Soba noodles are a Japanese noodle made of buckwheat. Fortunately, I found a blogger (Dans la Lune) who has experimented with and posted many instructions for noodles with the Philips Pasta/Noodle Makeer other than Italian pasta. I am using her recipes and suggestions, using my Philips Pasta Machine.
For soba noodles, you use the thick spaghetti disc (with six sets of 7-9 holes). There are several releases of discs. Do not use the angel hair disc with the smallest holes.
There are also several sizes of pasta mixing bowls that allow for smaller and larger batches. You might need to experiment but my machine takes up to 600g of dry ingredients. You can follow Dans la Lune as there is a terrific video on her blog. The ingredient measurements below are edited from Dans la Lune:
INGREDIENTS FOR 600G FLOUR (FOR 5 TO 6 PEOPLE)
- 300g buckwheat flour (Bob's Red Mill makes this)
- 260g bread flour or strong flour (any grocery)
- 40g gluten flour or vital gluten (these are the same thing; Bob's Red Mill makes this)
- 210ml water
INGREDIENTS FOR 500G FLOUR (FOR 4 TO 5 PEOPLE)
- 250g buckwheat flour (Bob's Red Mill makes this)
- 217g bread flour or strong flour (any grocery)
- 33g gluten flour or vital gluten (these are the same thing; Bob's Red Mill makes this)
- 175ml water
INGREDIENTS FOR 400G (FOR 3 TO 4 PEOPLE)
- 200g buckwheat flour (Bob's Red Mill makes this)
- 173g bread flour or strong flour (any grocery)
- 27g gluten flour or vital gluten (these are the same thing; Bob's Red Mill makes this)
- 140ml water
The Philips pasta maker has a built-in scale. However, I do measure my dry ingredients with a separate food scale for accuracy. You need to assemble the machine with the disc, and then plug in/turn on. Pour the dry ingredients in and then press the button for NO EGGS. This will give you the measurement of water which is very close to the measurement that Dans la Lune gives. Press MIX and pour the water in slowly, as you would for any pasta. It mixes for 3 minutes and then begins to extrude. Dans la Lune suggests cutting off the first few inches (I waited for about 8 inches) and then stop the machine and toss the noodles back in the machine. Restart. She also suggests not cutting the noodles at all, but letting them fall into a large bowl or sheet. I carefully wiped the noodles with flour every six inches or so, letting them fall with the flour on them. When the extrusion has ended, carefully place the noodles in an air-tight container and refrigerate until use.
When cooking (about 4 minutes in boiling water), if you use half (perfect for two people), lift the raw edge and cut about two feet off at a time until you have used half. A four-foot length of noodle is a bit tough to deal with in your bowl!
I'm trying udon noodles next, but am waiting for a soba noodle disc from Japan. Why Philips won't release a set of Asian discs in the US is crazy to me. You can use the fettuccine disc but the udon noodles will be more flat than round.
