Make Egg Noodles
Egg noodles are easy to make, and will bring a welcome freshness to any pasta dish or soup. Usable for both Asian-inspired cuisines and Italian, these noodles are lightly customizable and quick to whip up.
Contents
Ingredients
- 3 cups of Flour
- 2 Large Eggs
- 2 egg yolk
- Pinch of Salt (1-2 teaspoons)
- 1/4-1/2 cup cold water
Steps
Making Egg Noodles
- Sift 3 cups of flour into a large bowl. If you don't have a sifter, use a fork or small whisk to break up any clumps so that it is an even powder throughout.
- Add a teaspoon of salt to the flour and whisk in. You can adjust this to taste, adding another pinch for a slightly saltier pasta, but don't add less. Salt, in small quantities, is a flavor enhancer, bringing out the richness of the eggs. Whisk to mix in evenly.
- Crack 2 eggs and 1 yolk into the cone-shaped well. Clear a small hole with your fingers in the middle of the flour to make a cone-shaped well. This will make it easy to mix the wet ingredients into the dough evenly. Then add your egg.
- Want a richer pasta? Add more egg yolk and less whole egg. This will develop a deeper yellow color and the richness some people crave with egg noodles.
- Use a fork to whisk up the eggs in the well, slowly incorporating the flour. As you whisk, you'll notice the flour slowly adding in as the fork catches the edges of the well. Keep making bigger and bigger swipes to get more and more flour into the egg, then pause about halfway through.
- Add a quarter cup of water and mix everything with the fork. You want to mix until you have a shaggy, loose dough. Depending on your environment, you may need more water, adding more if it is dry and less if it is humid. Your goal is this loose, shaggy, Play-Doh-like dough.
- Ditch the fork and knead the dough until it forms a soft, slightly sticky ball. Take the dough and fold it on itself, then press firmly into the top with the heel of your hand to kneed it. Rotate the dough and repeat this 4-5 more times. You'll know the dough is ready when it comes to the texture of wet Play-DohTM. If you don't quite like the texture of the dough, you can adjust now:
- Dough is too sticky: add a tablespoon more flour, sprinkled evenly, as you kneed.
- Dough is too dry: add a touch of water, slowly, and kneed in. The dough should be a little wet.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest for an hour. This allows the glutens to relax, leading to a more tender noodle This will make it easier for you to work, as well. Leave it in a cool, dry place.
- In a rush, this step is optional. Still, even 20 minutes will make the dough easier to work with.
- Lightly flour a large, open counter. Sprinkle a few tablespoons of flour onto your rolling surface. This will keep the noodle dough from sticking to your work surface.
- Roll the dough out on a floured surface to your desired thickness. Try and keep the ball of dough at least vaguely rectangular, allowing you to cut out nice long noodles. Keep rolling until the dough is almost paper thin-- when held up with your fingers, you should be able to see the outline of your fingers peeking through the dough.
- If you want thicker egg noodles, so be it! There is nothing that says you can't have big, beefy noodles.
- Use a sharp knife or a pizza cutter to cut noodles. Be quick yet firm with the cutter, getting nice long, even noodles. Many cooks then cut all the noodles in half to make them easier to cook and eat.
- Cook the noodles in boiling water or chicken broth until they float. This should only be 2-3 minutes as fresh noodles cook incredibly quickly. After the finish, drain immediately and serve.
Variations
- Hang and dry the noodles overnight if you want to save them. The noodles are best fresh, but you can also dry them out if you want to save them to cook later. Simply hang them over the back of a clean chair, on wire hangers, or a dedicated pasta drying rack overnight, then break into smaller pieces and store in an airtight bag the next morning.
- Use a different liquid in place of water. There are not a whole lot of options here, but you do have some variability when choosing liquids. Try out a low-fat milk for a slightly denser pasta, or use a dry white wine (like a Chardonnay) for a subtle, snappy pasta that goes well with Italian dishes.
- You could also try out lemon juice, though it should be cut halfway with water to avoid being too acidic.
- Add a light dusting of black pepper or finely ground herbs for flavored pasta. The most important thing to remember is to make sure they are finely ground, which will avoid lumps or broken pasta when cooking. Try out 2 teaspoons of:
- Black pepper
- Thyme
- Lemon zest
- Oregano
- Adjust a ratio of whole eggs and just yolks to make richer or lighter pasta. There are a lot of different theories about how to make the perfect egg noodles, and most of them vary in the number of eggs. When using 3 cups of flour, you have several options -- experiment to find your favorite:
- 3 yolks, one egg
- 4 whole eggs
- 2 whole eggs, 1 yolk, + 1/4 cup milk.
- Add a tablespoon of melted butter to get a little bit of added flavor. Simply pour the butter into the eggs and liquid mixture before fully blending everything together. This goes especially well if you've substituted milk for water in the earlier stages.
Tips
- Add noodles to chicken broth with some chicken and veggies (after the veggies are cooked) and you have chicken noodle soup!
- For easier cutting, flour the dough after it has been rolled out into a sheet. Then roll or fold the dough up into a cylinder. Cut crosswise in thin discs. Unroll each of the discs to get your noodles.
Warnings
- Don't add too much liquid, or they'll become gooey.
Things You'll Need
- Large bowl
- Spoon
- Pizza cutter
- Pan
- Rolling pin
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