Hey, Greg!I have some more notes on fresh pasta, if you are given to believe them:
Look around for good flour; I been able to scrounge up 4 varieties of semolina so far, and one of them has given us markedly better results than the others. I know where to get it here (PennMac, as I should have known from the start) but I do not know where to get it there. Go hence and seek. Get good eggs while you're out.
I have managed to semi-successfully make a batch of noodles by hand, using only board and dowel. I managed to get a good-sized sheet down to about a '4' on the pasta machine. I think I broke both of my wrists doing it. I think I never want to get into a fight with anyone who does this for a living, in either sense. In any sense. And to top it, I need to get it thinner, yet. I will practice. I can confirm, however, that the stuff rolled with sweat between wood does have a better texture than the metal pressed variant. If I can make the former an easier exercise, it will be worth it.
I have had much better luck with the dough in the machine if I give it a quick roll on the board by hand to get it down to the thickness of the widest the rollers can go. There may be texture benefits there, too, but they are slight (if they are at all).
In any event, I am too wimpy yet to roll it all by hand, and it is indeed stupidly hard. You were right.
I owe you a KitchenAid.
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