One portion of Sapporo Noodles

• 98.5g King Arthur bread flour (12.7% protein by weight)
  
• 1.5 g vital wheat gluten (aprox 77.5% protein by weight)
  
• 44 g water
  
• 1 g salt
  
• 1.5 g baked baking soda
  
• Optional: 0.1 g Riboflavin
  
• 
  Broth
  
• 1/2 kg of beef (I used beef brisket because it's cheap and tender when boiled)
  
• 1 leek
  
• 1 spring onion
  
• 1 tsp. fresh garlic, ground
  
• 8 tbsp. soy sauce
  
• 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
  
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
  
• Ginger
  
• Mirin, white/kome miso(however much you want)
  
• 
  Toppings
  
• Shaved cabbage
  
• Sliced green onion
  
• Korean nori
  
• Soft boiled egg
  

Difficulty: ★★★★★


Description: If you're in the mood for one of the best noodle dishes you can make, and also have a spare four hours on your hand, this is the recipe for you. Ultimate isn't a good enough description. This ramen is truly the best.

Directions, Create the noodles:

1. Just spread a layer of baking soda on a foil-covered baking sheet and bake it at 250 to 300 degrees for an hour. Keep baked soda in a tightly sealed jar to prevent it from absorbing moisture from the air.
   
2. Add baked soda and salt (and riboflavin if using) to water. dissolve completely. 
   
3. In a bowl, gradually add water to the flour and wheat gluten, pouring on the outside rim and mixing as you do so. You'll notice the flour turns yellow as this happens.
   
4. Mix the flour with the water until the ingredients look ragged but moistened. Smaller pieces work better, but it will be fairly crumbly.
   
5. Cover the bowl and let this mixture rest for 30 minutes. This gives the flour granules time to fully absorb the water and alkaline salts.
   
6. Squeeze the now rested mixture between your fingers. If it feels like wet rice, go forth to the next step. If not, add a little water.
   
7. Knead the mixture forever until fairly smooth. This is time consuming. Be patient.
   
8. When smooth, ball up, cover with plastic, and rest at room temp for an hour. This gives the gluten time to relax.
   
9. Pull out your dough. Portion into workable sizes (around one serving's worth), and roll out to desired thickness, using potato starch as you go to prevent sticking. If you have a pasta machine run the portion through the thickest setting maybe 5-6 times until smooth, and then gradually run it through each descending setting until you reach the desired thickness. It starts out pretty ragged, but folding and re-passing will eventually smooth it out.
   
10. Cut your noodles to your desired thickness. I like about the thickness of spaghetti, but feel free to go larger or smaller.
    
11. Let these noodles sit for 30 minutes to an hour to reduce the moisture content and dry them slightly. This will allow the noodles to cook more gradually, and maintain a better texture.
    

Directions, Broth and Toppings:

1. Place beef in a pot and cover with 8 cups of water at high-heat, Bring to a boil. Lower the temperature to medium and leave to simmer for at least one hour. I usually leave it for 2-3 hours.
   
2. Before the beef broth has finished cooking, add the chopped vegetables, spices, and sauces. Stir and let it boil until the vegetables are cooked. Then, take out the beef and strain the broth to remove the vegetables.
   
3. In a separate pot, boil enough water to cook the noodles. If fresh, I recommend cooking them for less than 5 minutes (if they overcook, they get soggy and they stick).
   
4. Boil the egg. Peel and cut. I've settled on a 6 minute 30 second boil. Put your eggs into boiling water for that amount, then shock in ice water. When cool, peel. And you'll have perfect eggs every time.
   
5. Cut the leaves of the spring onion into thin slices and the nori into thin strips (*). Grate the ginger.
   

Directions, Assembly:

1. Place a portion of noodles in a bowl, add the meat, broth and then the toppings (egg, cabbage, nori, onion). The previously strained vegetables can also be added.