When I decided to get a pasta machine, I made a list of priorities.

First, the machine had to be able to get the dough very thin. I had become a champ at making dumplings and I probably would have wept openly if I purchased a machine that ‘helped’ me make more.

Second, it would be nice if the machine could cut the dough into various widths so that I could make capellini, and vermicelli, and linguini, and fettuccini, and all the other ‘ini’s’ whose names escape me at the moment.

Yeah, I could cut the dough myself, but I’m certain that after 10 minutes of trying to get the angel hair just right, I’d start to lose some things. Things like my sanity and my grip on reality. Important stuff like that. So um, yeah, cutters would be nice.

And third, I would love it if the pasta machine could make tubular pastas like macaroni, rigatoni, and penne. I figured that was a long shot but thought I should keep it on the wish list in case it was available.

Well, I shopped around and found a few impressive models. However, after much debate, with myself, I determined that the price did indeed matter and that while I did deserve the mega pasta maker 3000, I really didn’t need the mega pasta maker 3000.

I needed the v177 al dente and I got it.

I’m glad I did.

     Not long after that, I stumbled upon a site that said bread was fully baked when it reached an internal temperature of 180 degrees. Useful information, very useful in fact. I mean, I had a thermometer. Now I could just test my bread for doneness, no more guessing. But a problem remained: I was still pretty much glued to my oven. Still giving my loaves 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Still opening up the oven every two minutes or so, after the 25 minute mile marker, to see if the loaf was at 180 degrees.

     Then I found it, my thermometer. Its actually a timer/thermometer. My time in the kitchen has not been the same since I got it. Now, the probe goes into the unbaked loaf right before the unbaked loaf goes into the oven. I set the alarm to 170 degrees and walk away. When the bread reaches that temperature, the alarm goes off and I remove my lovely loaf from the oven. The thermometer stays in. I set it to 180 degrees, cover the loaf, and walk away. The temperature continues to rise and when the alarm goes off again at 180 degrees I remove the thermometer. Then I remove the loaf from the pan, brush butter on all sides, allow it to cool, and cut.

Thanks to my thermometer, I have a lot more confidence and no more doughy loaves.