Ingredients
- What Are Ramen Noodles?
- How I Developed This Recipe
- Key Ingredients & How to Choose Them
- Equipment That I Used
- Let’s Talk About Water Ratio
- Visual Walkthrough & Very Important Tips
- How to Store
- Our Experiment Logs Success and Failure for Different Variations
- Alternatives for Homemade Ramen
- FAQ & Troubleshooting
- Make These Dishes with Homemade Ramen!
- Printable Recipe
- Cake Flour (Hakurikiko): Low gluten content and fine particle size. When used in cooking, it produces a “fluffy” and “crispy” texture. Major uses of light flour include cakes andtempura.
- All-Purpose Flour (Churikiko): Everything in the middle. It is commonly used forudonand somen noodles due to its moderate viscosity and elasticity, resulting in a slightly chewy texture.
- Bread Flour (Kyorikiko): High gluten content and coarse particle size. This is the one you need for ramen noodles.
- Mold growth
- Hardening
- Quality deterioration
- Water content:46%
- Alkaline agent:Baking soda
- Resting time:1 Hour + Overnight
- Pasta machine dial:0-8
- Pasta machine attachment:Capellini (1 mm)
- Result:Fail
- Water content:46%
- Alkaline agent:Baking soda
- Resting time:1 Hour + Overnight
- Pasta machine dial:0-3
- Pasta machine attachment:Trenette (3.5 mm)
- Result:Success
- The combination of a high-water-content dough and a thin noodle type (Capellini, 1 mm) resulted in noodles that were doubled up and had a strange appearance.
- The thin noodles made from high water content dough had a texture that was too soft after boiling, indicating that this combination is not suitable.
- Setting the machine dial to 8 for thin noodles was unnecessary and contributed to the poor noodle quality. Even for thin noodles, a dial setting of 5 is sufficient.
- Thick noodles (Trenette, 3.5 mm) made from a high-water-content dough resulted in a nice chewy texture that is well-suited for tsukemen.
- The success of this experiment demonstrated that high water content dough is compatible with thicker noodle types.
- The success of Experiment 2 using the same dough as Experiment 1 confirmed that the use of baking soda as a substitute for lye water was not the cause of the failed noodles.
- Water content:33%
- Alkaline agent:Lye water powder
- Resting time:1 Hour + 2 days (refrigerated)
- Pasta machine dial:0-5
- Pasta machine attachment:Spaghetti (1.5 mm)
- Result:Success
- Water content:33%
- Alkaline agent:Lye water powder
- Resting time:1 Hour + 4 days (refrigerated)
- Pasta machine dial:0-5
- Pasta machine attachment:Capperini (1 mm)
- Result:Success
- A low-water content (33%) dough makes excellent thin, hard noodles, which are ideal for specific preferences.
- Extended resting periods (2-4 days) are beneficial for low-water content dough, improving the texture.
- For thin noodles (1 mm), keep the pasta machine dial up to 5 instead of going higher setting.
- There’s no real difference in quality between 2 and 4 days of resting.
- The low-water content dough takes more effort to stretch, so factor that into your noodle-making process.
- Water content:35%
- Alkaline agent:Lye water powder
- Resting time:1 Hour + 1 day (refrigerated)
- Pasta machine dial:0-5
- Pasta machine attachment:Capperini (1 mm)
- Result:Success
- A 35% water content dough is easier to handle than 33% while still producing excellent thin, hard noodles.
- The capellini cutter (1 mm) produced noodles with a slightly flat cross-section at the current dial setting. Further experimentation with higher dial settings on the pasta machine may be necessary to achieve a more rounded cross-section.
- The taste and texture of the noodles were excellent.
- Water content:35%, 40%
- Alkaline agent:Egg (and lye water for some)
- Resting time:1 Hour + 1 day (refrigerated)
- Pasta machine dial:0-5
- Pasta machine attachment:Spaghetti (1.5 mm), Trenette (3.5 mm)
- Result:Success & Failure
- mm thickness is too thick for miso ramen.
- Egg-only noodles produce a better color than those with added lye water.
- Starch is significantly better than flour as a dusting powder.
- Pork Miso Ramen in 15 Minutes (Sapporo Style)
- Shoyu Ramen (Soy Sauce Flavored Chuka Soba)
- Chicken Shio Ramen (Salt Base Broth)
- Spicy Tsukemen (Dipping Ramen)
- MARCATO 150 Pasta Machine
- MARCATO Spaghetti Cutting Attachment
- 125 ml water
- 1/2 tsp lye water powderor an equal amount of baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 300 gbread flourplus extra for dusting
- Measure125 ml waterinto a container and add1/2 tsp lye water powderand1/2 tsp salt. Mix until fully dissolved and completely blended into the water.
- Sift300 g bread flourinto a large mixing bowl.
- Add the lye water little by little and mix with your hands (or chopsticks) after each addition until crumbs form.
- Stop adding water once all of the flour becomes dough-like crumbs (sprinkle a little more if there is still dry flour in the bowl). It's important not to add too much water.
- Transfer the crumbs to a large sealable freezer bag, push the air out and seal. Rest for 1 hour at room temperature.
- After 1 hour, place the bag on the floor and knead the dough by stepping on it with your foot. Step until the dough is flattened and fills the bag.
- Take it out and fold it into thirds, then return to the bag and repeat until you have a smooth dough (approximately 15 minutes of kneading).
- Once smooth, return to the bag and seal. Rest at room temperature for 24 hours.
- The next day, remove the dough from the bag and place it on a clean dry surface sprinkled with a small amount of flour.
- Roll the dough out thinly and then cut it into four manageable piece snarrow enough to fit through your pasta machine.
- Feed each piece through the pasta machine at the widest setting (usually 0) then reduce and repeat until you get to setting 5. If the surface of the dough feels tacky at any point, dust with flour to prevent sticking.
- Attach the spaghetti cutting attachment and roll each piece through.
- Start heating a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Once boiling, add the noodles and cook for 1 minute. Once cooked, pour through a colander to drain and wash with cold water. Rinse with hot water to warm through before serving.
- Lightly dust the noodles with extra flour to prevent sticking.
- Wrap each bundle with plastic wrap, being careful not to press or crush them. Place the bundles in a sealable freezer bag. If using the same day, store in the refrigerator. If you don't plan to use them within 2-3 days, store in the freezer for up to 3 months and boil from frozen for 1 minute.
Instructions
- Measure 125 ml water into a container and add ½ tsp lye water powder and ½ tsp salt . Mix until fully dissolved and completely blended into the water.
- Sift 300 g bread flour into a large mixing bowl.
- Add the lye water little by little and mix with your hands (or chopsticks) after each addition until crumbs form.
- Stop adding water once all of the flour becomes dough like crumbs (sprinkle a little more if there is still dry flour in the bowl). It's important not to add too much water.
- Transfer the crumbs to a large sealable freezer bag, push the air out and seal. Rest for 1 hour at room temperature.
- After 1 hour, place the bag on the floor and knead the dough by stepping on it with your foot. Step until the dough is flattened and fills the bag.
- Take it out and fold it into thirds, then return to the bag and repeat until you have a smooth dough (approximately 15 minutes of kneading).
- Once smooth, return to the bag and seal. Rest at room temperature for 24 hours.
- The next day, remove the dough from the bag and place it on a clean dry surface sprinkled with a small amount of flour.
- Roll the dough out thinly and then cut it into four manageable pieces narrow enough to fit through your pasta machine.
- then reduce and repeat until you get to setting
- If the surface of the dough feels tacky at any point, dust with flour to prevent sticking.
- Attach the spaghetti cutting attachment and roll each piece through.
Tips
If you can’t find store-bought fresh ramen noodles in your area, the next easy option would be dry noodles. It’s important to note that we’re talking about dry ramen noodles here, not instant noodles.