How-To: Homemade Noodles

Homemade noodles can take a soup from good to amazing. There's something about the texture of a homemade noodle that leaps past the cookie-cutter sameness of store-bought and gives a soup individuality. Store-bought noodles tend to be a little bland and they slip right off your spoon before you are able to get them to your mouth. Homemade noodles are different. Toothsome. Hearty. They put the love in your soup.

I know store-bought noodles have their place. Especially when your three-year old is pulling on your leg and your one-year old is screaming in the swing and dinnertime was an hour ago and this soup has to get done now.  But still. On a day when the kids are napping, try your hand at these noodles. It'll make your soup shine.

Homemade Noodles

1 egg, beaten

2 T. milk

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

In my pictures, you'll notice there are two eggs. I was making a huge batch of soup, so I doubled the noodle recipe.

Crack the eggs into a bowl.

Beat the eggs well and then mix the milk into the eggs.

Stir together the flour and salt in a large bowl. 

Then make a little depression in the center and pour the egg/milk mixture into it.

Mix together with a fork.

The dough will look like this. Don't be alarmed. It's supposed to be really dry.

Spill the dough out onto a well-floured counter and form into a disk. 

Roll out the dough. This is where you get the chance to work out your arm muscles.

Remember to keep the counter well-floured.

A mistake that first-time noodle makers make is to not roll the dough thin enough.

 It should be very thin. Like one-sixteenth of an inch. 

Then cut the pasta dough into thin strips using a pizza cutter. 

The strips should be about three-eighths of an inch. 

(Yes. Three-eighths of an inch. Not one-quarter. Not one-half. Three-eighths.)

Okay. They don't have to be perfectly three-eighths of an inch. 

One of the beautiful things about homemade noodles is the individuality of each one.

 Some are a little fatter. Some a little thinner. But they all taste good. 

Beauteous.

(See. This is about how thin your noodles should be.)

After cutting the pasta into strips, 

you then want to cut across the strips to make noodles about an inch long.

Gather them into a pile. At this point you can let them sit and dry for a few minutes while you get your soup ready to welcome these tasty things, or you can throw them right into the pot. It doesn't seem to make a difference ultimately in taste and texture. 

Noodles should cook for about 15 minutes. It's better to overcook them than undercook. (They are pretty forgiving. Even as the soup sits, the noodles will plump a little but they won't get soggy or slimy.) The best way to tell if they are done is to taste them. Undercooked noodles have an unpleasantly chewy center. Perfectly cooked noodles should be toothsome but not dense and gummy.  

Recipe from my momma.