Homemade Noodles (fun with kids)

Making noodles with your kids can be a fun and healthy project. By making my own noodles I can also use all organic products and save a bit of money in the process. Noodles can be made for immediate use or frozen in batches for later use. I've had this recipe in my archives for over a year now and finally got around to making it!

You will need:
1 cup flour
1 egg
1 tablespoon of water

Mound flour on a work surface and make a deep "volcano".
Break the egg into the volcano and add water.
Beat the egg and water lightly with a fork, being careful not to break down the volcano walls.
Begin to draw in flour from the inner sides of the volcano.
Continue to blend in flour until the dough becomes stiff. Eventually using your hands, knead the dough until smooth and stiff. You will not use all of the flour most likely so spread the excess flour around on your counter for rolling the dough out.

Refrigerate for about 1 hour to make dough easier to work with.

To shape the dough, either use a pasta maker or roll out with a rolling pin until very thin. Roll the dough out as thin as you can for thin noodles or roll them a little thicker for country style thick noodles. Keep in mind that the dough will thicken upon cooking though. Don't worry about the shape of the rolled out dough unless you are going for perfection. =0) The key to rolling out noodles is to use plenty of flour under the dough and on top of the dough.

I like to roll my dough into a log and then cut with a knife pressing straight down to make little wheels of dough. It's important to keep the top of the dough well floured before rolling so that the dough doesn't stick together when you unroll it.


Then, have kids with floured hands begin unrolling the dough to make long noodles. You can also make short noodles by first cutting the wheels in half. If you prefer to cut the noodles without rolling the dough, you can use a pizza cutter for easy cutting of strips. You can make the noodles as skinny or wide as you like.

I usually make these noodles up fresh while a pot of soup is on the stove simmering. Just add the noodles to the soup and let them cook for a few minute. Excess uncooked pasta dough can be refrigerated in an airtight bag for up to 4 days and frozen for a month.

For extra fun shapes, let your kids use mini cookie cutters to make shaped noodles.

The noodles in the picture were rolled very thin and left very long. We call them "ribbon noodles".

Variations- you can use whole wheat if you'd like to but I do not recommend whole wheat pastry flour as it leaves a grainy texture to the noodle. They work with the whole wheat pastry flour but they just aren't as good as white flour. =0)

The chicken soup pictured was:
1 diced medium onion
2 cooked chopped boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 carrots sliced
2 celery stalks
1 box chicken broth
6 cups water
salt and pepper to taste
a pinch of rosemary
1 minced garlic clove
1 tbsp olive oil
1 batch homemade noodles

Saute onion, carrots, celery in olive oil till tender. Add remaining ingredients other than noodles. Simmer for 45 min. Add noodles and cook for 5-10 more minutes. Serve.

NOTE- Yes, you can make the dough in a food processor using these measurements: 3/4 c flour, 1 egg, 1 tsp ice water. Use more flour or water as needed to make a dough ball that you can roll out. =0) This method is quicker and a lot less messy.