At Kitchen Bee, we usually welcome guests who want to experience Japanese home cooking.
This time, however, the students were our own staff.
We gathered in the kitchen and made udon noodles together from flour. It was a fun opportunity to cook, learn, and share a meal as a team.
Udon Is One of Japan’s Most Familiar Noodles
Udon is a type of thick Japanese noodle made mainly from wheat flour, water, and salt.
It is eaten throughout Japan and can be served in many different ways.
Hot udon may be served in a light dashi-based broth, while cold udon is often enjoyed with a dipping sauce. Toppings vary widely and may include green onions, tempura, egg, meat, grated daikon, or seasoned tofu.
Udon is widely available in restaurants and supermarkets, so many Japanese people do not usually make the noodles from scratch at home.
That is why handmade udon can feel like a special cooking experience.
Beginning with a Simple Dough
The ingredients for udon are very simple, but making good noodles requires time and careful handling.
First, the flour is mixed with salted water.
The water must be added gradually so that it spreads evenly through the flour. The mixture may look dry and crumbly at first, but it slowly comes together as it is kneaded.
The dough then needs time to rest.
Resting helps the flour absorb the water and makes the dough easier to stretch later.
Kneading Udon Dough with Your Feet
One of the most memorable parts of making traditional udon is kneading the dough with your feet.
The dough is placed inside a clean plastic bag and stepped on carefully.
This may look surprising, but it is an effective way to apply strong, even pressure to the firm dough.
Udon dough is much harder than bread dough. Using body weight helps make it smooth and elastic without putting too much strain on the hands.
The dough is folded and stepped on several times until the texture becomes more even.
Naturally, the process is done hygienically, with the dough completely protected inside the bag.
Rolling and Cutting the Noodles
After the dough has rested, it is placed on a floured board and rolled out with a rolling pin.
This step requires patience.
The dough needs to be rolled to an even thickness so that the noodles cook at the same speed. If one part is too thick and another is too thin, the finished noodles will have an uneven texture.
The rolled dough is then folded and cut into strips.
Handmade noodles do not always look perfectly identical. Some may be slightly wider or thicker than others.
However, those small differences are part of the charm of making udon by hand.
Cooking Fresh Udon
Freshly cut udon noodles are cooked in plenty of boiling water.
As the noodles cook, they become softer, smoother, and more elastic.
Handmade udon has a pleasantly chewy texture that is sometimes described in Japanese as “koshi.”
Koshi does not simply mean hardness. It refers to the satisfying firmness and springiness that you feel when biting into the noodle.
After cooking, the noodles may be rinsed in cold water to remove excess starch and improve their texture. They can then be reheated for a hot dish or served cold.
Our Bowl of Handmade Udon
We served our handmade udon in a warm broth with beef, egg, green onions, and other colorful toppings.
The thick noodles had a satisfying texture, and the gentle broth brought all the ingredients together.
A bowl of udon may look simple, but making the noodles from flour gave us a new appreciation for the dish.
We could feel the texture changing at every stage—from the dry flour to the firm dough, the rolled sheet, the freshly cut noodles, and finally the cooked udon.
Cooking Together as a Team
This staff cooking day was not only about learning how to make noodles.
Cooking together gave us time to talk, help one another, and enjoy the process without rushing.
One person kneaded the dough, another rolled it, and someone else watched the boiling noodles.
Even when the noodles were not perfectly uniform, that became part of the fun.
Shared cooking experiences often create natural conversation. People learn by watching, trying, making small mistakes, and helping each other.
That atmosphere is also something we value in our cooking classes.
Japanese Home Cooking Is More Than a Recipe
Japanese food is often introduced through famous dishes such as sushi, tempura, and ramen.
However, everyday foods such as rice, miso soup, tamagoyaki, onigiri, and udon also reveal a great deal about Japanese life.
Making food by hand helps us understand not only the ingredients, but also the time, movement, and care behind the finished dish.
This time, our staff experienced that through handmade udon.
The ingredients were simple, but the process brought us together—and the final bowl tasted even better because we had made it ourselves.