Hi All,
Headed down a rabbit hole which I shouldn't be - getting into home milling for making ramen noodles. I see a lot of sifting and tempering wheat in my future.
One of the things that led me into this was having more control over the amylose vs amylopectin of my flour. I've worked with a well regarded shop in Japan that uses high amylopectin flour to create their unique texture. I'm aware the milling technology is Japan is quite superior for the type of snow white chewy flours that are super fine while still good protein - and equivalents don't really exist here in the US.
I'm hoping starting from wheat berries will let me control to the texture I want - milling/sifting challenges aside.
I have been reading all these scientific papers about waxy strains of wheat being grown in the US, but can't seem to actually find any for sale. I think a % of waxy would be a huge benefit to the noodle I'm trying to create.
Anyone have any leads on where to get waxy - or know of any other higher amylopectin strains of wheat?
Thanks!
The chatbot says you aren't going to find waxy wheat kernels or flour for retail. It also says that you can buy the same flour that many good Japanese ramen shops use, Nisshin Seifun TOKU No.1. But you may have to buy it in 25kg bags.
TomP
Disappointing about the waxy. I guess I'll keep searching for available varieties of wheat with a higher amylopectin amount.
Some of the flours can be shipped, but the pricing gets crazy when you're shipping 50lb bags of flour - you're looking at 200-400$ of shipping to get it in 1-2 weeks, or shipping it by sea mail for 50-100$ in 2-3 months where it's sitting in who knows what conditions for that time. There's no importer doing this in bulk as far as I've been able to find.
I had the idea that you could get some high-amylopectin starch and mix it with high-protein flour. Turns out that there is such a product that can be bought retail. It's called "Waxy Maize Starch". The chatbot wrote:
In addition, you would mix the dough using some kansui (alkalyzed water). You probably already knew that.
If it works to make better ramen noodles, this would be very cool! Let us know if you try it, please.
Myself and others in the community have added 0-10% of various starches frequently - namely tapioca and rice flour, which both have slightly elevated amylopectin. They do add some of that 'mochi' chewy texture, but bring a long their own characteristics including no protein and no wheat flavor which can hurt the structure and flavor of the noodles. I've not used mochiko as the sugar is undesirable in noodles.
Worth trying that waxy corn starch, but my ultimate goal and the best noodles are generally made with close to 100% wheat product.
Thanks for the reply!
They’re popular for making springy noodles in Hong Kong, and I use this method myself when I make 100% whole wheat noodles.
Yippee
P.S.
Another option is to add gluten to the flour — it might help you get the texture you’re looking for.
Apparently, waxy wheat is grown in the US and Canada, but not in quantities to provide retail flour.
"If specifically needing waxy wheat berries, it’s recommended to reach out to specialty agricultural seed suppliers or university agricultural programs that may have access to waxy wheat varieties not commonly sold to the general public."
I did find waxy barley berries, but you want wheat.
Even with the right wheat berries I think you would have a problem with milling/sifting.
All refined white flours are made by roller mills, where the bran is intitially peeled off by passing the grains through a pair of rolls running at different speeds, followed by progressively finer set pairs of rolls.
Home mills are stone mills (mainly) or hammer mills. You will always get fragments of bran in your flour, however finely you sift. This will make it slightly brown and it may not behave the same as true white flour in your ramen making.
Also stone milled flour has a bigger particle size than roller milled flour.
Try it by all means, but be aware of these likely problems.
Lance