How To Make Hand-Pulled Noodles

2020 UPDATE! After over a decade there's finally a better, easier recipe. Check out Tim Chin's recipe at Serious Eats.

Welcome!

 

I've been working on hand pulled noodles for about a year now, and until now all my information has been in the form of blog posts. I thought it was about time to put together a webpage so everything was in one place.

 

My goal with this site is show you everything (hopefully) you need to know to make hand pulled noodles in your own kitchen.

 

Here's some basics:

1. The dough is simple. It's just basic flour and water based dough. Nothing special.

 

2. The difference is in the kneading. Hand pulled noodle dough requires heavy kneading through twisting and stretching.

 

3. The goal is dough that is wet and stretchy. Most videos show dough that is sticky enough to stick to the counter if they let it sit. Flour will keep the noodles separated when you pull them.

 

4. Everyone has a different pulling technique in the end, but they all have a couple things in common. Quick pulls means even noodles. Tears can be avoided by giving the noodle short, quick stretches. All of the videos of hand pulled noodles involve giving the dough rests during the pulling process, whether it's while you fold it in half or in the middle of a pull (which looks almost like playing an accordion).