We’ve been eating a lot of soup lately, Vietnamese Pho, Italian Wedding Soup, Thai Lemon Grass Soup and Japanese Ramen. The Ramen has been a favourite because of the soft boiled egg and the delicious noodles. I haven’t been able to find authentic fresh ramen noodles so I’ve been using those horrible little Ramen soup packets (don’t worry, I toss everything but the noodles) that we can usually get for 4 for $1.00 (you know those awful little packets we used to eat when we were poor students?). But I had an urge to make my own ramen noodles. I reviewed several recipes and discovered that they are not that difficult but they are time-consuming (isn’t anything good time-consuming?) I wasn’t able to source the sodium carbonate without having to buy about 250 g (that would last me years!) so I followed the directions to make my own and it worked out perfectly.
The noodles take a bit of effort to make but they are well worth it. They are significantly better than the packaged noodles and they are a little heartier. I made two servings of the noodles which turned out to be 4 servings so I dried half of them for next time.
Homemade Ramen Noodles
Makes 2-4 servings
For the original recipe, please click here.
Ingredients:
- 3 g sodium carbonate (baked baking soda)
- 80 g water
- 2 g kosher salt
- 2 g vital wheat gluten
- 198 g “00” bread flour
Directions:
- Combine the baked baking soda and water and stir until the baked baking soda has entirely dissolved. Add the salt and stir to dissolve.
- Combine the vital wheat gluten in the large container of your food processor fitted with the blade attachment and process once or twice to combine the wheat gluten and flour.
- On a medium/low speed, pour one-third of the water into the bowl and process. Allow to rest for 30 seconds, add the second third and allow to rest for 30 seconds and finally finish with the last third of water combo and process for about a minu or until it is quite crumbly, allow to rest for 30 minutes.
- When rested, pour the dough onto a piece of parchment and press the dough together into a ball. Divide the ball into two and form two disks (the dough is very dry at this point). Roll each disk out so that it is about 0.5 cm so it will fit through the largest setting of your pasta maker. Wrap the disk you are not working on with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out further.
- Put the dough through the thickest setting, then the second thickest, then the third and fourth thickest. Fold the dough in half and start again on the thickest setting to the fourth thickest setting. Repeat the process two more times. Fold the dough and wrap in plastic wrap and allow to rest for 30 minutes. Repeat with the second disk.
- Once they have rested, (I cut the sheets in half so that they are not too long) lightly coat each side of the sheets with flour and run the sheets through the spaghetti attachment and fold them into loose nests. Put them into a ziplock bag overnight in the refrigerator (this helps improve the taste and texture).
- Cook for about 2 minutes or until al dente in boiling UNSALTED boiling water (the exact time will depend on how thick your noodles are). Drain and rinse. Use immediately.
Notes:
Why these specific ingredients are important:
- Bread flour has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour which give the noodles a chewy texture.
- Adding vital wheat gluten gives the noodles an even chewier texture.
- Sodium carbonate (baked baking soda) gives the noodles elasticity, springiness and glossiness as well as flavour.
- The Ramen soup recipe I follow is this one.
Baked Baking Soda
- I baked about 115 g of baked baking soda so I don’t have enough for ten years! By using the 2/3 weight as per the instructions, it will take 2-5 hours. Once you have dehydrated the baking soda, it becomes extremely caustic, so don’t let it come into contact with your skin. Store in an airtight container.
[…] make low-carb Ramen noodles, add 2.7 g of sodium carbonate (baked baking soda see notes here) to the dry ingredients and follow the instructions above. To cook, enough water to cover with an […]
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Wow!!!! I’m in awe, Eva! Your noodles look really professional! And the ramen bowls make them look just perfect. I’d never even try making my own ramen noodles… I tried once udon and it was a catastrophe.
I’ve never made (or even tasted!) miso ramen. In Japan we always take the spicy tantanmen and here at home I prepare the chicken stock-based ramen broth (obviously with store-bought, factory-made noodles).
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Though I too have tossed the seasoning pack these noodles would still be the greatest of treats. GREG
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Hi Eva! I love ramen in Japan, but have made it only once or twice. The process of making the fresh ramen is very much like making Italian fresh pasta, except for adding the baked baking soda. I had not heard of the resting overnight in the fridge step before — I’ll try that next time.
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Hi Stefan, thank you for your comment. The other difference with Italian pasta and Ramen is the Ramen requires quite a bit of kneading in the pasta rollers and virtually no hand kneading.
Ramen has been a weekly meal for us since the winter. I had mentioned to JT that our Ramen days are coming to an end with the warmer weather but he insisted we still have a few chilly weeks left to be able to enjoy this flavourful soup.
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I know how it is with pasta and bread: so simple in a way, but so much work. But I also know that, as much as you may like either of these things store-bought, homemade, they’re just freakishly better! So, I take your word for how good these noodles are. But you made your own sodium carbonate? How cool is that?
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Thanks Jeff, I’m always up for a challenge.
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The noodles/soup bowl look great.
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Thank you kindly Maria.
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Fresh noodles can be cooked up to three days before serving and stored in the refrigerator sprinkled with flour in a sealed container and portioned loosely wrapped in plastic wrap. The process of preparing fresh noodles is greatly simplified using a machine for rolling and cutting pasta, either manually or as an attachment to a kitchen mixer.
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Thanks for your comment Emma, very good information. We generally only have ramen once a week so I store my little bundles in the freezer. Ramen noodles are best when cooked directly before serving but they are best aged in the refrigerator for at least one day.
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YUM!!! I don’t even mind the cheapo ramen noodles, but yours must taste a billion times better!! Your whole meal looks terrific!!
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Thanks Liz, what I love about the homemade ramen is the slippery feel in the mouth, totally different than italian noodles.
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I’ve never made my own ramen noodles! Just the those packages (sans the flavoring powder). I should give this a whirl. I’ve made my own ramen before, though — fun stuff. Really tasty looking dish — thanks.
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It’s definitely worth the effort John. Thanks for the comment.
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Noodles from scratch – I’m impressed! I’ve only made homemade pasta for a couple of times, and I didn’t realize the dough for noodles is slightly different. Interesting thing about baked baking soda; I’ve actually seen it in some recipes, but now I will know it’s easy to make:)
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I make a variety of noodles from scratch, it’s so easy. These ramen noodles have such an interesting mouth-feel, they really make an enjoyable experience. Other than the resting time, I whipped up a batch in about an hour yesterday.
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Hi Eva!
How are you? I hope you and JT are doing well and staying healthy during these long, cold, lockdown winter months. Hopefully warmer weather and improved COVID numbers are just around the corner and we can all start enjoying life with our loved ones soon 🙂
I was excited to see your post about the ramen noodles, as we make ramen all the time! Only with store bought Japanese noodles, which we get from the Asian market near us – C&C, on Don Mills. Have you ever been there? It’s amazing. Kev and I love browsing and shopping there.
The link in your email went to a page not found message. I thought I’d mention it in case you weren’t aware!
Thanks so much for all the recipes you post! So many of them have become family favourites in our house!
Stay well – and have a great week! Michela
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We are well in these very strange times, thank you for asking. JT and I hope you guys are well too. I’m hoping things will turn around as we are all getting vaccinated but I’m not holding my breath.
Thank you too, for the feedback about the links, I’ll check it out.
Your compliment about the recipes put an ear-to-ear smile on my face, which seems to be struck in scorn-mode these days. It really makes me happy that your family enjoys my recipes, thank you.
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I checked the link and I wonder if it is because I noticed a typo in the original title and I changed it before I published it. I’ll pay better attention to the headings and the short links wordpress provides.
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