Homemade Udon Noodles

The Friday before Labor Day, my office granted us an early dismissal so I went home shortly after lunch, took George Michael on a long walkies, and then lounged around in my bed watching YouTube videos. I stumbled across a Japanese food channel, Cooking with Dog, and a video on how to make udon noodles.

I figured I could be a little extra with dinner that day since I had the time so I did a little research and ended up making udon noodles by hand. I used the noodles in a simplified version of my chicken & vegetable udon soup (by using store bought chicken stock and just whatever vegetables I had in the fridge plus some seaweed) and it turned out pretty fantastic. It wasn't as good as Marukame Udon in Hawaii, but it still hit the spot.

Ingredients [per serving]:
100 grams cake flour
5 grams salt
40 to 45 grams water, room temperature
+ gallon size zip-top bag
+ cornstarch

Start by measuring out the cake flour into a large bowl.

Weigh out the salt and dissolve it in water.

Gently and slowly drizzle about half of the water all over the flour.

Use your hands to toss the flour around and do your best to evenly distribute the water until the mixture resembles beach sand.

Add more water, one tablespoon at a time, tossing and mixing until the dough is crumbly and starts to come together.

Once the dough is a solid mass, it's time to knead.

Put the dough in the bottom of a zip top bag. Do not seal the bag; just fold it in half.

Use a rolling pin to press and roll the dough out into a rectangle inside of the bag.

Roll up the dough, rotate 90 degrees, and repeat this again and again (I did it 10 times) until the dough is smooth and elastic. The kneading process is an awesome workout. My arms and abs were actually sore the next day.

Leave the dough to rest for two hours.

Use cornstarch on your board and rolling pin to keep the dough from sticking and roll out to ⅛" thick.

Sprinkle starch generously all over both sides of the slab of dough and fold into thirds.

Use a sharp knife to cut into noodles.

Unfold the noodles and separate them onto a pan.

Bring a big pot of water to a rolling boil and add in the noodles. Reduce the heat and allow the noodles to simmer for 15 minutes with the lid on.

Drain the noodles and massage under cold running water. This step will ensure the noodles are deliciously chewy. These noodles can be enjoyed by dipping in soba sauce, in a stirfry, or in a soup.

I made a quick soup using onions, garlic, ginger, hot peppers, seaweed, and scallions.

Throw the noodles in just at the last second and serve immediately.

Homemade udon is so worthwhile. The noodles are super chewy and elastic and I just love that they're made fresh with so few ingredients and zero preservatives.

Here's the recipe page: