Basic Chinese style homemade (handmade) Chinese noodles recipe. If you are searching for some idea about how to make yummy Chinese style noodle dishes, check Chinese noodle recipes.
It is really interesting when you make noodles at home. Chinese people especially people from the Northern provinces think this is just a routine for daily life. Homemade noodles usually provide a more chewy taste than store bought ones. If you visits Chinese friends, and they treat you with fresh handmade noodles, then I would love to congratulate you for a real friendship.
The basic steps are easy but there are lots of details for the perfect outcome.
Firstly about the basic ingredients:
For noodles, high gluten flour will be highly recommended for a chewy taste. But if you really do not care about the taste that much, all-purpose flour is quite Ok too.
About how much water;
Usually the dough for noodles should be tougher than steamed buns so for 250g flour, I would use around 120g of water. The ratio is slightly less than 2:1. However this is not a actuate number since different flours have different water-absorbing capacity. Usually high gluten flour has a higher water-absorbing capacity. So the rule is to add the water little by little and make some adjustment if necessary.
The toughness of the dough should be harder than steamed buns. You may feel difficult in kneading the dough at the very beginning. If you are not skilled in dealing with tough dough, rest it for around 10 minutes and then continue kneading until the dough is smooth.
If you use egg liquid to replace water partly or completely, then this will be homemade egg noodles.
Now let’s begin
Add flour, (egg) pinch of salt in a deep bowl. Pour in water step by step. Stir the flour with a tool. Stop pouring water when you see there is no dry flour in your bowl.
Grasp everything together and begin kneading the dough until your hand is clean, your bowl is clean and the dough has a smooth surface. Then keep kneading for another 10 minutes. Cover with a wet cloth and rest for around 30 minutes. After that, the dough will become slightly softer.
Transfer the dough to a floured operating board, should be large enough in picture 1. Roll it into a thick wrapper firstly as picture 2.
Roll the dough into rectangle or round wrapper with around 0.5 cm in thick, keeping remaining dough covered with flour (picture 3 and 4).
Fold the large dough wrapper around 5cm wide(picture 5) . Each time after folding up, spread the surface with flour. Cut the remaining part off.
Cut the folded dough into thin strips with a sharp and dry knife. (picture 6)
Spread flour on the surface before picking the noodle strips.
Unfold the strips one by one and then shake the extra flour off.
Here we are.
How to cook: cook the noodles in boiling water for around 4 minutes. Each time when the water is boiling in your pot, add around 1/4 cup of cold water, wait boiling again. Repeat the process once.
- 250 g high gluten flour , around 1 cup+2/3 cup
- 120 g water , around 120ml, can be replaced by egg liquid partly or completely
- Pinch of salt
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Add flour, pinch of salt in a deep bowl. Pour in water slowly. Stir the flour with a tool. Stop pouring water when there is no dry flour in the mixing bowl (depending on the flour you are using, the water absorption might be different. )
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Knead the dough until your hand is clean, your bowl is clean and the dough is smooth. Then keep kneading for another 10 minutes.
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Cover with a wet cloth and rest for around 30 minutes.
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Transfer the dough to a large floured operating board. Roll it into a thick wrapper firstly.
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Roll the dough into paper-thin rectangle or round wrapper, keeping remaining dough covered with flour.
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Roll the dough into rectangle or round wrapper with around 0.5 cm in thick, keeping remaining dough covered with flour.
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Fold the large dough wrapper around 5cm wide. Each time after folding up, spread the surface with flour. Cut any irregular part if necessary.
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Cut the folded dough into thin strips with a sharp and dry knife.
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Spread flour on the surface before picking the noodle strips.
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Unfold the strips one by one and then shake the extra flour off.
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Cook them directly or refrigerated up to 7 days in air--tight bags.
Cooked ! It tastes really good!
Hi! I have a little question, what’s the dough’s texture? is it an elastic one?
Yes, should be very elastic after well rested.
Made this noodle last night to go with my chicken soup base for dinner and my family loved it! Were a household of 8, inlaws, 4 young kids, hubby and I. I made 2x the recipe; however, next time I will need to make 3x the recipe. My kids slurped it all up without us begging them to eat their dinner properly…it was so nice…
I ran out of bread flour so just used all-purpose; however, the texture was still so good! It was chewy without sticking to our teeth! My kids and husband said it tasted like restaurant quality handmade noodles! One of my boys told me the noodle soup dinner reminded him of the noodle soup he gets at one of our favorite Taiwanese restaurant. I’m so happy!!
My hands and wrists was so sore from kneading the dough! I did have to take a break and let the dough rest after about 12 mins of kneading. Then I kneaded it again for another 10 mins before letting it rest for 30+ mins then rolled and cut. Cooking time took longer than 5 mins for me.
Looking forward to making this again. Next time I am going to attempt to make Shanghai stir fry (Shanghai Cho Cao) with this noodle. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Frankie,
Such an excellent family cook! You get a large group. I can imagine how hard to knead such a large amount of dough by hand. But you did it! Kneading has been my favorite exercise recently, make me feel good and calm. Happy cooking! Hope you enjoy it next time.
Hello !! I’ve made these several times and they’re always amazing ☺️ I was wondering, do you think I could replace the water with something like spinach or beet juice?
Sure! But remember to strain the juice and remove small bumps.
Good
Thanks!
My beloved wife and I stay in Kathmandu. I do love assist my wife in the kitchen. As the instructions and ingredients mentioned above, I tried and we ultimately found so wonderful. I used to think, manufacturing noodles is only possible in the factories using machines but this recipe is just beyond my imagination. Now I have encouraged my friend to start very small entrepreneurship during this pandemic. I hope, it will be more rewarding. Thank you so much for sharing such a wonderful idea.
Thank you for such a lovely comment. Making food at home can be quite comforting especially when you find nothing else to do. I hope all of you can enjoy the process.
i am about to make these noddles but i don’t know if i’m blind but how long to you cook them for?
You can use this is soup noodles or chow mein.
I have a question. When i make the dough sticky, after cutting them by machine and hanging them to get dry. They stick together and it is so hard to spear them. What shoud i do?
If you want to use machine to finish the following task, you need to adjust the water and flour ration. Add more flour and make a harder dough than handmade one. Then remember to dust with flour every time after going through the machine to avoid sticky. By the way, make sure your machine is water free.
Great! I like the way it’s explained. My mother always makes stuff by eye balling and even though I have been following the noodle recipe I was looking for something that I can learn everytime I m making it. Thank you for the explanation. I will try this.
Mitali, thanks for your lovely feedback. Hope it turns out great for you.
how long do you cook the noodles for?
Cook in boiling water for 4 to 5 minutes.