How do I clean a pasta maker?

Question

I am experimenting with a home pasta maker, and after all the fun comes the cleaning up. My worries come form tiny bits of dry dough I find when I clean the machine. There always seem to be more every time I shake it, and they of course contain raw egg . On the instructions, it clearly says not to wash it with water.

What's the best practice in this case (besides of disassembling the thing)?

thanks,

Answer

The machine should not be accumulating bits of dough ... it should be designed so that any stray crumbs of dough naturally fall out of it. This is true of mine (Kitchen Aid Pasta Roller attachement) an I merely use a stiff dry brush to clean off the bits of dough which stick to the outside.

If the pasta maker is metal, you definitely do not want to use water, as the instructions say. You will never be able to dry it properly and it will rust.

If it's an inexpensive pasta maker, I would suggest trying a different brand. If it's an expensive one, I would contact the manufacturer. Otherwise, canned compressed air as the two commentors above suggest is worth a try.

FWIW, I wouldn't worry about the egg in the pasta dough becoming toxic. However, I would worry about the dirty pasta maker attracting bugs.

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