How is ramen made?

Ramen is a type of noodles. Because it is mainly handmade, it has better toughness and is very chewy when eaten. Making ramen is not difficult. It takes time to familiarize yourself with the steps. You may feel a little uncomfortable when you first start learning how to make it. But the noodles will taste better after you become familiar with the method.

1. When choosing noodles, you should generally choose fresh high-gluten flour. Lanzhou has special flour for beef ramen. It is not advisable to choose stale flour, and it is even more inadvisable to choose contaminated flour that is insect-eaten, rat-bitten, or moldy, because this kind of flour not only does not meet the hygiene standards, but the protein molecules it contains are broken down into amino acids under the action of proteases (the activity of proteases is enhanced due to pollution and other reasons), making it impossible for the protein to combine with water to form gluten, thereby greatly reducing the formation of gluten. Only fresh high-gluten flour (Lanzhou beef ramen special flour) with high protein content can guarantee the prerequisite for the successful production of ramen.

2. Kneading the dough Kneading the dough is the basis and the key to making ramen. The first thing you should pay attention to is the water temperature. Generally, warm water is required in winter and cool water is required in other seasons. Because the temperature of the dough is easily affected by the natural air temperature, the temperature of the kneaded dough is always maintained at 30°C by using different water temperatures when kneading the dough. This is because the protein in the flour has the highest water absorption rate at this time, which can reach 150%. At this time, the gluten formation rate is also the highest and the quality is the best, that is, the extensibility and elasticity are the best, and it is most suitable for stretching. If the temperature is lower than 30°C, the water absorption and quality of the protein will decrease as the temperature drops.

3. Let the dough rest. Let the kneaded dough rest for a while (generally not less than 30 minutes in winter and slightly shorter in summer). The purpose is also to promote the formation of gluten. Leaving the mixture for a while also allows proteins that have not fully absorbed water to have sufficient time to absorb water, thereby improving the formation and quality of gluten.

4. To make the noodles, a strong young man first pound, knead, stretch and beat a large ball of soft dough repeatedly, then put the dough on a working surface, hold both ends of the noodles with both hands, lift them up and beat them hard on the working surface. After the strips are stretched, fold the two ends in half and continue to hold the two ends and beat them. Repeat this process. The purpose is to adjust the arrangement order of gluten protein in the dough so that the disordered protein molecules are arranged into a long chain, which is called "smooth gluten" in the industry. Then roll it into long strips, pull it into strips 20 mm thick and as long as chopsticks, or roll it into round strips.

5. Ramen: Place the smooth noodles on the chopping board and sprinkle with cooking oil (to prevent the noodles from sticking together). Then pull the noodles into different sizes and thicknesses according to the diners' preferences. If you like round noodles, you can choose from 5 styles: thick, medium thin, medium thin, thin, and fine. If you like flat noodles, you can choose from 3 styles: wide, wide, and chive leaves. If you want something with distinct edges and corners, the ramen chef will pull a special bowl of "buckwheat noodles" for you.