I think the obsession started when my significant other and I visited a restaurant in Seattle, WA that makes hand-shaven barley-green noodles. It never really occurred to me that Asian noodles could be any color besides white or yellow having eaten them my whole life. The only imprint in my memory is those Ron Popeil pasta makers that spinach-green pasta. The only time I tried to make green noodles they came out quite soft, and were not completely green. I think the secret is to use powdered ingredients like barley powder. I know a variation of this ingredient can be found in Japanese stores, but are quite pricey almost a dollar per serving. So if you have access to a dehydrator and want to try that out it would be the most cost effective. Some ideas of other green items to use instead of barley grass or spinach are: green onions, cilantro, thai basil, water crest, garlic greens, etc. Dry it, pulverize it in a food processor and blend it into your flour mixture before adding water to it.
This is the short version of how I started. After returning from our trip I ventured out to the supermarket to get some flour and try to make some noodles. They were very thick, wide and resembled more of an udon noodle. The texture was very doughy, and it was somewhat chewy. I thought how hard can noodles be to make? Extremely hard actually. I have gone through many different bags of flour from: rice, tapioca, glutenous, vital wheat gluten, semolina, whole wheat, wheat, high gluten wheat, all-purpose, organic, non-bromated... over a year and a half later here I am, still without the slightest clue how to make the traditional handmade noodles.
However, I have managed to fabricate my own style of noodle making that is satisfactory. The image of the noodles on the tray is my latest creation. My recipe changes from time to time depending on how experimental I am feeling. From my understanding the traditional recipe calls for high gluten wheat flour, translates into bread flour, warm water, a little bit of oil and salt. The method is to mix the ingredients prior to adding water a little at a time while continuously kneading the dough to keep it from being sticky. I heard this process by hand can take approximately 45 minutes and requires a lot of stamina. You might be able to achieve similar results in one of those upright dough mixers that run for about $250. If you can afford one of those babies I would totally go for it. As for myself I either use a hand mixer with dough hooks or just my hands. Most of the time I have been using the traditional recipe of the wheat flour with oil, occasionally adding a variety of different flours I have laying around like vital wheat gluten which makes the dough firmer, or rice flour which makes the dough less sticky.
My exact recipe for the pictured noodles was:
1 cup bread flour
2 tsp vital wheat gluten
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp potato starch
1/2 cup filtered water at room temperature
I mixed the dry ingredients prior to adding the water, which I just dumped in there all at one, and mixed it with a spoon to keep my hand from getting sticky. After the water was absorbing I kneaded the dough by hand to get the pieces to clump together into one ball of dough. After it was smooth all around I put it in a ziplock bag to rest. This stage is vital to the process as the dough will be tough after kneading, and the gluten bonds will form during this resting period from the water and flour combining. After resting for an hour I took it out and kneaded it again. I got a bit impatient and somewhat forced the stretching of the dough instead of letting it rest a long period it only sat a few minutes. I try to use my pasta roller whenever possible and it disappoints me every time. No matter how much I dust the rollers the dough always seems to stick somehow. So, I ended up rolling it myself. If the dough does not get any flatter it just needs to rest a bit. Walk away from the dough to let it soften.
They say to keep the dough covered to prevent drying, but I find the dryer the dough the less sticky it will be. Particularly for my method which does not require pulling and stretching the dryer the better. Once rolled to the desired thickness, if you do not have a rolling pin you can use a large cup or thick glass be careful not to use a thin easily breakable glass, you can now cut the noodles. I just place it on the cutting board flat and people may think I am psychotic for doing this, but I cut the noodles one by one with a pizza roller. I do this because every time I used the pasta cutter the noodles stuck together or stuck to the machine. This way I know for sure each noodle is cut and there is no mess in the machine, which I had to disassemble to clean and have yet since been able to put back together. I then put the noodles on a try layered in plastic wrap for easy removal. What you are looking at is three layers of thinly sliced noodles ready to boil and eat.
I hope this blog helps you find your way towards making spectacular homemade noodles!!!
--Max T.
