Making Artisan Pasta: How to Make a World of Handmade Noodles, Stuffed Pasta, Dumplings, and More

I have a lot of cookbooks, anymore it takes a pretty special cookbook to get my heart thumping and inspires me to immediately take it in the kitchen and get to cooking. Making Artisan Pasta is just such a book. I have other pasta books, such as the joy of pasta, and usually they are maybe 25% actual pasta recipes, and the rest is sauce or soup or casseroles using the pasta. There is nothing wrong with that, but Making Artisan Pasta is a book about the pasta, about what ingredients to use, how to use them, how to make the pasta, form the pasta, and tons and tons of ideas and tips on making amazing pasta. The pictures are simply inspirational. From step by step photos of how to accomplish making the pasta, to beautiful and inspiring finished products. This book could be intimidating, working with dough and various ingredients and appliances and gadgets, making different shapes. But it's totally not, Aliza Green writes clear simple instructions that would make the most dough-frightened person feel enabled to make luscious pasta. Between her clear instructions and tips, and Steve Legato's amazingly clear instructional photos, this is a book to really give a person confidence and a can-do attitude. There are some pastas that simply call for special gadgets to make them, it's the nature of the pasta, but if you don't want to spend a penny on new fun equipment there are still plenty of pasta recipes you can easily make. The author gives several techniques on how to make pasta. She gives three ways of mixing (hand, stand mixer, food processor) and different ways to roll out the pasta- rolling pin, sheeter (hand cranked pasta machine) and the extruders. Through out the entire book there are variations so if you want to make ravioli you can buy a really cool ravioli pan thing, or she shows you how to simply put the filling on the bottom sheet and put the second sheet over and cut out the dough. The pasta I made was easy to work with and tasted delicious. I started simple, but can't wait to get into the variations like green pasta, or the one with the parsley leaves pressed in between the sheets. The book covers basic pastas, stuffed pasta, dumplings, pot stickers, gnocchi, pastas I haven't even heard of but can't wait to try! This is honestly a book that has me excited to get in the kitchen and start making pasta.

As a classically trained chef, there is nothing that brings me greater joy when in the kitchen than cooking from scratch, especially when baking fresh bread and making fresh pasta. Working with, kneading, and shaping dough is an art form onto itself and this book gives you plenty opportunity to do so, if you are willing to dive in. I bought this book four years ago as a back up to some fresh pasta recipes I had created on my own. As unique as the person who creates it, making fresh pasta is an imprint of the individual, since it allows you to be as adventurous and creative as your culinary imagination will allow. In beautiful and still vibrant photography, this book showcases the basics of pasta making, while in conjunction opening the window to experimentation, to add exotic and alternate ingredients to manipulate pasta shapes, colors, and sizes. I have tweaked a couple of the author's formulas for my own needs and preferences but I especially like her beginning pasta flour mix, as it allows for strong flavor and a pleasant texture when cooked al dente. Amateur home cooks will get good use out of the thorough and friendly instructions and illustrations, while seasoned professional chefs will discover new and exciting combination of ingredients and techniques to create new plate combinations. With that said, I recommend this book - simply be sure to have basic tools and ingredients such as a manual or automatic pasta machine, a ravioli stamp, strong flour or combination of flour, good quality eggs, nimble hands and fingers, a sharp chef's knife, and an open mind. With all seven of these things, your pasta making fun & adventure will be endless. TIP: If you are an amateur home cook or if you are making fresh pasta for the very first time, do not skip the opening chapters which explore the basics of pasta making, techniques of handing pasta dough, and the types of flour and other ingredients. This portion of the book is crucial in painting a thorough lesson that will alleviate mistakes and maximize successful results. Happy Cooking!

I love pasta dishes and I wanted to find a book that gave strong guidance on how to actually make the pasta itself, not just provide a series of recipes on how to use pasta in dishes. After doing a good bit of research I selected Making Artisan Pasta with high expectations. This book has not disappointed me. Many pasta books talk about making a couple of different types of pasta and then present a long list of sauce recipes, recipes for prepared pasta dishes like lasagna, the odd side salad and more. This book is not at all like that - this is a book just about pasta and nothing more. Do not look to this book if you want a recipe for a good tomato sauce or cream sauce as you won’t find it here. Furthermore, do not look to this book if all you want is a quick recipe on making egg pasta. This book goes into very deep detail on the process of making pasta doughs and describes how to choose ingredients, how to handle the doughs as you work the ingredients together, how to shape and press the different types of pasta and so much more. This is more of an in-depth course on the art of making pasta. It even goes into detail on flour grades, grinding your own wheat berries and more. To give you an idea of what to expect with this book, it presents making egg pasta dough - three times. It presents making the dough by hand, with a stand mixer and with a food processor. Each recipe is a full two pages and is presented with multiple full-color photographs describing each stage of the process. The discussion of each recipe is fairly exhaustive and tries to answer the large majority of questions that arise. Every single recipe in this book is accompanied by multiple full-color photographs and full discussion on the dough being presented. Not only is this book very thorough but it’s also beautiful. I enjoy leafing through the book just for the scenery as I do for finding recipes and getting ideas. My favorite recipe in the book [so far] is potato gnocchi. I have a number of other recipes earmarked for trying out but gnocchi is a favorite of mine and this recipe is better than average in my opinion. I wanted a book that was just about making pasta. I have plenty of other books that describe making spaghetti sauce and lasagna but precious few that describe in detail how to make more than just egg pasta. This book is exactly what I wanted and I could not be happier with it. If you want a good book on actually making pasta, look no further than this book.

There are cookbooks and there are cookbooks. As I read through Part I The Basics, it was my kind of cookbook -- Give me the process. I can make my own recipes. The explanation on Flour(s) is worth the price. Not growing up with a Mom or Grandmother that made their own (Correct texture in their fingers), I had been winging it. The necessary adjustments based on flour type provided that final bit of information. The Second part is full of recipes (or ideas as I like to think ....). My son and I made the Laminated Parsley Pasta and used it in a fish soup. Very nice. At this price it is a good addition to your cooking idea shelf. Would wish for a little more on Asian noodles. Next cookbook find.....

I recently took a three-series class on pasta making, and the culinary teacher recommended this book. We made pasta from the pasta mix recipe in this book, and it had a beautiful texture. We made the two-egg pasta dough, and made the spinach pasta recipe. It was absolutely delicious, and I loved the texture of the pasta. I had to own my own copy, but Amazon was sold out of the book version. Patience isn't my greatest virtue, so I downloaded the kindle version. Thankfully, the kindle version is perfect. I need to read this book, for a second time, from cover to cover. I absolutely love all the valuable tips, and the step-by-step photos. I own a pasta maker, and all kinds of tools for pasta making (I'm a kitchen gadget addict). We made ravioli, using a mold, and this book gave me a couple of extra tips that I plan to use, in the future. I wondered if using my stand mixer would work as well, and this book answered that one, too. The author shows different methods of making pasta-- by hand, mixer and even food processor. Terrific! Making colored dough (I learned to make laminated dough, for beautifully colored and striped ravioli) is a lot of fun. This book gives me even more ideas. I want to get the hang of making tortellini, and this book showed me how in a way that I can follow. I'm intrigued by the chocolate pasta dough. I'm on the fence, wrapping my head around that concept, but maybe I'll give that a go when I'm feeling daring enough. I've always wanted to make laminated herb pasta, and there's a chapter on that. Squeeeeeeee! The book focuses, primarily on pastas-- and not necessarily only from Italy. Greece, Poland and Germany, Asia are also included. There's aren't a LOT of sauce recipes, but I'm fine with that. If you're wanting to learn pasta making techniques, this is a wonderful resource, with beautiful photos. This book is well worth the investment. I'll be getting my money and pasta's worth out of it.

It is not often that I can say a book is fantastic BUT THIS ONE IS. From the moment I picked it up I new I had something special to read. I have tried almost all of the recipes and they all worked and well. I would recommend this book to anyone how has the slightest desire to make truly authentic Pasta. I am not going to go on about the good and bad of the book but there are good and bad parts and we all looked on them in a different way so what I think is bad you may think is great. To put it simple Making artisan Pasta covers, in brief, most things to do and not to do with good pasta making and is the best book I have found to give you a good look at making Pasta and some sauces . I do think that this book covers all the basic facts and some more in-depth ones, that you will need to make good pasta and help you to make exquisite pasta. As a Master Chef and Pastry Chef I do fell that the book has been put together well ,I found it easy to read. The recipes are easy to follow. The images were great and in the right place. I did how ever have to purchase some equipment to make some of the pasta according to the recipe. The cost was negligible just a few $$. This is a book that gets a lot of use in our house hold. I have no hesitation in recommending this book to new bee to old hands there is something for all in its pages. "Making Artisan Pasta" is a good read. Hope you enjoy it as much as we have at our place.

had to update my previous 4-star rating to the top and much-deserved 5-star. that missing-picture problem seems to have been happily corrected! at least I don't see any blank spaces now, and there are plenty of excellent pictures ... It's been nearly four years since I got this wonderful pasta book, but I now enjoy four more of Aliza Green's books! including a more recent one -- The Magic of Spice Blends -- in hardback, since the Kindle edition hasn't yet appeared evidently. rich rich rich! very well done and so worthwhile; great pleasure just perusing, but fascinating and inspiring too ... another one all about soups, two guides (produce and spices). so much to enjoy! above update September 18, 2016. below original review from Oct 2012: I really like and enjoy Aliza Green's very informative and inspiring pasta cookbook -- except for the fact of many missing pictures! Although probably most of the pictures *do* appear (I haven't counted the exact ratio), so many are just blank spaces that I feel I'm really deprived of the whole experience in this Kindle version. I've tried seeing them on my original Kindle Fire (1st gen), and the Mac Kindle app on my iMac. It seems the same ones are absent. If this weren't such a great, juicy, must-have pasta guide -- I'm just learning the basics from knowing nothing about making my own pasta at home -- I would have asked for my money back, because I've gotten to the point of having very little patience with so many Kindle books these days failing in the formatting department that I feel I don't want to let this increasingly frustrating issue just slide any more, allowing a further decline in quality in that respect. But this is a keeper in every other regard -- and I really *need it*!!! ;-o I've been delving into it since 10/07/12 after finding that I couldn't resist buying it ... Also, I feel a pleasant affinity with this author and really enjoy her approach and tone, to say nothing of her magnificent expertise! And I'm not an easy fan type ... BTW, the pictures that do appear are lovely and also satisfyingly instructive, indicating and demonstrating the important points being made and what it really looks like, etc. I only wish it were all completely perfect!*^!

I've recently gotten back to making pasta after a decade or so, and I wanted a cookbook that would give me a variety of recipes that remind me of the basics while also going beyond them. Making Artisan Pasta did not disappoint, except perhaps for its relatively short 156 pages of content (minus the front and back matter.) The information, photographs, and recipes are so good that I want more. Author Aliza Green gives a great foundation for pasta making before she launches into the recipes. She discusses ingredients at length as well as different methods of making pasta dough and the type of sauces best for each kind. She doesn't brush over anything as too basic for her book, which makes it excellent for the beginner, but she also supplies some more advanced pasta dough recipes for those who wish to make gourmet flavors and shapes. Atlhough the emphasis is on Italian pastas, she hits a few non-Italian pastas such as udon, nouilles, and potstickers. The emphasis of this cookbook is solidly on the making of pasta itself and less so on the recipes that use it, although several are provided. I especially appreciate the glossy color photographs demonstrating technique and finished results. The book is softcover, with 176 pages in total including acknowledgements and index. Color photographs are included on almost every page. This cookbook is equally good for active cooks as well as cookbook readers. -- Debbie Lee Wesselmann