I have been making pasta at home for several years both by rolling and by extrusion. My extruder is a hand-cranked Bottene Torchio Model B - a design that Bottene first launched in 1875 and still makes today.
I would like to add an electric home machine that mixes dough and extrudes it through bronze dies such as an Arcoblaleno AEX5, Lillo Due or even a Dolly III.
In her excellent book ‘Pasta’, Missy Robbins recommends both the Arcobaleno and Lillo Due for home use.
The Lillo Due mixer capacity is 1 kg and uses many of the same dies as the Torchio Model B, and so I already have a good selection of bronze dies for it.
The Arcobaleno AEX 5 has a hopper capacity of 500g of four, the Bottene Lillo Due 1,000g, and the Dolly III 2.5kg. The Dolly III is probably more suited to restaurant use, leaving the AEX 5 and Lillo Due as contenders for home use.
The Lillo Due can mix up to 1kg of flour or as little as 500g. Here it is in action in a home kitchen:
Much as I enjoy making extruded pasta with my Bottene Torchio (which they have been making since 1875), it requires considerable manual force to extrude pasta through the bronze die - but the results are worth it.
The Bottene Lillo Due has a hopper capacity of 1kg of flour, and can make batches with as little as 500g of flour. The powerful 0.5 HP motor turns an auger which extrudes the pasta dough through a bronze die.
Hi Toronto416, I have that machine. It makes wonderful pasta. Where did you get yours from? I’m on the lookout for different dies; those bigoli look scrumptious! Btw, 00 flour and eggs work just as well. The pasta is a little smoother and the flavour is incredible.
I live in Toronto Canada - I bought the Lillo Due from Bottene’s Canadian distributor - ECM in Vancouver BC. Until today I had not seen it in the flesh.
I am glad to hear your have had good experiences with it. I have a range of Canadian grown organic flours ready for it including a lovely stone ground 00 Durum flour from The Flourist in Vancouver that I often mix with Red Fife flour and eggs. I will try that in the Lillo Due tomorrow.
I have a number of dies from Pastabiz in San Francisco that I bought for the torchio, but most of them were actually made for the Lillo Due (but happen to fit the torchio).
