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  • 8 hours ago
Ramen noodles from scratch are the key to building a better homemade ramen bowl with springy texture, chewy bite, and fresh restaurant-style flavor. This recipe focuses on making ramen dough with flour, water, salt, and alkaline seasoning such as kansui or baked baking soda, which helps create the firm texture and yellow tone associated with classic ramen noodles. The dough is kneaded, rested, rolled, and cut into thin strands so the noodles cook quickly while holding their shape in hot broth. As the noodles boil, they become elastic and bouncy, giving each bowl a satisfying bite that pairs well with shoyu, shio, miso, or tantanmen broth. The final noodles can be used fresh or portioned for later, making this a practical homemade method for ramen lovers who want stronger texture and better control over every bowl.
Transcript
00:00Hi, I'm Uto and today on Sudachi, I'm going to show you how to make quality homemade ramen noodles.
00:05They're way better than store-bought and only require a few ingredients. Let's get started.
00:11First, I'm going to use my weighing scales to measure 125 milliliters of water into a container.
00:18I recommend using soft water if possible. Add half teaspoon of salt, one that dissolves easily.
00:24I'm using fine sea salt. And then half a teaspoon of light water powder. We call this kansui.
00:31It's an alkaline substance that helps give the noodles their chewy texture. If you can't get kansui,
00:37you could also use baking soda in a pinch, but not baking powder. It's not exactly the same,
00:43but I've tried it and it works. Mix those together until completely dissolved.
00:55Next, sift 300 grams of bread flour into a large bowl. It's important to use high-gluten wheat flour to
01:03make good ramen noodles. All-purpose or cake flour don't work for this recipe. Again, I recommend
01:09using scales for accuracy and consistency. Next, we're going to add the water mixture little by little
01:19and mix into large shaggy crumbs form. By the way, if you can only get liquid light water,
01:25dilute it according to the package instructions so that you have 125 milliliters of liquid in total.
01:33125 milliliters of lye water to 300 grams of flour creates a 41% hydrated dough. This percentage is
01:41ideal for first timers because the dough will be more malleable and less likely to tear. If you're
01:47confident, I recommend using a little less water, like 35%. 35% is my favourite in terms of texture.
01:56Remember that higher water percentage is more suitable for thicker noodles,
02:00and a lower water percentage is ideal for thinner noodles. Keep this in mind when deciding how thick
02:06you want your ramen noodles to be. I've experimented with different percentages
02:11and written about them on my blog if you're interested in learning more.
02:19Okay, when it looks like this, transfer the crumbs to a large sealable freezer bag and then leave it to
02:24rest for an hour at room temperature. This will allow the liquid to distribute evenly through the flour,
02:31creating perfectly hydrated dough.
02:39After an hour, let's knead it. The traditional Japanese way is to use a feed,
02:44so leave in the bag and stomp on it until it's flattened and fill the bag.
02:49When it looks like this, take it out of the bag, fold it in thirds and then return it to
02:55the bag.
03:07We're going to keep repeating this for about 15 minutes or until smooth.
03:13Once it's smooth like this, push the air out, seal it up and leave it to rest for at least
03:1824 hours.
03:21Okay, my dough has been resting for 24 hours, so now it's ready to roll and cut.
03:27Start by rolling it by hand and then cut it into manageable pieces. I'm cutting it into four pieces
03:34to fit my pasta machine, but if you double or triple the recipe, you will need to divide it more.
03:47I'm using this Mercato Atlas 150 pasta machine with the regular spaghetti cutting attachment.
03:53I recommend a pasta machine because it is quite hard to get the dough thin enough by hand.
03:58You can also use a 1mm cappellini cutter for extra thin noodles, which is ideal for Hakata-style
04:05tonkotsu ramen or a 3.5mm trinette attachment for thick noodles like the ones used for tsukemen or jiroke.
04:14Set your pasta machine to zero or its widest setting and run each piece of dough through.
04:22I'm going to move down one setting at a time until I reach my desired thickness,
04:27which is number 5 on this pasta machine. If the surface gets tacky at any point,
04:38dust with a small amount of flour to make sure it doesn't stick.
04:42I don't recommend going any thinner than the 5 setting, even for extra thin noodles. I tried it
04:49and it didn't work well. Once all your pieces look like this, it's time to cut.
04:54The most standard ramen is a similar size spaghetti, so if you have a 2mm spaghetti attachment, that's
05:01perfect. Just feed them through the cutters and if they seem sticky at all, you can dust a little
05:07more flour. I have to say, although there's a bit of work and resting time involved, this is a recipe
05:13that I actually make quite often. They're the closest you can get to enjoying ramen restaurant quality at
05:19home. They're better than store-bought and can be compared to instant ramen. They're in a completely different league.
05:26If you're not cooking them straight away, divide them into separate portions and wrap with plastic wrap.
05:32If you worry about them sticking together, dust them with extra flour.
05:36Place them gently in a sealable freezer bag, being careful not to press or squash them.
05:43You can freeze them up to a month and cook from frozen. You'll just need to increase the boiling
05:48time a little. If you want to cook them straight away, bring a large pot of water to a rolling
05:55boil
05:55and cook the noodles for 1 minute. If you made extra thin ramen, reduce it to 45 seconds. If you
06:03made
06:03thicker type, increase it to 1 minute and 15 seconds. Once they're cooked, drain thoroughly and rinse
06:10with cold water to remove excess starch and prevent overcooking. If you plan to serve them hot, rinse
06:17with hot water before adding them to your soup. And that's it. You can use these homemade ramen noodles
06:23in ramen soups, yakisoba, hiasu chuka, and more.
06:34And great news, I've launched a free mobile app that makes following along with my recipes even easier.
06:40It's the perfect kitchen companion after watching my videos. You can access step-by-step instructions
06:45right on your phone while you cook. The download link is in the description below.
06:51If you want to learn more, check out my detailed tips, tricks, and experiment logs, or on my blog.
06:58You can also submit results of your own experiments, and I'll add them to the post.
07:03I have lots of delicious homemade ramen soup recipes you can try, so check out the link on the screen
07:09for
07:09more info. And if you're interested in ramen recipe videos, I put the playlist on the screen too.
07:16Thanks so much for watching, and I hope to see you in the next one. Bye.
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