Traditional Japanese buckwheat noodles or soba requires much more labor and patience in cooking than ordinary wheat flour pasta. But soba contains fewer calories and carbohydrates, has a low glycemic index, and tasty dishes from it are obtained no less than the Italians types of famous pasta.
Pick your recipe
You will need
-
- 2 cups buckwheat flour;
- 1/2 cup wheat
- rice or soy flour;
- 3/4 cup of water.
Instruction manual
1
Mix buckwheat and wheat, rice or soy flour. The dough, mixed 100% from buckwheat flour, does not have enough elasticity, it will be dry and brittle. Sift flour through a frequent sieve into a large, wide bowl.
2
Add water to the flour. Do not pour all the water at a time, but pour a little while mixing the dough with the fingers of one hand. As soon as you feel the familiar consistency of a not-so-cool dough, stop adding water and start kneading the dough with both hands. Knead until you make sure you get a smooth, elastic dough without a single air bubble. This should take about 10 minutes.
3
Sprinkle the cutting surface with any flour except buckwheat, put the dough on it and start rolling it into a thin layer using a long and thin rolling pin. Roll out the dough until it becomes a thin layer no more than 3 millimeters in height.
4
Take a rolled sheet of dough and fold in half lengthwise. Repeat this operation four more times.
5
Use a very sharp wide knife to cut a narrow strip of dough. This will be the first portion of soba noodles. Cut the dough across until it ends.
6
Sprinkle flour on the cutting surface once more and “grow” the noodles so that they are divided into strips.
7
Use a pasta machine if you have one. After rolling out the dough, insert the spaghetti nozzle and “roll” the dough layers through the machine.
8
Heat water in a large saucepan and boil buckwheat noodles in boiling water for no more than 1 minute if you intend to use it later or if it is required by a recipe or until cooked.
9
Fold the noodles into a colander. Fresh buckwheat noodles are not stored for long, no more than 3-7 days in a sealed container in a cold place.
Useful advice
In various regions of Japan, in addition to flour, various ingredients are added to buckwheat noodles. It can be green tea, dried seaweed or wild yams.