Noodles can be made from wheat flour alone or in combination with buckwheat flour. Wheat flour noodles include Chinese and Japanese type noodles. There are many varieties in each noodle type, representing different formulation, processing and noodle quality characteristics. Noodles containing buckwheat are also called soba, meaning buckwheat noodle. These noodles are typically light brown or gray in color with a unique taste and flavor. Chinese type noodles are generally made from hard wheat flours, characterized by bright creamy white or bright yellow color and firm texture. Japanese noodles are typically made from soft wheat flour of medium protein. It is desirable to have a creamy white color and a soft and elastic texture in Japanese noodles.
Noodle machines are best suited to mass production. Noodle processing operations include mixing raw materials, dough sheeting, compounding, sheeting /rolling and slitting. This series of processes remains constant among countries for all noodle types.
Dough is so sensitive to processing as is that in bread dough. Variations in noodle dough water absorption among different flours are generally within 2-3%, and this is usually determined by dough handling properties. Flour particle sizes and their distribution affect the time water penetrates into the flour. Large particle flours require a longer time for water to incorporate and tend to form larger dough lumps. It is desirable to have relatively fine and evenly distributed particle size flours to achieve optimum dough mixing
Sheeting and Compounding
Crumbly dough pieces are divided into two portions, each passing through a pair of sheeting rolls to form a noodle dough sheet. The two sheets are then combined (compounded) and passed through again sheeting rolls to form a single sheet. The roll gap is adjusted so that the dough thickness reduces.
Sheeting, Slitting and Waving
Further dough sheeting is done by set of rolls with decreasing roll gaps. At this stage, roll diameter, sheeting speed and reduction ratio should be considered to obtain an optimum dough reduction. noodle slitting is done by a cutting machine, which is equipped with a pair of rolls, a slitter, and a cutter. The final dough sheet thickness is set on the rolls according to noodle type and measured using a thickness dial gauge. noodle width determines the size of noodle slitter to be used. The sheet is cut into noodle strands of desired width with a slitter. Noodles can be square. noodle strands are cut into a desirable length by a cutter. At this stage, Chinese raw noodle , Japanese udon noodle , chuka-men and Thailand bamee noodle making is complete. For making instant noodles, noodle strands are waved before steaming and cutting.
Drying Noodles
noodle drying can be achieved by air drying. The air drying Process has been applied to many noodle types, such as Chinese raw noodles, Japanese udon noodles, steamed and air-dried instant noodles, and others. Air drying usually takes 5-8 hours to dry regular noodles (long and straight) and 30-40 minutes to dry steamed and air-dried instant noodles. Drying by frying takes only a few minutes. Vacuum drying of frozen noodles is a newer technology making it possible to produce premium quality products. For the manufacture of regular dry noodles, raw noodle strands of a certain length are hung on rods in a drying chamber with controlled temperature and relative humidity. Air drying usually involves multistage processes since too rapid drying cause’s noodle checking, similar to spaghetti drying. In the first stage, low temperature (15-200C) and dry air are applied to reduce the noodle moisture content from 40-45% to 25-27%. In the second stage, air of 400C and 70-75%relative humidity is used to ensure moisture migration from the interior of the noodle strands to outside surfaces. In the final stage, the product is further dried using cool air.
For the manufacture of air-dried instant noodles, wavy noodle -strands are first steamed for 18-20 minutes at 1000C, and then dried for 30-40 minutes using hot blast air at 800 C. The dried noodles are cooled prior to packaging. Air-dried instant noodles have a low fat content so some people prefer them. They also have a longer shelf-life because little fat rancidity is involved. Steaming appears to be very critical to this type of noodle since it affects the water dehydration rate of the product. However, slow output of the Process and lack of pleasant shortening taste and mouth feel make the product less popular in Asia compared with instant fried noodles.
Drying by frying is a very fast Process . Water vaporizes quickly from the surface of the noodles upon dipping into the hot oil. Dehydration of the exterior surface drives water to migrate from the interior to the exterior of the noodle strands. Eventually some of the water in the noodles is replaced by oil. Many tiny holes are created during the frying Process due to the mass transfer, and they serve as channels for water to get in upon dehydration in hot water. It usually takes 3-4 minutes to cook or soak instant fried noodles in hot water before consumption.
