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All you need to make fresh hand cut udon noodles is flour, water, salt and a rolling pin.
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Handmade Udon

Here's everything you need to know to start making homemade Udon Noodles from scratch. This tutorial covers the ingredients and techniques for making these thick bouncy Japanese noodles, as well as how to cook Udon and how and to serve it.
Course Entree
Cuisine Japanese
Keyword noodle-soup, noodles
Level Intermediate
Main Ingredient Flour, Noodles
Diet Dairy-Free, Low Sugar, Low-Fat, Pescatarian, Vegan, Vegetarian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Resting Time 2 hours
Servings 4 servings
Calories 364kcal
Author Marc

Ingredients

  • 400 grams all-purpose flour see ingredient headnotes above
  • 180 grams water
  • 17 grams salt
  • Potato starch for dusting
Grams + US Cups - US Standard

Instructions

  • Dissolve the salt in the water to make a brine.
    Dissolving salt in water to make a brine for udon.
  • Hydrate the flour by adding the brine in 3-4 additions, and briskly mixing between each addition with your hands.
    Mixing brine with flour to make udon dough.
  • Knead the dough into a ball and then transfer it to a clean work-surface to continue kneading.
    Kneading udon dough by hand.
  • Knead the dough 150-200 times or until the dough becomes extremely elastic and resilient.
  • Stretch the dough into a smooth ball and place it in a covered bowl to rest for 1.5 to 2 hours.
    Smooth ball of dough for making udon noodles.
  • After the dough has rested, dust it with starch and press it into a thick disk using your hands.
    Flattening relaxed dough before rolling out.
  • Press the dough out in steps by lifting and pressing a rolling pin from the center of the disk away from you and then repeat pressing it in steps towards you.
    Pressing out udon dough.
  • Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat step 7.
  • Now use the rolling pin to roll the dough out from the center and roll the dough in from the center.
    Rolling out udon dough.
  • Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat step 9.
  • Dust the Udon dough with starch and starting from the corner closest to you, wrap the dough around the rolling pin. Roll them together until the sheet of dough is about ⅛-inch thick.
    Rolling udon dough onto rolling pin.
  • Unroll the dough and turn it 45 degrees. Dust the dough with starch and wrap it around the pin again, starting from the straight edge. Roll it around a few times to even out the thickness of the dough.
    Udon dough rolled out using a rolling pin.
  • Unroll the dough and spread a generous amount of starch onto its surface. Fold the dough like a fan, staggering the folds so that they don't overlap each other.
    Udon dough folded and ready to cut.
  • Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into noodles using a single stroke.
    Hand-cutting udon noodles with a knife.
  • Separate the strands of Udon and dust with more starch to keep them from sticking together.
    Nests of fresh hand-cut udon noodles in a basket.
  • To boil the Udon, heat a large pot of water to a boil.
  • Dust off any excess starch and add the noodles to the boiling water. Stir-for the first 30-seconds to keep them from sticking together.
    Boiling Japanese udon noodles.
  • Boil the noodles until they're translucent (12-13 minutes for ⅛-inch thick noodles) and then drain and rinse the Udon with cold water to remove any excess starch. For serving suggestions, check the headnotes above.
    Washing boiled udon noodles in cold water.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 364kcal | Carbohydrates: 76g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 1651mg | Potassium: 107mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 1g | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 5mg