Handmade Noodles: First Attempt

For anybody who trully knows me, they would know I am a sucker for noodles.  Whether it is of  Thai, Filipino, Vietnamese or Chinese in origin, I love noodles! Through the years, I have been able to reproduce all my favorite noodle dishes, however, never have I tried to make my own handmade noodles...until today.

I decided to have a go at making Chinese "la mian" or hand pulled noodles.  As the name implies, the noodles are made and pulled by hand without the aid of a machine.   It takes a tremendous amount of skill to make noodles all by hand, and even years of hard work and dedication to this skill.  That is why la mian masters are held in high esteem for their abilities to make noodles.  I remember watching a tv show some years back and seeing how easily a la mian master would make noodles.  It looks so easy that many believe they can do the same and I being one of them!

Two weeks ago, I began the process to research the whole process in making la mian noodles.  I watch youtube videos of masters at work, studying their techniques and taking notes on their methods.  I read recipes and also forums where amateur chefs, such as myself, shared their experience making la mian.  Many had commented that making the la mian dough was extremely difficult to reproduce.

However through my research I found that all can agree that high gluten flour is part of the key to a successful dough.  The gluten content of the the flour had to be able to create a dough that can be easily stretched when pulling and dividing the noodles.  The second key is the kneeding process.  The dough must be kneeded for at least 15 minutes to work the gluten and to create a dough that is soft, flexible, and workable.  The third is technique in stretching the dough, dividing and pulling the dough to make noodles.

Today I gave the process a try.  I am no stranger to handling dough and felt fairly confident in my ability to learn new things.  I began the process by combining 3 cups of high gluten flour with 1T salt and 220ml of warm water.  Once I formed a ball of dough I began kneeding the dough for 15 minutes.  After kneeding, I sat the dough aside to rest for 1 hour. I tested the texture of the dough and it seemed to be the right texture.

I began pulling and stretching the dough and noticed that although the dough was soft and pliable, it was still quite stiff and I was not able to pull the dough without it breaking. As you can imagine I was quite disappointed by my inabiltiy to pull of the process.  I then opted to roll out the dough and cut noodles instead.  After cutting the dough, I placed the noodles in a pot of boiling water and cooked it quickly.  To my surprise the noodles still came out tasting better than the store bought noodles I would buy at Asian groceries!

I did end up using the noodles to make Zha Jiang Mian (click here to go to recipe).

As the title of my blog implies, this was my first attempt and although I did not pull off the process of making la mian, it would not be my last.  I will continue to blog about my attempts to perfect this art of making hand pulled noodles.