Maultaschen - how to roll out the dough thinly.

I had my first ever crack at making maultaschen from scratch this weekend - and whilst the filling was brilliant, I had some trouble rolling the dough out thinly enough. I ended up making each maultasche larger, similar to the ones you get from a fleischerei in the South, so there wouldn't be a horrible dough:filling ratio. I don't have a pasta machine, and was using a rolling pin and a fair amount of brute force but still couldn't get the dough thinner.

Does anyone have any tips?

Incidentally, if anyone wants the recipe for the maultaschen, let me know... although I do know this dish falls under the "throw in anything you've got in the fridge" category a lot of the time.

As you hint, a Pasta Machine will likely sort your problem out. Out of interest, what was your *exact* dough recipe; there may be some clues to your issue in there too...

K

After rolling out the dough, lift it up and use your hands to stretch it even further.

while I am an expert, maybe you want to try to make the dough itself thinner, more running, as it would stretch better then. TO roll out use some flower to prevent it from sticking to the rolling pin.

Mmmmm, I was hoping there was a special "trick" to getting it thin without resorting to a machine. The recipe was along the lines of.. approx 500gm flour, 4 large eggs, and a little bit of water. (I say approx as I didn't have my cup measurements with me at the time, nor any scales). I got the consistency to what I thought seemed ok, but rolling it out proved me wrong on that score. What do you think of the dough recipe... if anyone has any hints I would be grateful!

@ CaBe: to make it runnier, is it just the water:flour ratio, or more eggs as well?

@ luvlein: I tried, but the dough kept shrinking back after.

@ kuzzer: do you have a perfect dough recipe I can steal?

Thanks for taking the time to write back.

When I roll out dough I want to be fairly thin I usually roll it between a couple pieces of plastic wrap. Then it doesn't stick to the rolling pin and you don't need to keep adding so much extra flour. If you roll it out relatively slowly it gives it time to stretch as you roll.