Recipes can change month to month, depending on the moisture in the flour. Temperamental British weather is also a factor – the process for making noodles on a hot summer’s day is different from a freezing week in winter.
THE PROCESS
All of Bone Daddies recipes use local UK flour – which is mixed with sea salt, vital wheat gluten and kansui – plus any recipe-specific ingredients.
Once the dough has been mixed it needs to relax – it’s just too stressed at that point.
While it takes a 45-minute break, the dough must be kept between 12-15 degrees. Any lower and the gluten is too stretched, and becomes too hard. Any higher and the gluten becomes too elastic and dough breaks.
Cooling the dough requires different ice quantities – depending on the weather. Keeping dough at the right temperature is a year-round focus.
The chilled out dough is combined and formed into a roll, so it gains strength. The number of times it’s combined depends on the recipe – some only need to go through the process once, whereas firmer noodles may go through multiple times.
Time for another 45-minute rest before the noodles are then cut and formed. Every ball of noodles is shaped by hand, and they’re regularly weighed to ensure the portions are perfect.
BATCH TO BOWL
So far we’ve developed eight recipes for different types of noodles.
The daily staples are our Sapporo Rye and Hakata noodles.
Sapporo are a lighter colour and feature in our chicken broth dishes, including our Tokyo Cock Cock, T22 and Lemon Pepper Ramen.
Our Hakata noodles feature across the rest of the menu, including the OG – our Tokotsu, and the Pork Pork Chilli.
Minute details are reviewed and the differences between the noodle recipes include things like the hydration levels in the recipe, the amounts of sodium and potassium. Hakata are higher in potassium, which makes them firmer, while the sodium in the Sapporo recipe gives them a slight chew.
Komugi – our noodle partner – operates in the heart of Manchester, but produces ramen noodles for restaurants nationwide. They hold the bespoke Bone Daddies recipes for the noodles our guests enjoy in every ramen bar.
