Noodle-making is a culinary art among most Amish cooks. When it comes to Amish cooking and baking simplicity is the hallmark. And you don’t get much more simple than this easiest homemade noodles recipe ever, really, you don’t.
You might be like me and think that homemade pasta is a complicated, laborious process, but it’s not. Or it doesn’t have to be with a recipe like this.
Scratch-made noodles are an age-old art. Amish moms learn from their moms and then pass the craft down to their daughters who pass it along to theirs and so on. The noodle dough is often pressed super thin and then hung to dry on drying racks Sometimes really thin noodles are just put on cookie sheets to dry, but the racks are really a site to see. The size of noodles are simply a preference factor. Some Amish cooks like super thin noodles, others like wider noodles. You can let your own taste and preference guide you.
Some Amish cooks have sped up the process by buying hand-cranked “noodle makers.” This is quicker than getting a knife and manually cutting out each noodle, although some old-timers still do that.
People often think of Italian and pasta together, but Amish and pasta are synonymous also. Homemade pasta can be made out of just a few ingredients and makes a filling dish. Keep in mind that the Amish came to the USA from Germany, a part of Germany that shapes similar culinary roots with Italy, so the Amish propensity for pasta isn’t a stretch.
Different Amish settlements enjoy different types of homemade pastas depending on their lineage. The Swiss Amish settlements of Berne, Indiana have a different pasta preference than the Amish of, for instance, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Foods the Amish eat there tend to be more Germanic in origin, while other settlements are more Swiss oriented.
Delicious Amish noodles!
This is the recipe that made these super simple noodles that I spotted at an Amish benefit supper. These were some tasty noodles! Some quick tips to get more enjoyable out of these:
- Let the noodles dry by spreading them out on a clean table top or countertop. Letting them dry longer than an hour is fine.
- Noodles that you aren’t going to boil and eat immediately, store and seal in gallon zip bags or sealable containers and they’ll keep for months.
- Cut into different fun shapes for young eaters!
- 3 eggs
- About 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Beat 3 eggs until frothy.
- Add flour and stir until of dough texture.
- Knead until smooth.
- Turn into floured cutting board.
- Roll dough, turning often until thin.
- Let noodle dough dry for 45 minutes.
- Turn dough and dry ½ hour.
- Cut into noodles size.
- Drop into boiling beef or chicken stock, reduce heat and cook at rolling boil about 20 minutes. Season to taste
