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1
Put the baking soda and salt in a small bowl, add boiling water and dissolve (This de-gasses the baking soda.)
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2
Add cold water and cool down until it's a bit cooler than body temperature.
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3
Put the all purpose flour in a large bowl, make a well in the center and add the water with salt and soda in it from Step 1.
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4
Mix with your hands until crumbly.
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5
It will be very dry and hard to mix to start, but keep kneading patiently and try not to add more water.
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6
When the dough comes together, put it in a large plastic or Ziplock bag, seal and step on it with your feet to develop the dough.
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7
(When the dough becomes flat, take it out, fold it into quarters and step on it again.)
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8
Repeat the stepping and folding process 3 times, and leave the dough to rest for 2 to 5 hours.
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9
If you have a pasta machine, set the dial to 4 or 5, and cut the dough into thin noodles.
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10
If you don't have a pasta machine, roll the dough out with a rolling pin to about 2 mm thick, and cut into 2mm noodles.
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11
Dust the noodles evenly with cornstarch (or katakuriko) to prevent the noodles from sticking to each other.
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12
If you divide the noodles into 150 to 160g portions, you'll have 5 servings exactly.
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13
If you prefer ripply noodles, squeeze the noodles well.
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14
Boil the noodles in plenty of boiling water, taking care not to let it boil over, for 1 and a half minutes.
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15
To use the noodles as tsukemen (dipped ramen), rinse well in cold water to remove surface stickiness.
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16
If you're serving the noodles hot in soup, eat right away to prevent them from becoming soggy.
