Whole Wheat Noodles

I have been wanting to try making some homemade pasta for quite some time now.  I have been debating about trying a sourdough recipe, or this whole wheat recipe from Heavenly Homemakers.  My SIL, Mary, made the whole wheat noodles a few weeks ago and loved them.  I decided I was going to give the sourdough noodles a try.  Then my husband asked me what I was doing and I told him I was going to make sourdough pasta.  While he's been a trooper through all of my sourdough trials... and generally likes most of the sourdough things I've made... he asked if I could make something "normal" for once.  So I changed it up and made the soaked whole wheat noodles.  We were all very happy with the result, too! 

These noodles are very easy to make and don't take much time at all.  I really like that they are soaked, therefore increasing the nutrition and digestibility of the grains.  I made some lasagna noodles and made a pan of lasagna for dinner last night.  This was seriously the first time I've ever eaten lasagna where I didn't get an upset stomach afterwards.  It was great!  I'll definitely be making these again and again.  Although, I will be making the sourdough noodles this week so that we can compare. 

Whole Wheat Noodles

2 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 beaten eggs
1/3 cup water (or an acid medium (buttermilk, kefir, yogurt, whey) for soaking)
1 teaspoon olive oil

To soak grains:

Use the same ingredients, substituting the water with an acid medium like buttermilk, plain yogurt, kefir, or whey. Mix ingredients as described below in a bowl.  I started out with a spoon and then just used my hands.  If your dough is really sticky (mine was), add in a tablespoon or so of flour at a time and mix in.  You don't want the dough to stick to your hands or the bowl... once you get to that point, you'll know the dough is ready.  You also should keep in mind that whole grains will take a bit of time to absorb the liquid/moisture.  If you're not sure about your dough, let it sit for about 15 minutes or so and then go back and check it.  If its still sticky, add a little bit of flour.  If it seems too dry, add a splash of buttermilk/acid medium and knead it in.  Knead for a minute or two, then cover with a towel and let it sit for 12-24 hours. You'll pick back up with the rolling step below.

To make without soaking grains:

First mix the flour and salt together in a bowl and make a little”pit” in the middle. Beat your eggs in a separate bowl, then pour them into the flour mixture. Add the water (or acid medium) and olive oil. Stir well until the ingredients are mostly combined.  Dump the noodle dough out onto a floured surface and knead it a little bit to get the ingredients combined well.

(If soaking grains start here after dough has soaked.)

Make sure your surface has a LOT of flour all over it so that your noodles won’t stick when you roll out the dough. Sticky noodles are not fun.

Use a well floured rolling pin and roll and roll and roll until your noodle dough is very thin, about 1/16" in thickness. You may need to keep tossing some flour under the dough as you roll to keep it from sticking.

Use a pizza cutter to cut long strips in the noodle dough. Cut your noodles any length you want... short, fat, skinny, wide, etc. 

Once you’ve cut your noodles you can either use them right away, or you can let them dry so that you can store them and have them ready for when you need them.

You can use a dehydrator to dry the noodles, or you can just leave them on the countertop to dry if you want. It will take a while…like several hours or even an entire day. You may also need to turn the noodles over after a few hours so that the under side can dry.  I used my dehydrator and they were dry within a couple of hours. 

 

This post is shared as part of Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist and the Tuesday Twister at GNOWFGLINS.