Soba Noodles
Ingredients
2 C. buckwheat flour combined with 1 C. spelt
2 extra large eggs
½ C. warm almond or rice milk
⅓ tsp Himalayan pink salt
Preparation
Combine the flours and salt directly on a large pastry board or smooth work surface. Make a well in the center of the flour. Lightly beat the eggs with milk and pour the mixture into the well. Using a fork, gradually draw in the flour from the inside wall of the well. Beat gently in a constant direction to prevent air pockets from forming. Use your free hand to protect the outer wall until the wet mixture is well integrated. When the mixture becomes too stiff to work with a fork, scrape the dough from the fork into the well and continue forming the dough with your hands. Draw in the flour very gradually from the bottom of the wall, again being careful to keep air out of the dough and prevent air pockets from forming. Continue forming the dough into a very soft ball. It should be firm enough to handle, but soft and very pliable. If there is too much flour to be absorbed, do not use it all. Conversely, work in a little more flour if necessary. The perfect consistency is soft but not sticky, responsive to being touched and worked with. Using the heels of your hands, flatten the dough ball and knead it from the middle outward, folding it in half after working it each time. Knead both sides, maintaining a round shape, for about 10 minutes, until the dough is even and elastic.
Cover the dough with an inverted bowl or plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes, or up to 3 hours.
or Mix Dough in a Food Processor
Pasta dough can be mixed in a food processor. Place the dry ingredients in the bowl. Combine the eggs, oil, if using, salt, and any other flavoring such as tomato paste separately, then pour into the bowl. Turn the machine on and process until a ball is formed and the ingredients are well mixed. If the mixture is to dry to form a ball, add a little water and pulse once. Cut as for fettuccine.
Eden brand makes a spelt soba noodles. Eden® Spelt Soba is a combination of two supremely energizing and strengthening, non-hybridized grains, spelt (Triticum spelta) and buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum). Spelt is also known as dinkel and farro, spelt is an ancient and distant cousin to modern wheat. It was one of the first grains to be cultivated and has grown on Earth for about 9,000 years. The twelfth century healer St. Hildegard wrote about spelt, “It produces a strong body and healthy blood for those who eat it and it makes the spirit of man light and cheerful.” Both spelt and buckwheat are valued for their rich flavor and health benefit, and both can be easily enjoyed by most people who have wheat allergies. Spelt is easy for the body to assimilate because it is uniquely water soluble. Buckwheat is excellent for stabilizing blood sugar and it contains high amounts of rutin, a flavonoid that causes decreased capillary fragility. Buckwheat is rich in all eight essential amino acids, especially lysine. Soba (buckwheat) noodles have been the healthy fast food of Japan for centuries. It is similar to spaghetti, but cut square.
Eden Spelt Soba is an excellent source of thiamin and a good source of protein and magnesium. Each is a low sodium, low fat food. As with the buckwheat and spring wheat, the spelt and kamut used at Eden’s Canadian pasta plant is 100 percent Canadian organically grown. Eden’s noodles are made by the same roll and cut process as traditional handmade noodles in Japan. The flour is slowly kneaded with pure water and a bit of sea salt which helps to bind the dough, enhances the flavor, and naturally preserves the finished pasta. The dough is then rested for hours; an essential step in creating the right texture. When finished it is repeatedly layered and laminated, and then rolled out and cut on a bladed roller. The pasta is cut into long sections, lifted on racks, and rolled into the drying room. It is allowed to dry slowly for up to twenty-four hours depending upon thickness, temperature, and humidity.
Ingredients