Hand Pulled Noodles (Easy biang biang noodles recipe)

Dreaming about making your own authentic hand pulled noodles at home? It’s easier than you might think.

Biang biang noodles is known for its long, thick, chewy noodles and spicy sauce.

In this recipe, I’ll show you how to make the dough and stretch it into noodles, as well as how to make a delicious homemade sauce to go with it. Plus, I’ve included tips on preparing the dough ahead of time.

Get ready to impress your and your guests’ taste buds with this flavorful and satisfying dish!

EQUIPMENT for making hand pulled noodles

• Kitchen scale (Or measuring cups and spoons)
• mixing bowl
• Plastic Food Wrap
• Knife

INGREDIENTS List 

– Hand Pulled Noodles (for 2 servings)

• 300 g flour (1¾ cup + 2 tbsp bread flour or all purpose flour)
• 2 g salt (⅓ tsp)
• 155 g water (½ cup + 2.5 tbsp; Room temperature.)
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil

– Sauce (for 2 servings)

• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds
• 3 tbsp chopped green onions
• 3 tbsp chopped cilantros
• 2 tbsp chili powder (skip or put less if you can’t handle spicy food)
• 1 tbsp peanut butter (Can also use sesame paste)
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• ½ tsp chicken bouillon (optional)
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp black vinegar

Step-by-step INSTRUCTIONS 

1. Add flour, salt, and water to a large mixing bowl, stir with a pair of chopsticks or a spatula until all the ingredients are roughly mixed.

2. Knead the dough with your hands for about 5 minutes until it forms a roughly smooth dough. (It’s okay if the dough feels dry or is not perfectly smooth right now. It will become softer and smoother after resting.)

3. Cover the dough with plastic wrap, let it rest under room temperature for 45 minutes.

4. After 45 minutes, take off the plastic wrap and flip the dough so that the smoother side is facing down. Knead the dough with your hands for 3 minutes until it becomes smooth.

5. Take the dough and divide it into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a sausage shape that is approximately 3½ inches in length and 1 inch in diameter.

6. Pour ¼ cup of vegetable oil onto a plate and coat each piece of dough with oil by rolling them in the oil one at a time, until all pieces are coated evenly. Once coated, place all the dough pieces on the plate with the oil and cover them with a piece of plastic food wrap. Allow them to rest at room temperature for 1 hour.

7. Once the dough has rested for 1 hour, take one piece and place it on your working surface. Use your palm to flatten the dough into a thin sheet that is approximately 2 inches wide and 6 inches long.

8. Press down on the center of the dough sheet using the back of a knife. Make sure you don’t cut it through. This will create a trace that looks like the vein running down the middle of a leaf. Set it aside. Repeat until you flatten all the dough pieces into leaf-like sheets.

9. Hold two ends of a dough sheet, stretch and slap it onto the working surface to make a “biang biang” sound. Continue stretching the dough until it reaches a length of approximately 3 feet.

10. Find the center of the noodle and tear it apart along the middle trace until it forms a loop, set it aside. Repeat until you stretch all the dough sheets into noodles.

11. Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil. Add the noodles and cook them for 3 to 5 minutes or until they are floating on the surface. If your pot isn’t big enough, you may need to cook the 8 noodles (for 2 servings) in two separate batches to prevent them from sticking together.

12. Strain the noodles, place them into a serving bowl. Top with the sauce, combine well, and serve hot.

To make the sauce

• Note: While the dough is resting, you can prepare the sauce. If you wait until after the noodles are cooked to make the sauce, the noodles may become cold and slightly firmer in texture.

1. Add minced garlic, sesame seeds, chopped green onions, chopped cilantros, chili powder, peanut butter, granulated sugar, and salt to a heat-resistant bowl. Heat up ¼ cup of vegetable oil in a small saucepan over high heat until it starts to smoke. Carefully pour the hot oil over the sauce ingredients.

2. Use a spoon stir the sauce ingredients and oil together. Add chicken bouillon, soy sauce, and black vinegar to the sauce mixture. Stir until all the ingredients are well combined.

Hand pulled noodles Q&A

1. Can I use all purpose flour?

For my biang biang noodles, I used bread flour with a protein content of 12.7%. However, all-purpose flour can also be used.

It’s worth noting that using bread flour will result in a chewier noodle, particularly if the noodles are hand-pulled.

2. Why is my dough too dry/stick?

Using measuring cups instead of a kitchen scale to measure ingredients may lead to inconsistent results in the dough texture. I was hesitant to provide cup measurements because I highly recommend using a kitchen scale for kneading dough to ensure consistent results in the recipe.

When measuring flour using cups, I noticed that each cup of flour weighed around 160g. However, after researching online, I discovered that the weight of a cup of flour typically ranges from 120g to 136g. I’m unsure why my bread flour and all-purpose flour are heavier than others’, but I’ve consistently measured them with different cups and always obtained results between 160g and 170g.

I still listed the measurements in cups and tablespoons, just in case you don’t have a kitchen scale available. But again, please use a kitchen scale if that is possible.

3. Can I prepare the dough ahead of time?

Yes, you can!
Once you have shaped the dough pieces into sausages, coated them in vegetable oil, and covered them with plastic wrap (see step 6), you can refrigerate them for up to 24 hours. When you are ready to make the noodles, simply flatten and stretch them into noodles and cook them in boiling water.

4. How to knead dough like a pro?

If you know how to properly knead dough, this hand-pulled noodles recipe only requires a minimal amount of kneading (approximately 6 minutes in total). You don’t need to use a stand mixer at all.

To knead the noodle dough, grasp one end of the dough with your left hand, and use the heel of your right hand to push the dough away from you. Then, fold it back over itself. Apply pressure to the dough using your body weight with both hands to fold it in half. Afterward, turn the dough about 45 degrees and repeat the process. It is essential to avoid flipping the dough over while kneading. Once you finish kneading, the underside of the dough will become very smooth.

5. Should I add extra water if the dough feels too hard to knead?

No, instead of adding extra water, you may choose to let the dough rest for a couple minutes.

The dough turns softer after resting because the gluten in the flour has time to relax and absorb moisture, making it easier to knead and stretch. Resting the dough also allows the flour to fully hydrate, which results in a more cohesive dough that holds together better.

The dough for hand-pulled noodles is expected to be less moist and more solid than dough used for bread. If the dough feels soft during the kneading process, it may break more easily when stretched and slapped later. A firmer dough will yield noodles that are chewier in texture.

Therefore, as long as you have weighed all the ingredients using a kitchen scale, it is unnecessary to add extra water to the dough, even if it initially appears and feels dry.

6. What does “biang biang” mean in biang biang noodles?

“Biang biang” is actually an onomatopoeic term that refers to the sound made when slapping the noodle dough against the working surface to stretch it. The dish is named after this sound.

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