Living off grid, we try to not use electric appliances, especially when there are wonderful old fashioned tools that work flawlessly. If you'd like an affordable and quick way to cut pasta, you might enjoy using an Italian Chitarra (pronounced: key-tahr-rah). It looks a little bit like a double sided harp but instead of making music, you make pasta.
It was created in Italy in the 1800’s. The Chitarra has 30 strings on one side (for thicker noodles) and 50 on the other for a finer spaghetti style pasta. The centre of the device has a slanted board to allow the cut pasta to slide off easily once it’s been cut by the strings.
To use the chitarra
Roll your dough out evenly, get it nice and thin. Always keep in mind that the dough will expand when you cook it.
Lay the dough on top of the chitarra
Use a rolling pin, flattening and pressing the dough through the wires
Once you cut your pasta toss it in some flour to prevent it from clumping together or use a coat hanger or wooden dowel to hang it.
Cook your pasta and enjoy!
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wow. totally impressed. you made that look really easy! i tried this with @birdsinparadise once, but it didn't turn out quite so smooth! i think we had a different device, but way to go! how does it not stick together for you? we had trouble with that and could never get it as thin as we liked it.
I've had the pasta stick together before, many times! What works best for me is tossing some flour on the strings and then quickly tossing the pasta lightly in flour once it's cut. If you can spread the pasta out or hang it quickly that's ideal. Don't leave it in a pile - that's always when things go wrong for me!
haha thanks! more flour then! do you ever experiment with alternative flours? (ini is gluten-free, i am a gluten lover and feel amazing when i eat gluten!)
In a lot of recipes - yes. I have tried kinds of flours - I'll try anything really just to see what happens. It's really hard to get a great product without a load of trial and error. So many recipes have been designed for that all purpose flour. I really love crusty rustic loaves of bread and they do well with all kinds of flours but they aren't as popular with the rest of my family.
I've been talking to someone who's family had serious gluten issues. She started grinding their own wheat and all their problems vanished and they became healthier. It's really remarkable. She's studied it a lot and told me that with modern wheat they remove all kinds of nutrients (bran, wheat germ and others) to use in other industry food products and they replace it with lesser quality ingredients. I guess they also treat it with chemicals.
The wheat in the stores is totally "franken-wheat" and this is causing all the gluten issues. I think that it is insane that instead of undoing the issue and righting their wrongs they are simply coming out with whole new lines of "gluten free foods". I've read those packages - disgusting ingredients. I know some people really can't do gluten but they are the minority. The gluten epidemic is man made. (my opinion but I have read a lot on the subject).
If you buy non gmo wheat berries and grind them, you are getting a product that was intended to be consumed with all that healthy bran and wheat germ etc. I found a grinder than I really want to buy. Its manual but it has an attachment so you can use your cordless or corded drill to grind if you want to. I hand grind coffee and even meat and it is time consuming ...so hand grinding wheat would take a while (but heck - arm muscles!)
I like red fife heritage wheat best. There is a local mill not too far from where we live that grow organic wheat. I am hoping I can buy some organic wheat berries from them. Get the grinder and revolutionize our bread /wheat baking! I'd like to grow it but we don't have the right kind of land for growing such a large crop. It's mostly woods.
Sorry this is so long ... I just got excited! :)
ah what an awesome response! thanks @walkerland!! i totally agree with you that it's manmade and from the GMOs and pesticides, yuck!! thanks for all the tips on grinder and types of wheats you like. very exciting! is there anyone also on this page in your area that does have more land? i remember reading about something in Los Angeles where people were getting together and doing an initiative around alt heritage grains. yeah here it is... they mention red fife too! it'd be cool to collaborate locally!
It really would be cool! I have an open mind to the idea but have not yet found people in our area that hold to our philosophies (organic, chemical free, heirloom,heritage and all that). I know there are people out there - we just haven't met yet! Thank for the link. I really enjoyed reading that. It got me wondering about the local mill and how they afford to do what they do. It's a very small business!
You might also want to consider making it sourdough which helps break down the proteins and make them more digestible. We are experimenting with all kinds of sourdough versions of wheat products. I've tried sourdough chocolate chip cookies and pancakes. I would like to try sourdough noodles and soft pretzels next!
What a cool tool! I usually just use a pizza cutter to cut my noodles, and as a result, they are always all different sizes, usually getting wider as I go, haha!
Thanks for sharing!
mine too! I love freehand but my husband hates when they are unevenly cooked because they are all different sizes.
HA! I always wondered how this was done! Thanks for sharing. I see a chitarra in my future. I've been cutting by hand with a pizza wheel. LOL! Thanks for sharing.
I used to do it by hand with a knife and it took ages! My husband invited some friends over for pasta one night and I nearly lost my mind trying to cut enough for three guys! They are around 40 dollars on-line, not too hard to find.
Wowwwwww, so cool.
It is a pretty basic but neat gadget. If you ping the strings they do have a bit of a tune.
Wow! Not ever heard of this implement and wondered how they did it in the old days. I can't do wheat, and am wondering if anyone has tried noodles from millet? I know there are brown rice noodles, because we use them, but my experience with brown rice flour is anything made with it is gritty, except bought noodles.
Resteeming so I can reference it!
Would be a good challenge but I have never tried. Have you ever tried grinding your own wheat berries? I don't know much about wheat intolerances but I did a few webinars with a lady who was really knowledgeable and she swears that it was life changing.
I did all the trialing of various wheats and methods years ago. I'm best off w/o wheat. Millet does really well in a lot of applications, but things that must stick together, not so much...
The shortcake post I did a bit ago is an example. If I use a lot of eggs, it comes out like cake. But cake is not noodles...
I'm sure someone has figured it out! I wish I could help. I'm a fine durum wheat flour girl when it comes to making pasta.
That is very cool. :D I've always thought about making my own pasta, but I've never tried it because I'm a chicken and hate to waste food. Of course nothing really goes to waste when you've got piglets, but still I hate it when something I make is inedible and worry about ruining it.
You made it look really easy in this post though, so I might end up giving it a try if I can find one of those Chitarra's. :D Thanks for sharing. :D
God bless you and your family. :D Have an awesome day! :D
Hello @frostamber! I don't make pasta very often (and am no pro) ..you should have no problem! :)
Just be sure to keep the noodles apart and lightly dusted with flour so they don't clump together. Some people use clothes hangers to hang the noodles as they cut them.
Thank you. Blessings to you and your family as well. ❀
This looks so easy to use! Why have an expensive pasta maker when all you need is simplicity! Do you make sour dough pasta?
nooo ...I don't ...but that sounds very interesting! Have you made it?
Not yet, but it just sounds so good. @carey-page makes it!
That looks so cool. I bet it tastes amazing to have fresh pasta.
Its pretty good although the sauce is really what makes it. I love carbs in all forms (lol).
the design is very good, I like the hope of greater ability value, good luck always.