Fresh ramen noodles are made from water, flour, salt, and 

. Sometimes there’s a bit of egg or something else thrown in. But those are the primary ingredients. Unlike other noodles, ramen noodles are alkaline. They gain this alkalinity from the kansui powder. Without kansui, it’s not ramen.

This article will detail some techniques of ramen-making using home kitchen equipment. There are some different methods and the ones you go with will probably depend on the equipment you have available. 

First you’re going to pick a recipe. If it’s your first time, a higher hydration noodle is recommended. This just means that you’re using more water and the dough will be easier to work with. Ramen noodles tend to be lower in hydration (26% - 42%) compared to other types of dough. You won’t end up with a ball of dough that you can manipulate like you would with dough for bread or Italian pasta. When you mix, your flour will hydrate into a sort of crumble called “soboro.” That’s what we’re making in this step.

 to make the dough easier to work with. This kansui mix contains a small percentage of phosphate salts that help retain moisture.

Mixing / Hydrating Methods

Okay. Now you have your soboro. What to do with this? Shape it! You’re going to shape it into a slab, or slabs depending on how much you’re making. Try to make the length equal to just under the length of your cutter x2 (if you’re using one.) Probably about 10 inches or 250mm.

At this stage, you have to worry about your dough drying out. Do everything you can to minimize the time that any dough is unsealed. If you’re working on one sheet, don’t have the other exposed on the counter. It’ll dry out and be ruined. Keep it sealed. Keep it safe. 

Most people put their dough into a plastic sealable bag, like a Ziplock. Make sure to avoid the “stand up” bags. These bags don’t have a square bottom, making it difficult to use them to form squared corners of your slab. Gallon-sized freezer bags are great for this.

Put that soboro into a bag!

Once in the bag, you want to shape the soboro into a slab. Use the corners of the bag to help you here. Some people like to put on some clean socks and actually step on the bag to compress it at this stage. You can also use a rolling pin to do this. Once in the bag, let it rest for an hour. This is going to help ensure a fully even hydration.

If you really want to make things easier, you can use a vacuum sealer! This is a great way to compress the soboro into a dough slab, ensuring an even hydration and making it easier to roll out after the hour of resting.

If you don’t have a plastic bag or a vacuum sealer, you can form it into a slab by hand, although that’s less practical the lower the hydration you’ve gone. You’ll still need to find a way to seal it completely during the hour rest.

Slabs shaped for resting

After you've rested for an hour, you’ll take the dough out of the bag. Take care to keep the slab in shape. Don’t let it break apart. Some people cut their plastic bag to make this easier.

You are going to roll the slab out using a rolling pin before putting it into a pasta rolling machine. 

These pasta machines are not built for low-hydration dough like this. If you try to force the thick dough through, 

. The rollers on the Marcato can become bent. If using a KitchenAid, you can cause grinding of the gears on the mixer. Take care of your equipment.

You’ll need to put some muscle into this. Roll your dough so it’s thin enough that it goes through the machine almost entirely 

If you’re not using a machine, all of the rolling is going to be by hand. Just roll that slab out until you reach the desired thickness for your noodle.

Before + After Rolling w/ Pin

Now we roll! You can use a pasta roller like the Marcato Atlas 150, the KitchenAid pasta roller attachments, or another roller of your choosing. As stated in the previous section, 

don’t put your sheet in a roller until it’s thin enough to move effortlessly through the machine.

If you’re working only by hand, you’re just going to roll out the slab that you made in the previous section. You can’t really laminate properly by hand so you’ll want to skip the next bit.

Put your sheet into the machine on the widest setting. Then again through the 2nd widest setting. And again on the 3rd widest setting. Your sheet may not be looking very pretty. Uneven edges and maybe falling apart a bit. This is normal! The next step is where we fix that.

Fold your sheet in half. Reset the machine back to the widest setting. Insert the folded side into the machine. This builds layers and is called laminating. Continue this process until you have a nice-looking sheet at the desired thickness.

Noodle Sheets

Time to cut your sheets into noodles! Determine the noodle length and cut your sheets into those sizes. Then feed them through the noodle cutter. To prevent them from sticking together, dust with a little bit or cornstarch after noodles are cut.

If you’re cutting by hand, just fold your sheets in half and cut with a knife. (

Cut!

You want to rest your noodles at least 24 hours before cooking. You can rest longer than this. I like to rest my noodles for three days. Make sure they’re completely sealed when resting so your noodles don't dry out.

If timing requires that you cook the same day, that’s okay! They won’t be ruined. But the flavor and texture will be much better if you allow them to rest and mature.

Seal for resting

Now cook! You’ll want to test a few strands to get the timing right. A very thin noodle’s cook time can be as low as 60 seconds. Thicker noodles can take up to eight minutes! If you’re making a lot at home, you probably want to use noodle baskets so you can continue to reuse the same water as you cook in batches. Make sure you shake off all excess water before placing noodles into soup. This is just so the noodle water doesn’t dilute your soup.

Noodle Process

, search for information there, and ask questions! We also recommend 

 which provides even more detail on this process.

How to do it 

Making Ramen Noodles at home

Owner of Ramen Supply Company operating out of the Philadelphia area. Previously lived in DC, Tokyo, and San Francisco.

Manufactures and distributes Kansui Powder to home cooks and restaurants. Maintains this website! Contact if you have any questions about the Ramen Supply website or Kansui Powders.

Used in these Articles:

More Content by
edwizard

Collections with this Article

Discover Articles

Used in these Articles:

More Content by edwizard

Collections with this Article

Discover Articles

More Content by
edwizard