Feeding pasta dough through Kitchen aid roller

Question

The problem

I recently bought a Kitchen Aid stand mixer with the 3 in 1 pasta roller/cutter attachments to make fresh pasta.

I found a few recipes online, made some dough and when I get to the part where the dough must be fed through the rollers, one of the following happens:

• Nothing happens, the dough won't "latch on" the roller or the roller won't "catch" the dough so it doesn't go through
• The roller does catch part of the dough, but it doesn't go through properly. Some of the dough accumulates on top of the roller while the rest of the dough goes through... and then the accumulation goes through at the end.

The result is a wrinkly dough with curled sides and tears...

As you can see in this example, the dough should just go through smoothly, the bottom part STAYS at the bottom instead of being split in a part that stays on top of the roller and one that goes through.

Since I am new to making fresh pasta, I'm thinking that the dough is the problem, but I don't know what I'm doing wrong. There seems to be so many possible recipes that all "work" in YouTube videos and nobody seems to have any trouble just feeding the dough like I have.

What I have tried

• Followed this recipe using all-purposed white flour - no success
• Followed this other recipe using non bleached all-purpose flour - no success
• Speeds: the manual says to use speed 2 when rolling, some people have used speed 1. I tried both speeds but that does not fix the issue
• Thickness level: I never went beyond 1 (the widest setting)
• Measurements: made sure I used a scale for flour measurements
• The roller attachment's brand is Kitchen Aid, not another third party module

What I have noticed

• On my roller attachment, only the roller directly connected to the Kitchen Aid motor rolls. The other one (used to adjust the width setting) does not roll and seems static. Is this normal?

EDIT : NO, it is NOT normal. I recieves a replacement for the roller and tried the same recipe (the first one) listed above and everything worked fine. Both rollers have to roll. When adding flour between each step, I would put flour on the counter, dab my hand in it and lightly rub both sides of the laminated dough. Eventually, when the dough gets thin and large enough, I was able to stop adding flour.

• The side of the dough that goes through is on the same side as the roller that revolves and the dough accumulation occurs on the side of the static roller

The question(s)

• Is my roller attachment working as intended?
• If so, does anyone understand my problem and know a fix?
• Are there things I should look out for that could help improve the situation?*

Why use that Kitchen Aid attachment

• I once bought an actual pasta rolling/cutting machine with a handle. It broke after one use (could not turn the handle smoothly at all) and this time around I decided to try the Kitchen Aid attachment.

Answer 1

Nothing happens, the dough won't "latch on" the roller or the roller won't "catch" the dough so it doesn't go through

Flatten it some more. Polished steel is as “grabby” as you’d expect; it can’t pull a big wad of dough through, but it has better leverage against a flattened one.

The roller does catch part of the dough, but it doesn't go through properly. Some of the dough accumulates on top of the roller while the rest of the dough goes through... and then the accumulation goes through at the end.

Yep, that’ll happen. Early on, there won’t be much gluten development, and the rollers can easily tear the dough to rags. That doesn’t mean it’s ruined; just roughly layer the pieces into a mostly-solid piece and keep going.

If so, does anyone understand my problem and know a fix?

Some combination of:

• flatten your dough by hand more before you roll it
• Don’t worry about it, and keep re-rolling the bits
• Increase your dough hydration so it’s more pliable and sticky initially.

Either of the first two is recommended. The third is not recommended.

Oh, and while speed 1 or 2 is fine, I find speed 1 is preferable on the first couple of passes, and also while thinning the sheets (to prevent the outer edges from curling in).

Answer 2

(OP here)

In my case, the Kitchen Aid attachment rollers were defective. Both rollers must roll in order for the pasta to go in smoothly.

The roller does catch part of the dough, but it doesn't go through properly. Some of the dough accumulates on top of the roller while the rest of the dough goes through... and then the accumulation goes through at the end.

This happens because the part of the dough that touches the moving roller wants to go through but the other side (on the unmoving roller) stays stuck to the roller and just builds up there.

If both your rollers work and you have this issue (which you shouldn't, because the recipes I linked in the OP worked for me), then I suggest taking a look at Sneftel's answer for ideas.

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In particular (and following this recipe), the way I laminated and floured the dough is this:

1. Shape the dough in a square or rectangle, and press it with your hands so it is between a 1/4 to a 1/2 inch in thickness
2. Put flour on the counter next to the dough, tap with 2-3 fingers, rub the dough (this seems to be more or less a good amount to help the dough go through without it being too sticky (not enough flour) or too soft (too much flour)). I did this step between each pass.
3. Do 14 passes with the widest setting (setting 1), but after each pass, fold the dough on itself once. Alternate the orientation of the fold for each pass (vertical, horizontal, vertical, horizontal, ...).
4. Do 3 passes at width setting 2. Keep adding flour but stop folding
5. Do 2 passes at width setting 3. Stop adding flour (the dough should be dry enough)
6. Do 1 pass at settings 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. I usually need to add flour maybe once or twice during those steps if I feel the dough is suddenly not dry engouh

For Fettucini, I don't do the last two passes at width 7 and 8.