I have always been intimidated by making fresh, homemade noodles. For some reason, I thought that I could only make noodles with a pasta machine. But that’s not true, as I’ll show you in this homemade noodle recipe. You do not need fancy equipment to make Chinese noodles. It is all a matter of making the dough, rolling it out, cutting the noodles, and cooking them. That’s it!
HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE NOODLES
MAKE THE DOUGH
Preparing the dough for the homemade noodles is very similar to the dough for my dumpling wrappers. You need to mix flour, water, and salt together and knead the dough. The flour I am using in this homemade noodle recipe is Bob’s Red Mill’s organic unbleached white all-purpose flour. The flour is made from organic hard red wheat, and I love using it to make my noodles and dumpling wrappers. When I make dough for dumplings or noodles, I want the dough to be smooth and I want consistent results. Both Mama Lin and I agree that Bob’s Red Mill’s all-purpose flour makes great dough! I decided to go with a 2:1 flour-to-water ratio (by weight) for the noodle dough. I tried several batches using slightly more water and I found the noodles stretched out too easily after I cut them. If I were making classic Chinese hand-pulled noodles (la mian, 拉麵), that stretchy quality would have been ideal. However, the homemade noodles here are akin to knife-cut noodles, so I need the dough to be stiffer. When you first knead the dough, it will seem very dry (see photo 1 above). That is completely fine. Use your fingers to squeeze the dough as you knead it to work the moisture into the flour. After 8 to 10 minutes of kneading, the dough should feel evenly hydrated and the surface relatively smooth (see photo 2). Let the dough rest for 45 minutes to 1 hour. When you knead the dough again after it has rested, the surface will look very smooth (see photo 3). You are now ready to roll out the dough.
ROLL OUT THE DOUGH
To make the dough easier to roll out, divide the large dough into 4 smaller pieces. Then, roll out each piece on a well-floured surface. Make sure to cover the other pieces of dough inside a bowl or under plastic wrap to prevent them from drying out. Aim to roll out each small piece of dough into a rectangular shape, about 12 inches long and 5 ½ to 6 inches wide. In the beginning, the dough will be difficult to roll out because it will want to stretch back. Just be patient. When I am rolling out the dough length-wise, I like to gently press down the dough on one end and use a rolling pin to stretch out the other end. Once you are done rolling it out, make sure to dust both sides of the dough with flour.
CUT THE DOUGH
Before cutting up the dough into noodles, fold the dough into thirds. Grab one short end of the dough and fold up about a third of it towards the center (see photo 2 above). Next, grab the other short end and lay it over the already folded dough (see photo 3). Rotate the dough 90 degrees so that the folds are on the top and bottom. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into noodles that are 1/2-inch thick (see photo 4). After you cut all the dough, you can unravel each individual noodle. Loosely bundle the noodles before rolling out the next piece of dough.
COOK THE NOODLES
Bring 4 quarts of water and 2 tablespoons of salt to boil. Once the water reaches a rolling boil, add the noodles. You can cook 1 or 2 bundles of noodles at a time. Make sure to stir the water right after the noodles go in to ensure that they don’t stick together. The noodles will float to the top once they are ready. Freshly cooked noodles stick together easily. To prevent them from sticking into a giant block drizzle the cooked noodles with 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of sesame oil and stir to incorporate. If you are planning to serve the noodles later, submerge the cooked noodles into a bowl filled with ice water. The cold temperature of the water stops the cooking process and keeps the noodles apart. When you are ready to serve, you can heat the noodles in boiling water for a minute and then drain.
SERVE THE NOODLES
I think you’ll love the soft and chewy texture of these homemade noodles. That chewiness is something you only get from fresh noodles. To make this an easy meal, I tossed the noodles with a mouth-watering spicy peanut sauce. In the photos, you’ll see that I also served the noodles with blanched baby bok choy and pan-fried tofu that I tossed with my teriyaki sauce.
SIDE DISHES TO SERVE WITH HOMEMADE NOODLES
Chinese Garlic Cucumber SaladRoasted AsparagusAsian Sticky Chicken Thighs Sweet Chili Shrimp
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill! To learn more about their products and to get more recipe inspiration, follow them on Instagram or Facebook.
