Seasoned Advice is a question and answer site for professional and amateur chefs. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I found that recipes on hand pulled noodles use various types of flours that's confusing from a chemistry perspective. Dough made from high gluten flour is more elastic and less extensible which doesn't sound like a good candidate for hand pulled noodles. Has anybody had success making hand pulled noodles from high gluten flour?
Any experience and theory is appreciated! Thanks.
Hand pulled noodles are normally made with low to medium gluten flour (cake flour)
Alkalines, like Lye water or baking soda are added to soften hard flours (high gluten). You use much less for soft flour
Elastic may not be the word you want, supple is what you want in the dough. It need to be able to pull and not break, and stay that way
The dough needs to sit a few hours to fully saturate. Also keep it warm at a high-ish room temperature to keep it supple
It can take years of practice to pull noodles well
Only did a quick pulling lesson and, yes, would need years... but the dough only rested minutes initially then half an hour between pull sessions: After 6 or 7 stretches, once everything ripped apart, dough rested and was then much more compliant with my torture. Only managed in the end 7 pulls; fewer than my 6 year old!
So, give it a go with the higher gluten but longer rests in between
