Hand pulled noodles.

[chad]

Does anyone on GU know how to make hand pulled noodles? I need some pointers.

[Joshuayu101]

Does anyone on GU know how to make hand pulled noodles? I need some pointers.

I can give some tips.
What type of noodles are you making?

Asian or Italian variety?

[Xaine]

I believe Milenko is the forum expert on hand-pulled noodles

[Milenko]

oi!

[grandinferno]

I'll ask the missus if you'd be more specific. I'm guessing you're talking Asian noodles though... given noodles are an Asian thing right? If so, she'll know nothing. If it's Italian stuff, I'll ask. I've made pasta with her a few times.

[chad]

Im making these type of noodles.
How to Make Hand-Pulled Noodles

His receipe is this:
-156g cake flour <-- Replaced with Hong Kong Flour (similar protein content)
-25g regular flour <-- Replaced with our normal Aussie flour
-110g warm water (the warmer the better)
-2g salt
-1g baking soda <-- Replaced with Asian "lye water" I also have "kansui powder"
-6g vegetable oil

The general problem is this:
I've followed his instructions down to the letter. Put the dough in the dough making machine, it mixes the dough for 5 minutes. Then knee the dough like in his video for 20-30 minutes. Let it sit for 20 minutes.

The problem I'm running into, no matter what I do I can get the dough to stretch like in the video though its a bit inconsistent. For example parts that are easy to stretch and other parts that would not stretch as far. For example, I can get to about 1-2 loops though pulling any more on the dough will cause it to break.

Any tips?

[chad]

Have even following instructions from:

Her web page:
Tiny Urban Kitchen: Project Food Blog Round 7: Hand Pulled Noodles

And also:
The Artistry of Hand Pulled Noodles?|?DiningNewsAsia

[chad]

Generally I'm concluding that something is up with the gluten level in the flour that is being used, what type of flour should I be using for doing noodles like this and the ratio of flour to water?

[chad]

Forward note to anyone who reads this and attempts it. I apologies in advance LOL.

[chad]

Okay I think I've just found out my mistake. In the video she is rolls the dough once and then pull then twist, pulls then twist. Where in my situation I was pulling, twisting then rolling, pulling twisting then rolling over and over again.

[morge]

Having made bread and pasta in my experience(and I'm still not reliable at it yet) is the hardest part of a dough to get right is the initial knead and rest.
BTW I use TIPO 00 flour for pasta should be same for noodles. BTW if you decide to attempt bread(or anything with yeast) don't use tap water useless you leave it on the bench for few to let the chlorine leach out, it tends to kill the yeast.

[chad]

Well its 2 oclock in the morning, again for the 4th night in a row trying to make these hand pulled noodles. Sometimes I feel the dough is 'just' right and Its working out and then rips apart, or dough gets dry, or it doesn't stretch to the length,size i want.

Though I'm guessing that for these things you need to get two things correct. Dough consistency, and technique. The only problem I had last night was when stretching either end's of the dough the middle was all-ways left with more dough.

Any suggestions would be welcome, I'm going to go hunting for somebody in Darwin who can actually make these and watch them do it and take notes. Other than that, its been great fun and learn't a shit load with dough and it has improved my Biang Biang Noodles (chinese noodles) technique and results anyway

[Joshuayu101]

My internet is dodge so cant see the vid. But have you been doing the basics such as placing flour on ur hands and surface before kneading? Also, have a go at using conflower/corn starch in the recipe. Its best to go to an asian grocer for your ingredients as western crap tend to put extra shit that craps things up.

You might also have a look at your kneading technique as you probably letting too much air into the dough.

If all fails, go to china town and ask one of the small shops that make the noodles in their menu.

[chad]

Well Morge you we're spot on.

More research and calling Sydney, Perth, Aderlaid, Melbourn Chinese shops who do hand pulled noodles and resarching chinese wheat flour the results are this.

Chinese wheat flour prtein content is average between 12-14% portein. Found a couple of forums where some chinese students where having trouble re-creating family dishes here. The advise was that our plain flour is considered low protein. So that lead onto the research in Chinese flour.

Last night I used hong kong wheat flour and the dough just kept building up in the middle, and snapping when pulling. This was 100% hong kong flour without mixing with different flours. So I gave up last night and threw the dough out again.

Today I used 10.9% Protein Australian plain flour, and I was successfull able to make 3-4 loops out of the dough and make some average noodles, but a BIG improvement from previous (hong kong, low protein flour).

I still have to attempt to use the tipo 00 pastry, and also tipo 00 plain flour 12% protein.

Over-all after calling all the restruants (who mind you where a bit confused about my phone calls) most of them all replied that their recipe where wheat flour and water. That is it! Nothing more nothing less!

Soooo.... the conclusion from all this? Well you can make hand pulled noodles from Australian plain flour without needing to mix it with other flours. I'm hoping the higher gluten content in the 12% flour gets good results.

One major difference I did notice with the higher gluten content, was the dough evenly stretched. Where I believe the hong kong flour had a much lower gluten content causing the noodles easy to stretch, but not evenly accross the whole strand.

[insidious]

Im hungry