The most basic type of noodle making machine is called noodle sheeter. It is used to make flat noodles like spaghetti and fettuccine. The machine consists of a roller and two rollers that are connected by gears. The two rollers are placed side by side, and the dough is put between them. Then one of the rollers will rotate while the other one stays still, so that a long sheet of dough is formed between them.
There are also many ways we make noodles today.
Different types of noodles need different making methods to achieve their unique textures, tastes, etc. So, there are certain types of noodles that cannot be made by certain production methods. To achieve the unique textures, some noodles need a hand-pulling method, for example. Most types of rice noodles need He fen method where rice is liquidated to be steamed to be solidified. This calls for special equipment, which is very different from most of noodle types making machine
Hand making methods
The advent of machine noodle making has changed the way we make noodles.
We used to, and some of us still make noodles by hand. Noodles made by this method need a lot of water/liquid. Because it is difficult to make flour with little water into noodles by hand, if you make noodles by hand, you need to add a lot of water. By adding more water, you are making noodles softer. So, you can work the dough with ease.
We are talking about a 40% hydration ratio. (40% hydration means you are adding 4kg of liquid/water to 10kg of flour)
Dough with less hydration would need strong force to be processed into noodles.
It would be difficult for humans to process such dough by hand and impractical.
High hydration noodles
Udon noodles and soba noodles belong to these high hydration noodles. There are still many udon shops and soba shops that make their noodles by hand in Japan. Their noodles are good, but one would need to spend years on training to be able to make and serve good noodles. Also, it is very labour intensive. So, there are also many shops that rely on noodle making machines. This type of noodle making machine uses rollers (sheeter) with smaller diameter. Dough that goes through rollers with a small diameter gets a small amount of force/pressure. Dough usually gets rolled several times to be thinned little by little. This keeps gluten structure developed inside dough from getting damaged.
Noodle machines can make different sizes of udon and soba noodles by changing the widths of rollers or sheeters (different numbers of passes). Also, they are able to make various shapes such as straight ones or wavy ones by changing angles between rollers and sheeters or by putting blades at specific positions on these rollers/sheeters.
Making noodles with a machine
Noodle making machine is a piece of equipment that makes noodles. Also known as noodle machines, this equipment is used to produce ramen noodles, certain types of Chinese noodles, and other types with low hydration. This type of noodle making machine produces most of the ramen noodles, certain types of Chinese noodles, and other types with low hydration.
There are many different types of noodle making machines but I’m talking about one type of noodle making machine here. This type of noodle machine produces most of the ramen noodles, certain types of Chinese noodles, and other types with low hydration. Again, dough made with a small amount of water/liquid is hard. We are talking about a hydration ratio between 25% – 40%. (to the weight of solids/flour)
So it is difficult for humans to process it into noodles by hand. And as it forces hard dough to combine together the machine needs rollers (sheeter) with large diameter. With these big rollers the machine can press hard dough into a sheet of dough. Gluten structure inside dough gets developed by passing through the rollers several times. Dough passes through the rollers several times to develop gluten and thin. This type of noodle making machine.
Suggested reads:
