Homemade noodles - aromatic, tender, made from natural ingredients - are a worthy alternative to industrially produced pasta. And how many delicacies can be prepared from it: delicious chicken soup, like in your grandmother’s childhood, the beloved udon with vegetables and sesame dressing, or Chinese wok noodles, like in the boxes from films with Jackie Chan.
If you have the right ingredients on hand, even an inexperienced housewife can knead the dough for homemade noodles. The main thing is to get inspiration, and also strictly follow the instructions and advice of famous chefs.
Egg noodle dough
Egg-based noodles are a classic of the “pasta genre”, at home they turn out light and tender, they can be prepared immediately before cooking or made for future use, the product is stored in an airtight bag for a long time. The recipe is simple, the ingredients are publicly available, the necessary kitchen equipment is minimal, just a knife, cutting board and rolling pin.
To prepare egg dough for homemade noodles, you will need the following products:
- premium flour (or durum wheat) – 250-450 g, the exact amount depends on its quality and the size of the eggs;
- yolks – 3 pcs.;
- table salt – 1 tsp;
- vegetable oil – 1 tbsp. l.
Step-by-step preparation:
- Lightly beat the yolks with salt. Why do experienced chefs recommend excluding proteins from preparing noodles? This part of the egg will take away the bright yellow color of the finished product and make the broth cloudy.
- Sift flour into the whipped mass, so it will be saturated with oxygen.
- Add butter and knead into a stiff dough. You need to knead it until it is homogeneous, smooth and elastic. The dough should not stick to your hands!
- Form a ball, cover with a towel or cling film, and leave it to “rest” for an hour.
- Divide the dough into pieces convenient for rolling out.
- Sprinkle the table with flour and roll out each piece until thin, but without fanaticism - 1-1.5 mm is enough.
- Hang them to dry (for example, on the back of a chair) for 10-30 minutes. There should be no drafts in the room! Turn over periodically and make sure they don't dry out.
- Cut each layer into thin strips. You can first roll it tightly or cut it in half, fold it twice, cut it again and lay the resulting pieces on top of each other.
- The semi-finished product is ready - put it in the soup for 5 minutes or dry it well in the fresh air for further storage.
Such egg noodles cook quickly, perfectly absorb the aromas of neighboring ingredients, their color is rich yellow, and the broth, in contrast, turns out perfectly transparent.
Classic recipe
The classic recipe for homemade noodles includes only 5 ingredients.
These include water, salt and the simplest products that every housewife always has on hand.
Composition of ingredients
For the dish you need to take:
- egg (large size) – 1 pc.;
- flour (premium grade, already sifted) – 8-8.5 tbsp. l.;
- water (boiled and cooled) – 1 tbsp. l.;
- coarse salt – 1 pinch;
- any vegetable oil – ½ tsp.
Step-by-step cooking process
The cooking process includes several stages:
- Flour should be poured through the finest sieve into a large bowl that is convenient for mixing. There it is laid out in a mound, in the middle of which it is necessary to make a small depression. Pour the contents of a large raw egg into the resulting “crater” without beating it.
- After this, you can gently mix the combined products with a fork. In the process, you need to remove all lumps and achieve maximum homogeneity of the mass.
- At the next stage, you need to pour into the mixture all the liquid ingredients stated in the recipe (this is oil and water), add salt.
- It is most convenient to mix products with your hands. This way it will be possible to achieve smoothness and uniformity of the dough much faster.
- Next, you need to roll the resulting mass into a tight ball and place it on a surface sprinkled with flour (to avoid stickiness).
- All that remains is to roll out the dough very thin. If there is no special device for this, you can use a regular rolling pin. The final thickness of the layer should be no more than 2 mm.
Then the resulting sheet of dough must be carefully and tightly rolled into a tube, and then cut into thin noodles.
How to serve a dish
The resulting product can be cooked immediately - put into boiling meat broth and cook for about 4-5 minutes. All you have to do is add pieces of a pre-boiled egg, assorted bread and you’ll get a hearty lunch. You can also wrap the noodles in a bag and store them in a cool place until your next culinary experiment.
Recipe for noodle cutter
Egg dough, prepared from just two ingredients, is ideal for this kitchen device.
We will need:
- flour – 200 g;
- chicken eggs – 2 pcs.
You can add another pinch of salt, but be extremely careful, because... even one miniature crystal that has not completely dissolved in the egg mass can damage the teeth of the device.
How to prepare dough for noodle cutter:
- Stir the eggs with a fork or whisk and pour them into the flour. The latter should be twice as much as the whipped mass.
- Knead the dough as stiff as possible, for this we constantly add flour.
- Give it a flat shape by lightly rolling it out with a rolling pin.
- On the noodle cutter, set the thickness regulator to “1” - this is the maximum value. Roll the dough several times until it becomes elastic.
- We change the mode to “2” and continue rolling. We change the modes and repeat the steps until we reach the minimum value (usually “8” or “9”), which allows us to obtain a perfectly thin layer of dough.
- We put on the noodle attachment and cut.
- Dry the finished product well, first spreading it out in a thin layer or hanging it.
Homemade noodles prepared according to this recipe are tender, long, and can be used as a side dish for meat/fish/vegetable dishes or added to soups/broths. It is stored without losing its shape and properties for up to two to three weeks.
Choux pastry for noodles
This dough recipe will appeal to those who like to experiment when the classic cooking method is boring or doesn’t seem very successful. Boiling water makes it possible to obtain amazing softness and plasticity of the finished product.
Among other advantages:
- rolls out without any effort;
- easy to mold;
- does not stick to hands;
- does not require endless addition of flour.
In addition, it is almost impossible to spoil the choux pastry.
Ingredients:
- flour – 400 g;
- boiling water – 250 ml;
- salt – 0.5 tsp;
- olive or sunflower oil – 50 g.
Step-by-step preparation:
- Pour oil into boiling water, salt the resulting mixture, and add 1⁄2 part of the flour.
- Mix with a mixer (installing the dough attachment) or for 10-15 minutes in the bread machine in the “Dough” mode. At first, you get a mass of incomprehensible consistency with an abundance of lumps, but after a few minutes the dough becomes smooth, elastic and homogeneous.
- Continue kneading, gradually adding the rest of the flour. The result should be a tough, yet very soft dough. If you have mixed it, the situation can be saved using a regular plastic bag: place the dough inside for 30 minutes, it will become more pliable, resembling soft plasticine.
That's all, all that remains is to roll out thin layers and cut them into long narrow strips, as described above.
What dough to make rice noodles from?
Popular in Asian cuisine, rice noodles are easy to prepare at home. The dough recipe for it is not much different from its egg counterpart, the only difference is that rice flour is used instead of wheat flour.
It can be purchased in grocery hypermarkets, or obtained at home by passing pre-washed and dried rice cereal through a coffee grinder, grinding it with a blender or in a food processor.
To knead the dough, you will need the following ingredients:
- 3 large eggs;
- a pinch of salt;
- 0.5 kg rice flour.
Let's prepare it like this:
- Pour flour into a bowl.
- We make a hole in it.
- Beat in the eggs, add salt, and knead into a stiff dough.
After this, cover it with a towel and leave for 30 minutes. The remaining steps are identical to those described in previous recipes.
Secrets of making homemade noodles
- After kneading, the dough should stand for 30-40 minutes;
- After rolling out, the cakes should not dry for too long, otherwise they will dry out and crumble;
- Cook the noodles for no more than 7-8 minutes. Otherwise, it will boil and turn out to be porridge.
Homemade noodles always turn out delicious. You can cook various dishes with it. For example, with rice or udon, you can prepare various second treats with vegetables or meat. But homemade noodles go perfectly with chicken broth.
Prepare noodles according to the suggested recipes and please your family with these dishes!
For the udon noodles
Unusual pasta, similar to thick, long threads, is considered fast food in its homeland. However, this does not prevent the product from being of the highest quality. Udon noodles are prepared from wheat flour with the addition of water and salt; the color differs from the egg variety; here it is snow-white. Shades may vary, it all depends on the type of flour used. There are many options for preparing dough for homemade udon noodles; we’ll use the basic one.
Ingredients:
• unrefined wheat flour (wallpaper) – 500 g, premium quality – 150 g; • boiling water – 1 faceted glass; • salt – 4 tbsp. l.
Step-by-step preparation:
- Combine the salt with boiling water, stir the liquid until the crystals are completely dissolved.
- In a separate bowl, mix two types of flour.
- Make a funnel, pour the saline solution into it, and knead the dough.
- We form a ball out of it, wrap it in cling film, and roll it into a thin cake.
- We fold it in several layers and roll it out again, wrapping it with a new layer of film (you can use a plastic bag). We repeat the cycle 4-6 times.
- Once you have a smooth, delicate dough structure, leave it to “rest” for 4 hours.
- Roll out the workpiece again to 3 mm thickness.
- Sprinkle with flour, roll into three layers, and use a sharp knife to cut into rings 2-4 mm wide.
- We transfer the semi-finished product to a cutting board or other surface convenient for placing in the freezer. Freeze the udon noodles for 1 hour.
- We prepare Japanese culinary masterpieces from it - kare-udon, tempura-udon, yaki-udon, etc.
Unused noodles can be stored in the freezer in an airtight container for up to 30 days.
How to make Chinese noodles at home
The basic recipe for Chinese noodles is water (half a cup), flour (2 cups), 1 teaspoon of salt. The ingredients are mixed into a dough, left to rest for half an hour, after which noodles are made and rolled in starch to prevent them from sticking together.
You can make interesting noodles with cornmeal.
To do this, take:
- corn flour - 4 tbsp. spoons;
- wheat flour - 0.6 kg;
- corn oil - 2 tbsp. spoons;
- 4 eggs;
- 4 tbsp. spoons of water;
- salt pepper.
Prepare like this:
- Pour dry ingredients into a mixer, add eggs and water.
- Mix for three minutes, then set the dough aside for half an hour and knead again until smooth.
- Cover with a damp cloth and let it sit for 4 hours.
- Next, use a rolling pin or a noodle cutter to roll out and cut the dough into layers 1 mm thick and into strips.
How to knead dough for wok noodles
When preparing the incredibly popular boxed noodles, the vegetable and meat components, and, of course, the sauce matter. Strangely enough, such close attention is not paid to the pasta itself, on which the dish is based.
If you want to prepare this Chinese delicacy at home, you can knead the dough from buckwheat, rice or wheat flour; egg wok noodles are no less in demand. Choose the option that you like, equally tasty Wok made from funchose and soba.
Ingredients:
- flour of your choice (rice/buckwheat/wheat) – 220 g;
- eggs – 2 pcs.;
- salt to taste.
The cooking technology and the specifics of slicing are no different from the recipes already discussed:
- Lightly beat the eggs with salt.
- Add 2/3 of the flour, knead the dough, gradually mixing in the remaining 1/3 of the flour.
- Having achieved a homogeneous, elastic state of the dough, wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes.
- Roll out 2mm layers and roll them into rolls.
- Cut into strips, 5 mm thick.
This completes the process of preparing thin noodles.
From choux pastry
Choux pastry for noodles is not at all what we do in making cake batter. There, the task is to create voids inside the product by mixing eggs. Everything is simpler here: unlike simple unleavened dough, flour is combined with boiling water, that is, it is brewed. Then the whole process proceeds as usual - kneading, rolling, drying and cutting into strips.
For 350 g of flour, 180 g of boiling water, a small spoon of salt and 3 tbsp are enough. spoons of vegetable oil. By the way, this set of products can be used when kneading dough in a bread machine. You need to knead for a quarter of an hour.
There is another interesting way to prepare choux pastry without starch. It comes out pliable and elastic, although it will take a little more time than regular fresh.
Prepare:
- 1 tbsp. a spoonful of potato starch;
- 3 – 4 cups sifted wheat flour;
- 250 ml cold water;
- 1 teaspoon salt.
This is how this dough is made.
- In 3 tbsp. Dilute the starch in tablespoons of cold water (take from the total volume) and mix to form a paste.
- Boil the rest of the water and add the diluted starch into it. Cool.
- Pour two cups of flour into a bowl, add starch paste, butter and salt.
- Knead the dough, gradually adding enough flour to form an elastic, but at the same time plastic dough.
- Place it in the refrigerator overnight. The next day you can work with the dough. It is suitable for both noodles and dumplings.
Homemade noodle dough for soup
Cooking time is 1 hour. 20 minutes is the preparatory stage, 40 minutes is the time required for the dough to rest.
Ingredients:
- 1 egg for every 100 g of flour (one serving of noodles is enough for a pot of soup) ;
- a pinch of salt;
- a teaspoon of vegetable oil.
Step-by-step preparation is already described in the egg noodle recipe; in addition, keep in mind a few useful tips when cooking:
- To knead the most delicious and tender homemade noodle dough for soup, you don’t need any water at all.
- It is better to take homemade eggs, with a bright orange yolk, then the noodles will turn out tasty and beautiful.
- The main thing in this recipe is to roll out the dough very thinly and cut the flatbread equally thinly.
- If the soup is being cooked for children, you can add natural dyes, such as tomato or spinach, to the dough, the finished product will be colored, and therefore attractive and appetizing for children.
Although kneading the dough for homemade noodles requires some effort, your household will more than appreciate the end result. After all, no variety of store-bought pasta can compare with a natural, flavorful dish prepared by yourself!