Making Midwest egg noodles from scratch
These are the noodles that Rob learned to make at the knee
of his Grandma Cookson that were made on holidays and often served over mashed
potatoes instead of plain gravy. He also
uses them when making other dishes that call for egg noodles, such as chicken
and noodles (dumplings) and beef and noodles.
Andy, our son, wanted us to make a pictorial guide to making noodles, so
I figured this is as good a place to do it as any since there might be others
who might like it as well.
Rob figures 1 egg per 2 people, but he always rounds up and
does even numbers of eggs because he makes the noodles in 2 egg batches. This keeps the dough to a small enough size
to handle and roll out easily. He always
makes at least 2 batches of 2 eggs, because he figures that while you are
making the mess, you might as well make plenty because you can always freeze
what you don’t cook.
Ingredients (for 8 servings with possible leftovers):
At least 10
cups of flour
4 eggs
Equipment
Medium
mixing bowl
Large sharp
knife
Rolling pin
Newspaper,
wax paper, or parchment paper
Pastry mat
(optional if you can cut lightly on your working surface)
Cutting
board (optional if you have a pastry mat or can cut on your working surface)
Other ingredients needed when cooking the noodles
Roast
turkey, chicken, or beef drippings
4-5 cans of
chicken broth, if having roast turkey or chicken
4-5 cans of
beef broth, if having roast beef
Chicken
bouillon (we prefer the paste)
Beef
bouillon (we prefer the paste) – Rob uses a little even for turkey or chicken
because he thinks it makes the noodle gravy taste richer.
Salt,
pepper
All ingredients should be at room temperature, so take the
eggs – and flour if you keep it there -- out of the refrigerator the night
before. It’s best to make the noodles in
the morning, because it is best if they dry at least 3-4 hours before you start
cooking them.
Thoroughly clean and dry a large section of counter, table,
or other flat surface where you can roll out dough.
Making the Dough
Put several cups of flour in a medium mixing bowl and make a
well in the middle for the eggs. Crack 2
eggs into the well you have made in the flour.
With a pinching action using the tips of the fingers and thumb of 1
hand, begin breaking up the egg yolks and mixing them with the whites.
After the yolks and whites are starting to blend together,
widen your pinching action to start pulling in flour a little at a time.
Soon a wet pasty dough will begin to form and you will
eventually need to change from a pinching action to a kneading action.
Repeat the above steps for the other 2 eggs. If you have left over flour in the bowl when
you have the 2nd dough ball at the right consistency, don’t worry
that you will waste it because you will need extra flour when you are rolling
out the dough.
Once you have made all of your batches of dough, it is time
to start rolling!
Rolling out the
Dough
Dust flour on your rolling surface and your rolling pin. Flatten out your first dough ball by hand a bit, give both sides a good dusting of flour, and then start rolling it out with your rolling pin.
You need to push and roll with enough even pressure that the dough gradually spreads out without tearing. Dust the dough with more flour if it starts to stick to the rolling pin. If the dough starts to stick to the rolling surface, dust the top surface with flour, gently turn the dough over – use your knife to gently scrape the dough free if it sticks at any area – dust the new top surface with flour, and then start rolling again.
As you roll, the dough will get longer in the direction you are rolling, so you will need to either turn the dough or adjust where you are standing so that you can roll the dough in another direction. The final shape of the rolled dough doesn’t really matter, but it is usually easier to keep the dough thickness more even if you roll the dough in different directions. Remember to flour the dough, turn it over, and flour it again, from time to time to keep it from sticking to your rolling surface.
Continue to roll out the dough until it is fairly thin. Generally, it is time to stop rolling when
the dough is thin and stops stretching easily.
Cutting the Dough
Now it is time to cut the dough in strips. It’s best if the rolled out dough is flat to
cut, but if you don’t have a rolling mat and you can’t cut on your rolling
surface without damaging it, you can fold the dough so that it will fit on a
cutting board.
Cut the dough in 2-3 inch wide strips. If you like longer noodles, cut the strips wider. Don’t worry if each strip is a slightly different width, and likewise, don’t worry if your last strip is wider or narrower than the rest. For most people, this variation is one of the things they like about handmade, hand-cut noodles.
Next, stack the strips neatly. Start on the bottom with the longest, widest strip, but it’s best if you don’t stack the rest in order of length. Mix them up so that your stack ends up looking fairly uniform when you are done stacking. If you have shorter narrower strips, put them somewhere in the middle of your stack – you can even overlap them slightly if they are short enough.
Next, cut the stacked strips in thirds and then stack the thirds – if you like longer noodles, you may not want to stack your thirds, because cutting shorter stacks for the final cuts will give you more control.
Now it is time to cut the noodles into their final
shapes! Rob likes cutting on a cutting board at this
point, because you have to exert more pressure to get through the stacks.
He likes to cut the noodles as thin as possible, partly because they will dry faster, partly because that’s the way his Grandma Cookson did it so that's the way he likes them, and partly because you tend to cut them thicker as time goes on and you get a bit tired of cutting them so thin.
Don’t worry about cutting entirely across the stack each time if it just doesn’t work out that way. Again, the varied lengths and widths are one of the things many people like about handmade noodles.
Drying the Noodles
After you finish cutting the stack into noodles, fluff your pile of noodles gently and dust them with more flour if they stick together at all.
If you are going to use the same surface to dry the noodles, set the pile of noodles aside until you are finished rolling and cutting all of the dough.
If you are using a different surface, you can go ahead and cover the surface with newspaper, parchment paper, or wax paper.
Take the pile of noodles and sprinkle them gently onto the paper, spreading them out. If you are using newspaper and there is a large dark section, such as a dark picture, don't put any noodles on it as the noodles may absorb some of the ink and look discolored.
Repeat the rolling and cutting process with the remaining
dough balls one by one. If you are using
a different surface to dry the noodles, sprinkle them out on the paper as you
go. If you will be using the same
surface, once you are done cutting all of the noodles, cover the surface with
the paper and then sprinkle the noodles onto the paper.
The noodles will take 3-4 hours or so to dry, depending on
the temperature and humidity in the room.
You can actually use the noodles immediately if you wish, but if you can
let them dry out to the point where they are firm enough to handle without
becoming tacky, Rob says they will absorb the flavors of your broth
better.
If you are planning to freeze some or all of the noodles,
dry them longer – either until they are very firm and cannot be easily bent or
until you run out of time and need to put them in the freezer. Since we typically make noodles for a holiday meal, our time limit often depends on when dinner is to be served!
Cooking the
Noodles
Generally if you are making noodles, you are also making
roasted turkey, chicken, or beef.
Collect the drippings from the roasting process, strain them, and place
them in a large pot. Whether or not you
add broth -- either chicken (if having turkey or chicken) or beef (if having beef) --
at this point depends on the amount of drippings you collect and whether or not
you think the amount of drippings will be enough to cover the noodles once they
are all added. You can always add broth
as you go along if you find you need more liquid to keep the noodles covered or if the noodle gravy gets thicker than desired.
Bring the liquid to a boil.
Start adding noodles little by little, “stirring” them in with a lifting
motion rather than a traditional stirring motion. If the noodles seem like they are clumping
together, stop adding noodles and continue to gently lift-stir and shake the
noodles until the clumping stops. Then
continue to add more noodles. If you
need to add more chicken or beef broth, stop adding noodles and add more broth until
you have enough liquid to continue adding more noodles.
Once the noodles are all added, continue to gently lift-stir
them periodically until they are no longer clumping. Add more broth if the liquid becomes thicker
than desired. Add pepper to taste. If you think the gravy has a rich enough
taste, you may want to just use salt to taste; otherwise, add chicken and beef
bouillon for saltiness to taste, using more chicken bouillon if having turkey
or chicken, or more beef bouillon if having beef.
Once the noodles are hot enough that there is a gentle
bubbling of the liquid, reduce the heat to simmer. Continue simmering about an hour or until the
noodles reach the desired taste and consistency.
Serve over mashed potatoes or as a stand-alone side.
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