Cereals processing technology

Asian noodle processing 137
number of strands doubles to yield increasingly thinner noodles. Hand-swung
noodles are cooked immediately after production and requires a skilled person to
prepare consistent high quality results. Production of hand-swung noodles is
often considered an art rather than a technology.
Hand-cut noodles, normally served fresh, are characterized by their
smoothness and firmness. A simple formulation of flour:water:salt in the ratio
100:40–45:3–5 is used in their preparation. 2 The water containing the
dissolved salt is slowly added to the flour allowing small dough balls to be
formed by hand. A series of these dough balls are individually amalgamated
by hand into a larger mass through repeated kneading of the dough which
simultaneously develops the gluten matrix. A rest period is used to ensure
complete hydration of the flour particles before a second kneading and a
second rest period. In commercial operations a 30 min slow speed mixing
without the first rest period is common. After mixing, the dough is divided
into hand workable pieces that are formed into balls prior to a second rest
period. The rest periods allow the developed gluten matrix to mature. The
dough is subsequently rolled, dusted, folded and compressed before being cut
with a specially designed knife.
Hand-stretched noodles are also simple in formulation but have both higher
water and salt ratios (45–55:5) respectively. The dough is prepared in the same
manner as hand cut, differing in how they are handled after the gluten has
matured. The key difference lies in the dough sheet being cut in an internally
spiraling manner with the width of the strand being equivalent to the sheet’s
initial thickness. The dough is repeatedly unwound and gently stretched, treated
with cotton seed oil and allowed to rest. This process is repeated until the dough
achieves a thickness of 1 cm at which time the noodle strip is wound in a figure
eight pattern around two bamboo rods 45 cm apart. A repeated process of resting
and increasing the distance between the rods occurs until the desired thickness of
the noodle is achieved. A single production run can take 12–30 h to complete
before the noodle is dried or steamed. 2 Due to the labor intensive handling
during production these noodles are very expensive as compared to massproduced
noodles. The market is showing a general shift away from hand-made
noodles due to cost and the continuing improvement of mass-produced machine
noodles.
7.3.2 Udon noodles
Flour ash for these noodles usually ranges from 0.30–0.40 percent although
higher contents of 0.45 percent have been reported. Australian standard white
(ASW) is the principal source of Japanese flours supplemented by US western or
domestic Japanese wheat in a mixed grist.
Udon noodles, a subset of white salted noodles, WSN, are prepared from soft
wheat with a preferred protein level of 8–10 percent. In Japan the appeal of fresh
Udon noodles continues to grow compared to a stagnant market for dried
noodles. 25 Preferred characteristics include the unique elastic texture followed