How to: Simple Egg Noodles

Happy Sunday – I hope your 2015 is off to a great start! We have friends visiting for the long weekend and every day has been filled with fun activities and late nights. Yesterday we visited Lagunitas Brewing Company on the south side for lunch and beers, had dinner at D’Noche in Logan Square, drinks at Parts and Labor, and came home for Bananagrams.

Today will be a rest and re-set day with soup and playing games this afternoon. The weather has the typical Midwestern flair this weekend in Chicago, with slushy snow and rain yesterday, and pretty falling snow this morning. It’s the perfect time to whip up something cozy in the kitchen. While I was home in Iowa for Thanksgiving this year, I asked my mom to teach me how to make her homemade egg noodles. I remember her making these noodles every winter when I was a kid, and my family’s favorite way to enjoy them is in homemade chicken noodle soup.

This is a rustic noodle recipe that doesn’t require any special tools or a pasta maker – all you need is a mixer, a rolling pin, and a pizza cutter.

This recipe for egg noodles can be easily customized depending on how many noodles you need. A good rule of thumb is to add one egg and 3/4 cup of flour per person. We added these noodles to a large pot of chicken noodle soup for six people, so this “how to” will make noodles for six. Each step is listed separately in this post, but scroll to the bottom for a recap of the full recipe.

Step 1: Make Noodle Dough

Add six eggs to a stand mixer and mix on low. Add salt and slowly add 4 cups of all-purpose white flour in batches while mixing. The dough should be somewhat dry; add water by the Tablespoon if needed.

Step 2: Form a Ball

Form the dough into a ball and knead it a few times with your hands. Add flour to the dough and to the surface of your counter.

Step 3: Flatten the Dough

Add flour to your counter and flatten the dough into a large pancake, about 1 inch thick. Make sure to add enough flour so the dough does not stick to the surface.

Step 4: Continue Rolling

The dough should be as thin as a pie crust. If the dough is too thick, your egg noodles will turn out doughy in the middle.

Step 5: Cut Out Noodles

Use a pizza slicer to cut the noodles, using a rolling pin as your guide. Slice the noodles about 1/4 inch thick or less, depending on your desired size.

Step 6: Dry the Noodles

Loosen noodles from the counter with a spatula to make sure nothing sticks to the surface. Let the noodles dry for at least an hour. You can leave noodles on the counter to dry, or hang on a noodle rack.

Simple egg noodles can be added to any soup recipe. We boiled the noodles in a traditional chicken noodle soup for ~30 minutes before serving for lunch. The cooking time depends on how large your noodles are; the noodles can be cooked in as little as 15 minutes and as long as an hour.