Hokuryu Junior High School 1st Year Students Soba Making Experience 2023 Thanks to everyone in the Hokuryu Soba Shokuraku Club for their cooperation!

Monday, October 30, 2023

On Tuesday, October 24th, from 9:00 a.m., first-year students from Kitaryu Junior High School had the opportunity to try making soba noodles in the community center auditorium.

Hokuryu Junior High School Soba Making Experience 2023

Collaborating with the local community as part of comprehensive learning

This soba noodle making experience was held for the first time with the cooperation of the Hokuryu Town Board of Education as part of comprehensive learning, with the aim of promoting collaboration with the local community.

Thanks to the cooperation and guidance of the members of the Hokuryu Soba Shokuraku Club

With the cooperation and guidance of the members of the Soba Shokuraku Club Kitaryu, three first-year junior high school students and one teacher participated in a serious and fun soba-making experience.

Initially, it was planned for five students to participate, but two were absent, so it was decided at the last minute that the teacher would also participate.

Introducing three members of the Hokuryu Soba Shokugaku Club

• Representative Naoichi Nakamura, Mitsuko Fujii, Noriaki Kakihara

Soba noodle making experience begins

We started making soba noodles under the guidance of Representative Nakamura, who gave us a detailed explanation of the steps.

The students performed each step in an orderly manner, concentrating carefully on each movement.

While talking with buckwheat flour

Representative Nakamura spoke warmly to the students, saying, "You have to constantly have friendly conversations with the buckwheat flour, asking things like, 'How much water is there? Do you need a little more? Is it smooth?' As you go through each step, you have to treat the flour gently and carefully."

Soba noodle making procedure

material

🍜 400g buckwheat flour, 100g all-purpose flour, water

Soba-making tools

🍜 Wooden bowl, rolling pin, rolling board, cutting board, soba knife, cutter board, noodle container

procedure

1. Water circulation
   🔸 Sift the powder into a wooden bowl
   🔸 Add water little by little in 4 to 5 batches while checking the condition of the powder.
   🔸 Stir in a circular motion with both hands to distribute the water evenly throughout the powder.
   (As you work, be aware of the process of buckwheat flour changing from breadcrumbs to red beans to soybeans to marbles.)
   　
2. Sleeping, showing your belly button, and lying down
   🔸 Once you've confirmed that it has become sticky, combine it into one ball to make a "Kneridama" (meat ball).
   🔸 Finishing the round shape into an onion-like shape with a "belly button exposed"

   🔸 Flatten the belly button and make it into a flat circle like a kagami mochi.
   🔸 Using your palm, press and stretch the dough from 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock, rotating it.
   　

3. Rounded, squared, fully extended
   🔸 Dust the surface with flour and place the dough on it, then carefully roll it out thinly with a rolling pin.
   🔸 The dough is "cut into squares" to make it round.
   🔸 Roll out the dough into a thin, evenly-thick (2-3mm) square (aiming for a square of about 60cm x 60cm).
   　
4. Folding and cutting
   🔸 Dust the dough with flour and fold it in thirds, from back to front and from front to back.
   🔸 Place a cutting board on top of the dough and cut it into evenly sized pieces of 2-3mm.
   🔸 Place the cut dough in a noodle container to prevent it from drying out.
   　
5. boil
   🔸 Place the noodles in a pot of boiling water and boil for about 1 minute.
   Once cooked, rub well and rinse quickly.
   🔸 Drain the water and it's done!

Everyone is working hard

Flour sifter

Water circulation

While assessing the moisture content of the dough...

Roll the dough

Gentle and smooth

Carefully and slowly

The rolling pin is a cat's paw

Move slowly and rhythmically to avoid catching your fingers in the dough.

From 2 o'clock to 10 o'clock...

While adjusting the thickness of the dough...

Aiming for a square...

Wrap the dough around the rolling pin...

Thin, large, slow...

Furthermore, be polite...

Fold the dough and sprinkle with flour

Be careful when cutting soba noodles!

The teacher also finishes making soba noodles.

While gently placing your left hand on the small board, keeping it slightly away from the table...

Use the weight of the knife to cut it slowly...

Completed!

I'll enjoy having this!

We enjoyed some cold soba noodles prepared in the kitchen by members of the Soba Shokuraku Club Kitaryu.

Delicious! Delicious!

It was fun!

Thank you for your hard work! Thank you very much!

The students of Hokuryu Junior High School were nervous, but took on the challenge seriously and had fun as they tried making soba noodles for the first time!

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone at the Soba Shokuraku Club Kitaryu for their careful guidance.

Through this precious experience, you can experience the difficulty and joy of making soba noodles with sincerity, as well as the deliciousness of the soba noodles, and we send our boundless love, gratitude, and prayers to you...

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◇ Interview and text: Ikuko Terauchi (Photography and editing assistance: Noboru Terauchi)