness.
6) 1.2 mm farfalle, fettuccine,
lasagne, linguine
7) 1 mm Here is where I take agnolotti,
ravioli, tagliatelle and tagliolini.
8) 0.8 mm I rarely venture this thin,
as I nd the dough is hard to navigate
through the machine, plus I tend to like
my pasta with more bite. But for purists,
this is ideal for tagliatelle and tagliolini.
9) 0.6 mm Roll if you dare. I don’t bother.
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Cutting long pasta
Like all pasta shapes in Italy, long egg pastas
have set widths, lengths and thicknesses.
These ‘set’ measurements can vary between
region, town and family. The following pages
show the widths and thicknesses I handcut
tagliatelle, tagliolini, fettucine, linguine,
pappardelle and reginette/mafaldine, but
to be completely frank, I often nd myself
making a mix of them all due to my unsteady
hand, even if I have my trusty ruler handy.
I just don’t know how the nonne cut them
so perfectly! This unevenness often leads
me to the cutting accessories on my pasta
machine– I have tagliatelle, tagliolini and
linguine attachments that click on and
cut my pasta sheets perfectly each time.
Asfettuccine and pappardelle are wider,
Icut these by hand and then celebrate the
irregularities I produce.
I certainly don’t worry about the lengths
of the strands, just that they are roughly the
same, which is normally determined by
the length I roll my pasta sheet.