Making hand-pulled noodles, also known as Lamian, is a traditional Chinese culinary art that involves stretching and folding dough to create long, thin strands. This Lunar New Year, I was inspired to make some myself and, of course, had to add a sourdough twist!

While I hand-pulled these sourdough discard noodles, you can also make the noodles by hand with a rolling pin and knife, or use a pasta maker. I provided some high level instructions in the recipe guide on how to hand pulled noodles, but more a more detailed guide, check out Omnivore’s Cookbook’s hand pulled noodles recipe.

Simply seasoned with a bit of salt, these noodles came out with fantastic flavor, thanks to the addition of sourdough. They’re delicious tossed in a garlic-butter sauce, or try my favorite: tossing them in a chili oil sauce made with Lao Gan Ma chili oil, Fly by Jing chili oil, soy sauce, and black vinegar and then topped it all with scallions. They came out so so tasty!

Looking for more unique ways to use sourdough discard? Check out these recipes:

• Sourdough Soda
• Sourdough Discard Dumpling Wrappers
• Sourdough Mamon: Filipino Egg Sponge Cake

Print Recipe

Sourdough Discard Noodles

Discover the art of making noodles from scratch with a sustainable twist! Use your sourdough discard to create delicious, chewy noodles that are as fun to make as they are to eat. Perfect for adding a unique flavor to your meals and reducing waste.

Active time30 minutes mins

Total Time3 hours hrs

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Chinese

Keyword: sourdough, sourdough discard

Servings: 2

Equipment

• kitchen scale

Ingredients

• 120 g sourdough discard
• 1 g salt
• 50 g water
• 140 g all purpose flour

Instructions

Prepare the dough

• In a mixing bowl, combine the sourdough discard, salt, and water until everything is evenly mixed.
• Gradually add this mixture to flour in a stand mixer. Knead until you have a smooth and elastic dough.
• Cover the dough and allow it to rest for 30 minutes, giving the gluten time to relax.
• Roll the dough into a sheet approximately 1/4 inch thick. Lightly coat the sheet of dough with oil, cover, and let it rest for 2 hours.

Roll & cut or hand pull the noodles

• Hand/Machine cut noodles:

  Divide the dough into 2 pieces.

  Dust the dough with flour, and using a rolling pin, or pasta maker, roll it out into a thin long sheet. Dust the dough with flour as needed.

  When the dough reaches your desired thickness, cut the dough with a knife or using a pasta cutter attachment.

  When hand cutting the noodles with a knife, flour the dough and fold the dough in half multiple times until it reaches a manageable length to cut with a knife
• Hand pulled noodles:

  Cut the dough into 1 1/2-inch strips.

  Starting from one end, gently pull and stretch the each strip lengthwise to about double its original length.

  Fold the stretched dough in half and repeat the stretching and folding process several times, always in the same direction, until the dough is very thin and elastic.
  

Cook the noodles

• Boil the noodles in salted water for about 1 minute or until they float to the surface and are cooked through. Fresh noodles cook much faster than dried ones, so keep an eye on them.
• Drain the noodles and serve immediately with your favorite sauce or broth.

  Chili Oil Sauce recommendation (as pictured): 1 tbsp Lao Gan Ma chili oil, 1/2 tbsp Fly by Jing chili oil (for more smokiness, optional), 2 tsp soy sauce, 1 tsp black vinegar, 2 tbsp chopped scallions