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No nap. I worked through it, somehow. Oh, sure, I wanted one. But then I got busy. Busy? Egg noodles busy. So hush. I had intended to use simple white, unbleached, flour. Oops. All of my white was in the freezer. Gah! I need to get another couple of wheat containers. Not that I have a problem with bugs though, so... Not sure I really need it. But, for cleanliness of space and mind... Yes, I am picky. Yes, I am demanding. And, when given the space to push, I push all the way. It's why I got the monicker "Madonna". Bastards. I should have kicked their asses for that, but... *sigh* They... had a point. *shrug*
Noodles, boy. My way. Thick. I would guess they are at least a quarter of an inch thick, and a half an inch wide, if only about six to eight inches long. I'll know if they are like my mom's before long. By the way, I did call her to ask about noodles before going ahead. She recommended some things, and I took most of her suggestions. Instead of water, though, I used milk. And she assumed white flour, probably bleached. It is from the world she knows. Fair enough. Six eggs, three cups of flour, allow the eggs a few hours to come to room temperature. Check. Semolina flour? Milk instead of water? Most of the noodles were cut as suggested. But there was a strip that would not fit the profile. So... I made those into thin noodles. About as wide as thick, one quart inch by one quarter inch. I plan to have those, cooked, with just butter... to get a more simple taste so as to decide if semolina is a flour I like as such. More protein equals more bite equals, I think, a happy Doom. Some will be allowed to dry, some will be cooked a little sooner. Oh, right, I did ask if I could cook them without drying them overnight. Well... yes, but... Was the notion. Hey, a grant is a grant, and so it shall be. Some of them, perhaps half, I will allow to dry longer, then freeze. Along with the thinner noodles. The other half of the main thick noodles will go in with the meat I have cooked, a sort of gravy I have made, perhaps some heavy whipping cream and butter, and maybe a bit of water.
Nothing fancy, really. I am surprised at how easy it is to make noodles. Well... we will see after I have cooked and eaten them. I think I will have everything cleaned before I got to bed, much later this early evening, on top of it. I should have some reason left overs as well. Yum!
It sounds like the pressure cooker is done. Later.
Noodles is something I've always wanted to learn to make. Especially the big ones like you enjoy.
ReplyDeleteAnd how were they with the semolina flour? The only noodle type dish I've ever made were german spätzle. I was young and they didn't turn well, so I never tried again.
ReplyDeleteMichael,
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, it is very easy. Six eggs, say a quarter of a cup of milk (my mom uses water), three cups of flour, and maybe an eighth of a teaspoon of salt. Between flour type and kneading time, cutting and rolled thickness, and possibly drying, there is the complexity, I think. On the other hand? It's going to take practice.
foam,
Not bad, for a first try. I am not sure if I like semolina. Or I may have overworked them. Perhaps both. When a woman says she kneads for some period of time, I quarter that time. I have nearly three times the surface area that even big women have in my hands and can crush. Literally, I have world class hand-strength, tested to about 140-160 (my left hand is a little weak) pounds per square inch of squeeze pressure.
Even with cutting the time, and care, I can overdo. Which, I think I did. It's just, when kneading, I just get into it and... squish. Now, I have never worked with semolina before, so that might be the problem right there. It has a great deal more protein, so perhaps needs far less work? I'll be checking.
It wasn't horrible, mind you. It just wasn't what I remembered, it wasn't my mom's. I will be making them again, soon, with white unbleached flour (I took one of my packages out of the freezer). I will be doing research in the meantime.
Now, the "stew" I made to go with it helped. The right sauce and you can enjoy shoe leather if you can tenderize it enough to consume it. The noodles weren't that bad, they just didn't have much chew and were almost brittle. I'll be talking to my mom about that.
But, it's not the force, but the working time that matters with wheat. It takes a lot of kneading time to form up the gluten strands that give wheat products the chewiness that they have.
ReplyDeletePerhaps, but time can be cut by volume of contact. All I know is, back when K had advised me on bread making, I learned to cut my kneading to about a quarter, or less, of what she used, or my bread came out really terrible. I can't remember the details, fully. All I know is women don't knead anything like me.
ReplyDeleteAnd semolina is... a different animal than what I am used to working with. So, there is that too. It might simply not really be the right flour. I bought it as a curiosity, and to see. More research on it is needed, if I am finding little so far.
Research says? I may have overcooked them. One article I found suggested cooking them for 10 to 12 seconds, given the durum semolina used (courser grind, yellow)? That couldn't be right. Still, with that sort of recommendation, my guess is that a much shorter cooking time is needed. Well, and I hadn't let them dry, which might be more necessary for semolina. I have some other noodles, the longer thinner ones, drying. I'll try those after they have dried, with a much shortened cooking time.
ReplyDeleteActually, most people use white flour for pasta. And it sounds like white bleached, usually. I'll have to see with the unbleached, how it comes out. I know what it should taste like, and that wasn't it. Though perhaps semolina, like whole wheat, just doesn't taste good that way, or any way, being an acquired taste on top of all else, too. It seems it's used in some breads and for dry, manufactured, pastas, but not really a common home pasta use thing.
Hmm... might have to try it in bread, but probably not as the sole wheat product, or even majority. Just like with whole wheat, I have a suspicion it is only really good, in some things, as a partial additive.