Home made noodle - 手工面

手工面/板面

Have you ever though of making your very own noodle at home? I have never thought I could do so too until I try them.

There are a lot of Chinese web sites teaching people how to make home made noodles. I have tried making them over 3 times. Twice by adding wholemeal flour for texture , flavour and fiber and once by add pumpkin. Pumpkin give the noodle a nice and nature yellow and also fiber.

The noodle that I have made previous were nice but my only complain was, they were too soft. The texture were just not the same as those that we eat outside. So, one day while I was waiting for the lady at the 手工面 stall to cook my noodle, I actually asked her why the texture of those 手工面 that I have made at home were different from what I taste from those that I eat outside. She told me to reduce the water in the recipe.

Today, I have decided to give it a try by reducing the water and add an egg into the recipe and the 手工面 turn out to be more Q(chewy) and not like the past too soft for my like.

Here is the recipes (good for 2 Adult, 2 Children)

350g All purpose Flour / plain flour
50g Wholemeal Flour
135cc Water
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt

Methods
1. Put both the flour into a large working bowl. Add all the water into the bowl and work out a dough.
2. Continue to use the heel of your palm, with pressure, knead the dough until no more flour is at the side of the bowl and no more wet flour sticks to your hand and the dough becomes smooth.
3. Place the dough in a bowl or leave it in the same working bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and let the dough rest for 30-40 mins
4. Sprinkle some plain flour on your working top to prevent the dough from sticking to it, place the rested dough on it.
5. Roll the dough slowly into a thin sheet about 30cm x 40cm. Sprinkle some plain flour on top of the thin dough to prevent it from sticking together. Fold the 2 edge of the dough towards the centre into 3 folds.
6. Cut the dough with a sharp knife into about 1cm in width. Dust lots of all purpose flour on the cut noodle to prevent then from sticking together.

To Cook:
1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Place the cut noodle into the boiling water and stir the noodle constantly to prevent it from sticking to the pot .
2. When the water is being to boil again after you have placed the noodle inside, pour in one more cup of room temperature water. When the water being to boil again, off the fire and remove the noodle from the stove
3. Pour the noodle into a big sieve and drain away the water. Run the noodle under tap water to prevent the noodle from sticking together.

Note:
I usually make the noodle good enough for 1 meal. You can try making more than you consume on that day.  Keep the uncooked noodle in a freeze and take it out from the fridge and cook it direct when the water is boiled. Do not have to take it out too soon as the noodle will stick together when it is defrosted.

You can also reduce the portion by dividing the quantity above into 2

If you have a noodle cutting machine, roll the dough into the width that can go through the noodle cutting machine. Start from the thickest measurement. Slowly reduce the thickest by adjusting the machine. I would recommend that you stop at 4 (measurement) as if the noodle gets too thin, the texture will not become QQ or chewy. The thickest my machine can go is 7, then after that I go to 5, then end at 4.  Once you get the thickness you want, you can start cutting the noodle to one of the width that you like