Chinese noodle dough?
In Chinese traditional food there exists this thing called 拉面, which translates to "pulled noodles". According to this website (http://www.tinyurbankitchen.com/art-of-hand-pulled-noodles-noodle/ [1]), the noodle dough used in Beijing consists of only 特精粉 (high gluten flour), salt and water. I assumed (and have been told) that the high-gluten term is used to refer to any flour with a high protein/gluten content (of which most bread flours are), and so having failed to source anything of that particular description from a couple of Asian supermarkets which I have checked out, I attempted making this with bread flour.
Using the recipe (167g/100ml/5g salt) I kneaded the dough for an hour straight, let it rest for an hour (or longer), and started pulling and twisting it as the video suggested. After a good half an hour (or more) of that pulling, twisting, and rolling, I can (if I am meticulous about making sure the dough stretches evenly) get the dough to stretch to my entire armspan length, but any more than that and it starts tearing - if I try to do what the video shows and pull the dough out a second time after twisting it back together without adhering the pulled strands, it breaks.
Is the science of this correct - would any flour be able to be kneaded to the extent that the dough can be stretched out multiple times (the noodle strands are maybe 1mm in diameter) without the addition of anything other than water and salt? I have heard in other forums that actually high gluten flours might not be as ideal because you are trying to destroy the gluten (rather than develop it) to get the dough into a putty-like consistency which doesn't resist and tear when pulled, and so I figured the people on this forum might have a better idea as to the science behind this!
I know in another part of China (Lanzhou) the noodle-makers add a highly alkalinic substance (蓬灰, I think it's called) which is akin to lye water, but I am not sure where on earth I would source that from so I was hoping flour-water-salt might be enough, but clearly not!