Chinese Hand Pulled Noodles

Instructions

1. Combine flour and salt in a bowl and drizzle in the water. Work the dough by hand or with a rubber spatula until all liquid is absorbed and the dough looks dry and shaggy.
2. Transfer to a clean surface and knead until smooth, 10-15 minutes.
3. brush dough with a light coating of oil, wrap in plastic wrap and rest at room temperature 20 minutes.
4. Brush a parchment or foil lined half sheet pan with oil. Divide the rested dough into 3 pieces. Roll each into a long flat oval, approximately 12'x4'. Brush with oil on both sides and transfer to the sheet pan. Repeat with the remaining dough and cover with plastic film.
5. Rest dough minimum 3 hours, maximum 8 hours. The dough should look very relaxed and droopy.
6. Divide each piece of dough into 6 pieces crosswise. Line another sheet pan with foil or parchment and dust generously with cornstarch. Dust work surface with cornstarch and have more ready in a small bowl. We will need it to dust the noodles as we pull them to ensure they don't stick.
7. Working with one piece of dough at a time, gently as far as it will go, approximately 3'. Dough can be left as a thick noodle like this. Dust with cornstarch and transfer to the sheet pan.
8. Optionally, create a thinning noodle by pinching the fat noodle in the middle, creating a hole, and pulling the two long sides apart gently. Stretch again to create a large loop. Tear apart at one or two places to create desired length, dust with starch as noted above.
9. Continue until all of the dough has been used.
10. Noodles can be cooked immediately or held for up to one hour, either at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Noodles can also be cooked in advance then refreshed under cold running water and tossed with a little sesame or vegetable oil to use later.
11. Once cooked noodles can be tossed directly with a sauce or transfer to a pre-heated nonstick pan with a little oil to fry and crisp up before adding sauce. The noodles are best consumed right away.
12. We didn't try freezing the noodles but I'm sure you can in either the raw or blanched state. try to freeze in a single layer and cook/reheat directly from the freezer.