Monday, November 8, 2021

Alkaline egg noodles (lo mein)

 

I had a really hard time trying to pin down a recipe for authentic alkaline egg noodles, the type used for Lo Mein. There are so many conflicting recipes and ideas online, I was convinced that authentic noodle recipes were just passed along and not written down.

I came to a few conclusions,  most recipes purporting to be alkaline egg noodles for Lo Mein either had far too high hydration or no egg or no alkaline or a combination of the above. So I got a packet of high quality fresh noodles from the local asian supermarket and my copy of Handbook of Food Products Manufacturing edited by Y.H. Hui and set about reverse engineering them. Luckily with food packaging rules here in NZ I had a fair idea of proportions for the noodles, and with the info from the book I was able to cobble together something that worked very well.

Below is a calculator for ingredient amounts, it's all based off the weight of eggs you use (1 egg ~59g).

Method:

  1. Mix all wet ingredients together, add to the dry ingredients
  2. Knead 5-10 minutes
  3. Rest 30 minutes wrapped
  4. Roll out, pasta machine will help
  5. Blanch noodles
  6. Toss in oil
  7. Set aside ready for use.


grams (32%)
(Hydration % = 0.24) Hydration value is 75% of weight

184.375 grams Flour (100%)
(Hydration % = 0)

22.125 ml Water (12%)
(Hydration % = 0.12)


1.844 grams Lye (1%)
(Hydration % = 0.5) Hydration value is 50% of weight

1.844 grams Salt (1%)
(Hydration % = 0.0)

0.365 Total Hydration