Buckwheat noodles made by hand with a small share of wheat as the binder — close to the classic ni-hachi ratio of eight parts buckwheat to two of wheat. The technique does what gluten cannot.
Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here as the showcase for one flour in the Flour section and is adapted from the source named in the Notes.
Ingredients
- 250 g buckwheat (soba) flour
- 70 g bread flour
- 150 ml water, plus a little more if needed
- Cornstarch for dusting
Directions
- Sift. Whisk and sift the two flours into a wide bowl set on a damp towel.
- Water. Add the water a little at a time, raking the flour with clawed fingers. Stop when it forms small clumps the size of rice grains; you may need slightly more or less water.
- Knead. Press the clumps into a dough and knead by folding inward, wetting your hands if it cracks. Roll it into a cone against the side of the bowl, then press it into a disc on a cornstarch-dusted board.
- Roll. Stretch the disc with your palms, then roll it to about 3 mm thick.
- Cut. Cut into pieces and run them through a pasta machine from the widest setting down to setting 3; cut with the spaghetti cutter.
- Cook 1 minute 45 seconds in boiling water. Drain and rinse in cold water (rinse again in hot to serve hot).
Notes
Source Adapted from “Homemade Soba Noodles,” Sudachi Recipes (read through the Wayback Machine).
Not 100% buckwheat 250 g buckwheat to 70 g wheat is about 78% buckwheat. The source explains that jūwari soba (100% buckwheat) is very hard to make at home. No measured 100% buckwheat method was found, so none is given.
Why this flour Buckwheat has no gluten, so the method — water added a little at a time, rice-grain crumbs, the cone — does the work, and the wheat holds it together. A pasta machine replaces the traditional menkiri knife.
Keeping The source gives 1–2 days refrigerated or 1 month frozen.
Serving Use it in the collection’s Cold Soba with Dipping Sauce (Zaru Soba).
Safety Buckwheat allergy can be severe. This recipe contains wheat.
The Flour section of the Food site covers the history, the science, milling, label systems and every flour used here.
The photo The photograph shows zaru soba served in a restaurant, not this recipe being made; no open-licence photograph of soba being made by hand was found.