Homemade Ramen Noodles
Did you ever think you could make Homemade Ramen Noodles? Remember those days in the college dorm? Boiling a package of dried ramen noodles and adding the powder flavoring they called broth? It was adequate in your younger days, when flavor was not your primary concern, just sustenance. Now we’re all grown up and want a more sophisticated broth and noodle. Culinary Immigration is where you’ll get the knowhow to making your own Homemade Ramen Noodles and broth that will rival the local Japanese restaurant. You’ll want to get the family in on all the fun making the noodles. You won’t want to try mixing this dough with your hands, your feet work much more efficient. The broth is the supporting character to the Ramen noodle. Taking the time to make homemade ramen noodles be sure to make a homemade broth for that sophisticated taste.
I use a kitchen-aid attachment to roll the dough out, a more affordable one you can use is a hand roller the Italian way.
Ramen Noodles
Ingredients
- 8 g sodium citrate
- 4 g kosher salt
- 164 ml water
- 396 g King Arthur Bread Flour Fred Myers carries this flour
- 4 g vital wheat gluten
Instructions
- Combine the water, sodium citrate and salt. Mix until all is incorporated.
- Combine the vital wheat gluten and bread flour in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle. Process for 1 minute on low speed.
- Increase the speed to medium-low and, with machine running, add 1/3 cup of liquid at a time, allowing time between each additions for liquid to be fully absorbed about 30 seconds. Remove the bowl from the mixer stand and cover with plastic wrap, allow to rest for 30 minutes. Resting will allow the flour to more fully absorb the liquid.
- Press dough into a ball and place into a zip lock bag. Seal tightly, removing the air from the bag. This is where the fun begins! Make sure the dough is in the middle of the bag and begin pressing it flat with your feet. Once it has flattened open the bag and fold it over onto itself and repeat the process 4 to 5 times until you have a smooth looking dough.
- Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Place 3 back into the plastic bag to keep moist. Flatten the piece left out with a rolling pin to make it flat enough to put through a pasta press.
- Working with one dough sheet at a time, run dough through progressively narrower settings on your pasta machine, until it reaches the thickness you desire, (I press to #5 on my machine)
- Run final dough sheet through the spaghetti cutting attachment; dust noodles with corn starch to prevent sticking, shake off excess starch and fold into loose nest. Alternatively, dust dough sheet with flour, fold it, dust again with flour and fold again, to form a stack of dough. Using a sharp knife, cut through dough at regular intervals to produce noodles. Once finished cutting, shake noodles to loosen, and fold into loose nests.
- Place noodles in a zip lock bag and refrigerate overnight. (Noodles can be used immediately, but they improve significantly in texture and flavor if allowed to age slightly.
- Before cooking noodles, gather the noodles into a ball and compress with your palms on a clean dry surface, using a similar amount of pressure you would use to compress a snowball. Loosen noodles and repeat process, gathering them into a ball and compressing with your palms. The pressing gives the noodles their signature curly waves.
- Bring a large pot of unsalted water to a rolling boil over high heat. If using a noodle basket, add noodles to basket and plunge in water, rapidly stirring noodles with tongs or chopsticks in basket to prevent sticking. If not using a noodle basket, add noodles to boiling water and stir vigorously with tongs to prevent sticking. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 1.5 minutes. (the exact time can vary depending on thickness) Drain thoroughly, shaking off as much excess water as possible, and add to hot ramen broth.