Chinese noodles and ramen are often said to be delicious if you make them and let them sit in the refrigerator for a few days. People call it as maturing. Indeed, when I made them myself, the matured one was more glutinous and tasty.
So, what is maturing?
Food often needs to be matured. Umeshu, miso, cheese and even beef are matured. However, the mechanism of maturing is different for each food. I think the maturation of Chinese noodles is due to the formation of gluten and the effect of brine. Both are important processes that give the noodles their firmness.
Why don’t we finish the maturing process before we make the noodles?
With strong flour, you get too much elasticity while kneading. It becomes quite difficult to knead and stretch enough to get the gluten to form. I made Chinese noodles a few times, but I could not make enough gluten, and the dough was so dry that it sometimes bumped and tore when I cut it with the pasta machine cutter. Now that I know that I can make gluten without kneading, it should be possible to make ramen noodles. Let’s let it mature first! The resulting ramen was the best Chinese noodles I’ve ever made. Thanks to the power of science.
No-Knead Chinese Noodle, Ramen Noodle, the Easiest Recipe
Even if you only have strong flour, you can make Chinese noodles and ramen without kneading, just by waiting. The easiest Ramen!
Put water, baking powder and salt in a plastic bag (*1). Use an electronic scale to measure accurately.
Shake the bag to dissolve the salt.
Put flour (*2) into the bag.
Mix the water and flour thoroughly in the bag. Do not touch the dough with your hands, mix it all in the bag.
Mixing Method
At first, mix the water and flour by rubbing the whole mixture.
When clumps of flour begin to form, rub to mix the powdery and watery parts. Mix carefully, paying attention to any dough in the corners of the bag or stuck to the bag.
Look at the surface of the dough to make sure there are no powdery bits left. Press the powdery part into the dough with your fingers, or fold the dough and put it inside.
Remove the air from the bag, seal it, and let it rest in the refrigerator. Gluten will form during this time.
From after 6 hours ore more, fold it once every few hours.
Let it rest for at least 12 hours. I recommend at least 24 hours, but you can let it sit up to 48 hours.
Noodle Cutting
Sprinkle flour on the work surface.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place it on the work surface.
Roll out the dough with a rolling pin until it is thick enough to fit in the pasta machine.
Put flour on the dough and roll it out with the pasta machine. If the dough is too sticky, add flour as needed.
Once stretched, fold to fit the width of the machine and stretch again.
Fold again and stretch the dough to the thickness of you like. 4 (1.8 mm) or 5 (1.5 mm) is recommended for Atlas 150.
Cut the dough into good long pieces, about 30cm in length.
Sprinkle the dough with potato starch and cut with a cutter.
If you want to make curly noodles, sprinkle them with potato starch and hold them with your hands a few times.
To Roll Out by Hand
Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough.
When it becomes somewhat thin, fold it once and stretch it again.
If you have enough energy, fold and stretch again. If the dough is too hard to stretch, skip this step.
Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1.5 to 2 mm.
Sprinkle the entire dough with potato starch and fold it to a width shorter than a knife.
Use a knife to cut the dough.
If you want to make curly noodles, sprinkle them with potato starch and hold them with your hands a few times.
Boiling
Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
When the water comes to a boil, add the noodles, not all at once, with loosening them up.
Stir with chopsticks to prevent them from sticking to the bottom.
Boiling time varies depending on the thickness of the noodles. Taste the noodles after a few minutes to be sure. The firmness is important, but it is also easy to tell if the salt has been removed from the noodles.
Put the noodles in a colander and cool them down in cold water.
If you want to make hot noodle, warm the noodles in hot water after cooling.
*1Use a plastic bag that can be sealed tightly, as the noodles will be left to rest for a long time.*2For ease of use, we recommend using up to 500g of strong flour in a 2.5L plastic bag. You should be able to make quite a large amount at once. I have tried up to 500g, about 6 servings.
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