Linda's Healthy Homemade Soba Noodles

[Guest guest]

Haven't made this recipe, but thought I'd pass it on

for those who don't have an ethnic or healthfood store

nearby.

Chupa

 

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Linda's Healthy Homemade Soba Noodles

5 cups of light buckwheat flour

2 3/4 cups unbleached wheat flour

2 cups hot water

 

 

 

 

 

In large mixing bowl, blend flours. While mixing the

flour together in a circular motion with your hand,

stir in 1 3/4 cups of hot water in a continuous manner

stirring constantly to avoid lumps from forming.

 

Using hands, mix until all flour is moistened. Using

both hands, grasp the damp flour between your finger

tips, pressing the flour between your palms and

letting it drop back into the bowl. Work the flour in

this manner until it feels like little pebbles.

 

Grab a handful of flour with both hands and squeeze

tightly. You will feel the flour starting to take on

body. Break the handfuls of dough apart, let them drop

back into the bowl and then form another two handfuls.

Work the flour for about 2 or 3 minutes in the above

fashion repeating until the flour begins to get

sticky. This is what is called “tapping” or

“blossoming” the dough.

 

Add the remaining water and continue working the dough

by grabbing with your hands, rubbing and dropping it

back into the bowl. You will notice the pebbles

expanding.

 

Knead in a pumping fashion, exerting lots of pressure

from the shoulder area. Old Japanese herbalists claim

that making soba noodles is a therapeutic workout for

tense muscles in shoulder, arms, wrists, and hands.

Work the dough until it can be formed into one big

smooth ball.

 

Continue kneading until smooth and elastic, rolling

around inside of the bowl to rid the dough of hidden

air pockets.

 

Divide the dough into 6 equal portions and form into

balls. Place in another bowl and cover with a damp

cloth.

 

Sprinkle a large work surface with buckwheat flour and

roll out a ball of dough until it is about 1/8 inch

thick, making length about twice as long as width.

 

Lay the sheet of dough on countertop that has been

lightly sprinkled with buckwheat flour. Roll out

remaining balls of dough, sprinkling each sheet

lightly with buckwheat flour before layering on top of

each other.

 

Transfer the layers to a cutting board and cut the

layers in half, restacking neatly. Fold in half.

 

To cut noodles, place one hand on dough as a guide and

using sharp knife, cut into thin noodles about 1/8

inch wide. Strive to work the knife in a smooth,

continuous slice for uniform noodles.

 

When the noodles are sliced, separate gently with your

hands. They are now ready for cooking.

 

 

To cook fresh soba noodles:

As with any pasta, use plenty of water for cooking. A

general rule of thumb is to use 4 quarts of water per

pound of noodles. Bring water to a rolling boil. Add

noodles while stirring gently back and forth with a

long wooden spoon. When the starch begins to dissolve,

the water will turn milky. As the water reaches a

second boil, it will start to foam and rise quickly to

the top. Be ready to lower the heat to keep it from

running over. Once heat is lowered, simmer for 1

minute. A properly cooked soba noodle should be

tender, firm, and chewy. Set strainer over another

large pot and pour noodles into strainer catching the

cooking liquid known as soba yu. This liquid contains

valuable nutrients and can be used in the broth or

saved for another day’s soup. Empty the noodles from

the strainer into a large bowl of cold water and rinse

well. This step firms up the noodles and washes off

excess starch. Rinse well. If you are serving the

noodles cold, rinse in ice water, drain well and chill

until serving time. If serving noodles hot, they can

be reheated by dipping into hot water or broth for

about a minute.

 

Makes about 2 1/2 pounds of noodles with 1 1/4 pounds

of noodles serving 4.

 

Source: Linda Gabris, Backwoods Home Magazine

Formatted by Chupa Babi in MC: 08.24.07

 

LindaNote: You can spread excess noodles on a

chopping board or drape noodles over a clean bamboo or

other type of stick to air dry. When all the moisture

is gone, store noodles in an airtight container which

will give them a long shelf life. They are very

fragile and break easily so handle carefully. Or you

can freeze fresh made noodles for future use by

packaging in zip-lock bags, although I find soba

noodles are always best when eaten fresh. I usually

put the surplus noodles in a sealed container and set

in the fridge where they keep very well for up to a

week. Once you taste how good these noodles are, you

will not have to worry about what to do if the batch

is too big for one sitting. Do not cut the recipe in

half as I have found that a smaller amount of dough is

harder to work with as is larger batches of dough so

don’t increase the recipe either.

 

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