Handmade Noodles

Cooking Skills: Noodles 1

Chapter 6 · Handmade Noodles

Skill goal

Make noodle dough, rest it, roll it thin and cut or tear it into noodles that cook in minutes.

The basics

Fresh noodles are easy to make. The dough is just flour and water (sometimes egg), but it is stiffer than bread dough, so it needs a good knead and a rest. Handmade noodles are chewy, irregular and delicious, and a great way to use your pasta skills in a new direction.

Figure 6. Handmade noodle dough in four steps. The rest is what makes the dough easy to roll.

The dough

Low water: about 45% water to flour (140 ml for 300 g) makes a stiff dough that gives a firm, springy noodle.
Flour: plain flour gives a tender noodle; strong flour gives a chewier, springier one.
Salt: a little, for flavour and strength.
Egg (optional): richer, yellower, firmer noodles.
Alkaline salts (optional): make ramen-style noodles yellow and extra springy.

Kneading and resting

The dough is dry at first. Keep kneading for 8 to 10 minutes: lean your weight into it.
Wrap it and rest for at least 30 minutes. The gluten relaxes and the dough becomes much easier to roll.
If it is too dry and cracks, add water a teaspoon at a time; if it is too sticky, knead in a little flour.

Rolling and cutting

Roll as thin as you can, dusting generously with flour, so the strips don't stick together.
Fold the sheet into a flat roll and cut across with a sharp knife.
Shake out the strips and dust with flour. Cook at once or dry briefly on a floured tray.

Cooking

Handmade noodles cook faster than dried ones: usually 2 to 4 minutes in plenty of boiling water. Taste a strand: it should be tender with a slight spring. The thinner you cut them, the faster they cook.

Raw flour, knives and storing

Try it

Level 1 · Start here

Simple flour-and-water noodles

1 hour (20 minutes of work)3 portionsmaking a stiff dough, resting and cutting

Three ingredients and a rolling pin. The dough is stiffer than bread dough. Kneading is hard work at first, but resting makes it easy to roll.

Ingredients (3 portions)

300 g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
½ tsp fine salt
140 ml cool water

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the water gradually, stirring, until the dough clumps together, then knead on a clean surface for 8 to 10 minutes until smooth. It will be stiff.
Wrap in cling film or a damp cloth and rest for 30 minutes.
Roll the dough out as thin as you can (about 2 mm), dusting generously with flour. Fold it over loosely into a flat roll and cut with a sharp knife into strips about 3 to 4 mm wide. Shake the strips out and dust with a little more flour.
Cook in plenty of boiling water for 2 to 4 minutes, until tender with a slight spring. Drain and serve with any sauce from chapter 5.

Raw flour, knives and storing

Raw flour and raw dough: flour is a raw ingredient and can carry bacteria such as E. coli, which are killed only by cooking. Don't taste raw dough, don't let children eat or play with it, and wash your hands, bowl and surfaces after handling flour and dough.

Cutting dough: use a long, sharp knife or a bench scraper on a stable board, keep your fingertips curled back and cut with a rocking motion. A dull knife drags the dough and slips.

Fresh noodles: cook handmade noodles the same day if you can. Uncooked fresh noodles keep covered in the fridge for about 1 to 2 days, or you can freeze them in loose nests dusted with flour for about a month and cook from frozen. These times are general guidance for fresh pasta-type dough, not an official rule for these noodles. Cooked noodles keep 1 day in the fridge.

Allergens: most noodles and soy sauce contain wheat (gluten). Egg noodles contain egg. Check dishes for soy, sesame, peanuts, fish (fish sauce) and shellfish (oyster sauce, prawns), and label them if you share. Soba is often made with some wheat, so it isn't safe for coeliac disease unless the label says gluten-free.

Level 2 · Stretched

Hand-torn ribbon noodles

1 hour 30 minutes (25 minutes of work)3 portionsstretching dough into wide, chewy ribbons

These wide, irregular ribbons are pulled and torn by hand: no cutting skill needed. They are chewy and catch sauce brilliantly. A second rest in oil makes them stretch.

Ingredients (3 portions)

250 g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
½ tsp fine salt
125 ml cool water
2 tbsp neutral oil, for brushing

Make a stiff dough from the flour, salt and water, knead for 8 minutes and rest, wrapped, for 30 minutes.
Divide into 6 pieces. Roll each into a flat oval about 1 cm thick, brush both sides with oil, stack them with oil between, wrap and rest for 30 more minutes.
Take one piece and pull or press it with your fingers and rolling pin into a long thin strip about 4 cm wide and 2 mm thick, then tear it into rough lengths. Dust lightly with flour.
Boil in plenty of water for 2 to 3 minutes until they float and are tender. Drain and serve with the chilli oil or ginger sauce from chapter 5.

Raw flour and storing

Level 2 · Egg

Knife-cut egg noodles

1 hour (25 minutes of work)3 portionscutting even noodles with a knife

An egg gives a firm, golden, springy noodle. Roll thinly, dust well and fold: then cut evenly with a sharp knife. A little practice makes them very neat. Cooking Skills: Pasta 2 covers egg pasta in more depth.

Ingredients (3 portions)

300 g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 Lion-marked egg
½ tsp fine salt
60 ml cool water, or a little more as needed

Mix the flour and salt. Beat the egg with the water and add to the flour. Mix to a stiff dough and knead for 8 minutes until smooth. Rest, wrapped, for 30 minutes.
Roll out very thin (about 2 mm), dust well with flour, fold into a flat roll about 8 cm wide and cut crosswise into strips about 4 mm wide with a sharp knife.
Unroll the strips, shake out, dust with flour and use at once or let dry on a floured tray for 30 minutes.
Boil in plenty of water for 2 to 3 minutes until tender. Drain and serve in soup or with sauce.

Raw egg, flour and knives

Eggs: use eggs with the British Lion mark and wash your hands after handling raw egg. Cook eggs until solid if you are unsure about runny eggs for you or your guests: the Food Standards Agency's advice on runny eggs differs for some groups, so check the current guidance at food.gov.uk.

Raw flour and raw dough: flour is a raw ingredient and can carry bacteria such as E. coli, which are killed only by cooking. Don't taste raw dough, don't let children eat or play with it, and wash your hands, bowl and surfaces after handling flour and dough.

Cutting dough: use a long, sharp knife or a bench scraper on a stable board, keep your fingertips curled back and cut with a rocking motion. A dull knife drags the dough and slips.

Fresh noodles: cook handmade noodles the same day if you can. Uncooked fresh noodles keep covered in the fridge for about 1 to 2 days, or you can freeze them in loose nests dusted with flour for about a month and cook from frozen. These times are general guidance for fresh pasta-type dough, not an official rule for these noodles. Cooked noodles keep 1 day in the fridge.

Level 3 · Optional challenge

Alkaline ramen-style noodles

2 hours (1 hour for the soda to bake, and 1 hour resting)3 portionsusing alkaline water for a springy, yellow noodle

Ramen noodles are yellow and springy because the dough is made with alkaline water (kansui). This is a home substitute using baked bicarbonate of soda. It is optional: the plain-flour noodles above are a good starting point.

Ingredients (3 portions)

2 tbsp bicarbonate of soda (to bake first)
300 g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp baked bicarbonate of soda (cooled), dissolved in the water
120 ml warm water
½ tsp fine salt

Bake the soda: spread the bicarbonate of soda on a foil-lined tray and bake at 120°C (100°C fan) for 1 hour. Let it cool completely, wearing gloves, and spoon it into a labelled jar.
Stir the 1 tsp of baked soda and the salt into the warm water until dissolved. Mix into the flour to a very stiff dough and knead for 10 minutes. Rest, wrapped, for 1 hour.
Roll as thin as you can (about 2 mm), dusting with flour, fold and cut with a sharp knife into thin strips about 2 mm wide.
Boil in plenty of water for 1 to 2 minutes until springy. Serve at once in the ramen-style bowl from chapter 3 (Cooking Skills: Noodles 1, chapter 3).

Alkaline salts, raw flour and knives

Baked bicarbonate of soda: baking bicarbonate of soda in the oven turns it into sodium carbonate, which is more alkaline and can irritate skin, eyes and the throat. Let it cool completely, handle it with gloves, avoid breathing the dust, label the jar clearly, store it well away from children and food, and use only the small amount in the recipe. This is general guidance: the traditional ingredient (kansui) is sold in some Asian shops and is the safer way to make alkaline noodles. The plain-flour recipes in this chapter don't need it.

Raw flour and raw dough: flour is a raw ingredient and can carry bacteria such as E. coli, which are killed only by cooking. Don't taste raw dough, don't let children eat or play with it, and wash your hands, bowl and surfaces after handling flour and dough.

Cutting dough: use a long, sharp knife or a bench scraper on a stable board, keep your fingertips curled back and cut with a rocking motion. A dull knife drags the dough and slips.

Experiments

Experiment

Rest time

None, 30 minutes or an hour.

Make a batch of dough and divide it into three. Roll one straight away, one after 30 minutes and one after an hour.

Look for: The unrested dough springs back and tears. The rested dough rolls out thin and stays thin. An hour is even easier.

Experiment

Water amount

Stiff or soft.

Make two small doughs from 100 g flour, one with 40 ml water and one with 55 ml. Roll and cut both.

Look for: The stiffer dough makes firm, springy noodles but is harder to knead. The softer dough is easier to work but makes softer, less springy noodles that stick.

Experiment

Thickness

2 mm or 4 mm.

Cut noodles from the same dough rolled to 2 mm and to 4 mm. Boil both for the same time.

Look for: The thin noodles cook fast and are tender; the thick noodles are chewier but can be raw in the middle if not cooked long enough.

Experiment

Alkaline or plain

The yellow springy effect.

Make two small doughs, one with baked bicarbonate of soda in the water and one plain. Cook both.

Look for: The alkaline noodles are yellower, springier and slightly firmer; the plain ones are paler and softer. Taste both. (This is optional: only try it with the safety care in the recipe.)

Tasting notes

What I tried	Method or amount	What I saw	What I thought	Will I do it again?
Simple flour-and-water noodles
Hand-torn ribbon noodles
Knife-cut egg noodles
Alkaline ramen-style noodles
Rest time
Water amount
Thickness
Alkaline or plain

Troubleshooting

Problem	Likely cause	What to do
Dough crumbly and won't come together	Too little water	Add water a teaspoon at a time; knead longer
Dough springs back when rolled	Not rested	Rest for 30 minutes more
Noodles stick together	Not enough flour	Dust generously; shake out the strips
Noodles fall apart in the water	Too thin or too soft a dough	Use a stiffer dough; cut a little thicker
Noodles chewy and raw inside	Too thick or too short a time	Cut thinner; boil longer and taste
Uneven noodles	Uneven rolling or cutting	Roll evenly; fold neatly; use a ruler for the first few

Raw flour and egg, knives and alkaline salts

Raw flour and raw dough: flour is a raw ingredient and can carry bacteria such as E. coli, which are killed only by cooking. Don't taste raw dough, don't let children eat or play with it, and wash your hands, bowl and surfaces after handling flour and dough.

Eggs: use eggs with the British Lion mark and wash your hands after handling raw egg. Cook eggs until solid if you are unsure about runny eggs for you or your guests: the Food Standards Agency's advice on runny eggs differs for some groups, so check the current guidance at food.gov.uk.

Cutting dough: use a long, sharp knife or a bench scraper on a stable board, keep your fingertips curled back and cut with a rocking motion. A dull knife drags the dough and slips.

Baked bicarbonate of soda: baking bicarbonate of soda in the oven turns it into sodium carbonate, which is more alkaline and can irritate skin, eyes and the throat. Let it cool completely, handle it with gloves, avoid breathing the dust, label the jar clearly, store it well away from children and food, and use only the small amount in the recipe. This is general guidance: the traditional ingredient (kansui) is sold in some Asian shops and is the safer way to make alkaline noodles. The plain-flour recipes in this chapter don't need it.

Allergens: most noodles and soy sauce contain wheat (gluten). Egg noodles contain egg. Check dishes for soy, sesame, peanuts, fish (fish sauce) and shellfish (oyster sauce, prawns), and label them if you share. Soba is often made with some wheat, so it isn't safe for coeliac disease unless the label says gluten-free.

Checkpoint: can you do this now?

I can mix, knead and rest a stiff noodle dough.
I can roll thin, fold and cut with a sharp knife.
I can tear or pull noodles into ribbons.
I cook fresh noodles briefly and taste them.
I store fresh noodles safely and never taste raw dough.

Next chapter

Cooking Skills: Noodles 1, chapter 7 is Upgrading Instant Noodles: making a quick bowl taste like a meal.