How to make egg noodles

At home we usually make a lot of fresh pasta, we love it, but especially my son. I couldn't say what he likes more, whether sharing time together in the kitchen making it or later tasting it. He's a pasta fanatic. For a while now I've been introducing him to Asian cooking (which I adore!) and so far he likes it quite a lot. The easiest way to make a first approach are noodles. You could say they're immediate family to pasta, so with this I was playing it safe. So today I show you how to make egg noodles.

If you like this type of cuisine I'm sure noodles will be an ingredient that never lacks in your pantry. In my case that's true. I always have a wide variety of noodles for different preparations; made with egg, without egg, vermicelli, glass noodles, mung bean... Not to mention how versatile they are and how quickly you can prepare a wonderful dish with them. I almost dare say it's a better alternative than a sandwich! Although if it's a good Jabugo ham sandwich with tomato, I might have to think twice ;)

Making noodles at home

For those of you who are used to making fresh pasta at home, making noodles will be very easy. In fact, except for the type of flour we use, we won't notice a difference.

Personally I prefer fresh pasta made with durum wheat flour (semolina), not only for the flavor but also for the texture. For me there's no comparison. But in the case of noodles it's different, we need another type of finish and texture. In this case we're going to make thin noodles that will need very little cooking time.

We'll need very basic ingredients that we all have at home like flour, eggs, salt and water. Then we'll just have to mix the ingredients, knead them so they come together encouraging gluten development and let them rest. Rests are necessary, not only because when the proteins in the flour hydrate they make subsequent kneading easier and, therefore, better gluten development.

But also, we need our dough to be completely relaxed so that it allows us to stretch it without problems. And we achieve this thanks to resting the dough.

Do different proportions of water and egg influence the result?

Yes, absolutely yes.

Each ingredient contributes different characteristics to the preparation we're making. On one hand, the more egg the noodles contain the chewier they will be. On the other hand, the more water, the softer their texture will be. So the ideal is to achieve a good balance between both ingredients to get the best possible texture.

Always keep in mind that the flour will determine how much liquid your dough can absorb.

Shaping our noodles

Pasta, or in this case noodles, can be rolled out in various ways. Traditionally it was done with a rolling pin, this step is quite time-consuming though very rewarding, so it may not be suitable for everyone mainly for reasons of time.

We can also make them with the traditional pasta machine, which allows us to roll the dough, cut it if we have the attachment or, if not, cut it with a knife. Finally, we can make them with the KitchenAid pasta attachment which is incredibly convenient. We only have to hold the piece of dough while it is rolled out, and pass it again to achieve the desired thickness. Then we change the attachment and in a few seconds we'll have our noodles on the countertop. It couldn't be easier or faster!

The adaptation of the recipe and information are from the China Sichuan Food blog.

Ingredients (for 370gr of noodles)

• 240gr strong flour, W=200
• 2 eggs L
• 40-45gr water
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Maizena for dusting

Method

1. Prepare the noodle dough.
2. In the bowl of our mixer or KA, add the flour together with the salt and the eggs.
3. Mix with the flat beater at speed 1 until you obtain a sandy dough.
4. Begin to add the water little by little while mixing. You should obtain a homogeneous dough, but not overly wet.
5. Once our dough is more or less combined, turn it out onto a clean work surface and knead by hand. Do this until you notice the surface starting to become smooth, about 3-4 minutes.
6. Form a ball, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.

KitchenAid Artisan mixer and Seigaiha porcelain bowl by Tokyo Design Studio

Knead the dough a bit more

1. Remove the plastic wrap and knead the dough again. You will see that it is very relaxed and slightly sticky.
2. Knead again until you obtain a completely smooth surface.
3. Cover again with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.

Forming the dough ball, dust the dough with Maizena and cutting the dough

Roll out the dough

1. Attach our pasta attachment to the KitchenAid following the usage instructions. First we will use the smooth roller.
2. Dust a work surface with Maizena and place the dough. Also dust the surface of the dough with Maizena.
3. Flatten the dough slightly and cut it dividing it into two equal pieces.
4. Cover with plastic wrap the piece of dough you are not going to work with to prevent it from drying out.
5. Slightly roll out the portion you are going to stretch, turn on the KitchenAid and pass the dough through the roller at thickness 1 and speed 1. Do this 2 times at this thickness, the rest you will only pass once through each setting.
6. Reduce to thickness 2 and pass the dough through the roller again. Every two passes through the roller, I recommend dusting and spreading the surface of the pasta with Maizena to prevent the dough from sticking to itself.
7. Repeat this process until you reach thickness 6.
8. As you roll out the dough, it will gain a lot of length. Cut it in half when you no longer feel comfortable with its length and continue rolling.
9. Once all the dough is rolled out, dust well with Maizena on both sides, fold it over itself and cover with plastic wrap.
10. Repeat the same process with the other portion of dough.

Process of forming the noodles with the KitchenAid pasta attachment

Form the noodles

1. Change the roller attachment for the noodle cutter, the finer cutting one.
2. Take one of the rolled portions that we had reserved and wrapped in plastic. Pass it through the ridged roller.
3. Take the noodles, dust well with Maizena, remove the excess and form a nest. You can also leave them stretched if you prefer.
4. Repeat the process with the remaining rolled pieces.
5. Once we have our noodles we can consume them the same day (this would be ideal) or store them in a bag or airtight container and refrigerate them for a maximum of 24 hours.

KitchenAid Artisan mixer

Notes

• The flour I used to make the noodles is wheat and categorized as strong flour. Remember that depending on the type of flour you use its absorption capacity may vary and, therefore, the final amount of water it can take.
• If you prefer, you can use the wider attachment to form your noodles.
• Due to the use of fresh egg to make them, we cannot keep them refrigerated for more than 24 hours. If you want to postpone their use, I recommend freezing them in zip bags (well coated with Maizena) for a maximum of 1 week. Cook them directly from frozen.
• The cooking time for these noodles will depend on the final use we give them. If we are going to make fried noodles, we will boil them in boiling water for 1 minute and then stir-fry them for 6-8 minutes. If we are going to boil them to dress with vegetables, meat, sauces... In that case we will boil them for 4 minutes. Then we will cook/stir-fry them for 1-2 minutes with the rest of the ingredients.
• Once we have finished using all the KitchenAid pasta attachments, we should let them air dry for 1-2 hours. Then just gently shake each attachment to remove any remaining pieces, use a brush to clean the gaps well and wipe with a damp cloth.

Without a doubt I encourage you to prepare these egg noodles at home. They don't require much attention since the kneading is not intensive, quite the opposite, rather restrained. The rests will allow us to do other things at home or even get ahead with part of the preparation we'll make with them.

Rolling and cutting will take us only a few minutes if we use the KitchenAid attachment, it's really quick and convenient. If we have children at home, we can ask them to lend a hand and they'll gladly help.

To finish, just a few minutes of cooking and season them with whatever you like most. We can't wait for you to try them and tell us what you made them with.