Homemade Erişte: Turkish Egg Noodles from Scratch (Recipe)
Homemade Erişte: Turkish Egg Noodles from Scratch (Recipe)
Homemade erişte (Turkish egg noodles) starts as a stiff dough of flour, eggs, a little milk and salt. You rest it, roll it into thin sheets, air-dry the sheets until leathery, cut them into short strips and dry those until brittle. Five cups of flour and five eggs make about 1.5 pounds of noodles that keep for months and cook in 8 minutes.
Key Takeaways
- The ratio: 5 cups (625 g) flour, 5 eggs, 1/3 cup (80 ml) milk and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt make about 1.5 pounds (700 g) of dried erişte.
- Stiff is right: the dough should be firmer than bread dough; if it still sticks after 10 minutes of kneading, it needs more flour.
- Two dryings: sheets dry 30 to 45 minutes until leathery before cutting, then the cut noodles dry 4 to 24 hours until they snap.
- Cut small: the classic strip is about 1/8 inch (3 mm) wide and 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) long, narrower and shorter than any Italian cut.
- Toast for keeping: 10 to 15 minutes in a 300°F (150°C) oven turns the noodles pale gold, drives off the last moisture and extends storage to several months.
Late September in a Central Anatolian kitchen, and every flat surface is covered in cloth. On the cloths lie sheets of egg dough the color of straw. By afternoon they are leathery and the cutting starts: folded sheets, a long knife, strips no wider than a matchstick.
That is erişte season.
You do not need a village or a September. You need a counter, a rolling pin, a sharp knife and a day when the air in your kitchen is reasonably dry. The noodles will taste of egg and wheat, and they will keep until spring.
This recipe is about making the noodle. For the background — where erişte sits in the Turkish kitchen and how the store-bought kind cooks — our post on what erişte is and how to cook it covers it. Here you get flour and eggs, rolling and cutting, two-stage drying, toasting and storage. It belongs to the same late-summer pantry rhythm as drying vegetables for kurutmalık (sun-dried vegetables).
What Makes Homemade Erişte Different from the Bagged Kind?
Three things: the eggs, the flour and the cut. A home dough is rich — one egg per cup of flour — and the yolks give the noodle its straw color and most of its flavor.
The flour is plain soft wheat flour, not the durum semolina behind Italian dried pasta. That is why erişte cooks softer and faster than spaghetti.
Making it is also a kış hazırlığı (winter preparation), the same category of work as tomato paste, pickles and tarhana, the dried fermented soup base. In Turkey the job falls in late summer because the air is still warm and dry. In a US kitchen with the heat on, any dry week works.
What Flour and Eggs Should You Use for Erişte Dough?
All-purpose flour, which is what most Turkish home cooks use. Bread flour fights the rolling pin and springs back; cake flour is too weak to hold a noodle together.
Use large eggs at room temperature. Salt goes into the dough, not just the cooking water — an unsalted noodle tastes flat no matter how salty the pot.
Milk or Water?
Both are traditional. Water gives a firmer, paler noodle. Milk makes a softer dough that rolls more easily and browns a shade deeper when toasted. The recipe below uses milk; water swaps in measure for measure.
How Thin Do You Roll the Sheets, and How Do You Cut Them?
Aim for about 1/16 inch (1.5 mm): thinner than pie crust, thicker than yufka (paper-thin Turkish dough). You should not see your hand through it.
Turkish cooks roll with an oklava (a long, thin rolling pin). A standard American pin works. A hand-cranked pasta machine works too, on the second-thinnest setting, but skip its cutter — it gives you fettuccine width, not erişte width.
The Fold and the Knife
Cutting happens after the sheet has dried to leather. Dust it with flour, fold it into a flat roll about 2 inches (5 cm) wide, and slice across into strips about 1/8 inch (3 mm) wide. Then cut the strips short.
If you would rather skip the rolling pin: ready-made erişte, dried and toasted, sits in our Turkish pasta and noodles collection, and the beyaz peynir (white brined cheese) for serving it is in the Turkish cheese online range.
How Do You Make Homemade Erişte at Home?
Makes about 1.5 pounds (700 g) of dried noodles, 6 to 8 servings. Active time about 45 minutes, drying 4 to 24 hours, cooking 8 minutes.
What You Need
- 5 cups (625 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 5 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup (80 ml) whole milk, plus a little more if needed
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt
- Clean cotton dish towels or tablecloths for drying
How to Make It
- Whisk the flour and salt in a wide bowl and make a well. Add the eggs and milk and beat with a fork, pulling in flour until a shaggy dough forms.
- Turn the dough out onto a bare counter and knead for 10 minutes until stiff, smooth and only slightly tacky. Add milk by the teaspoon only if it will not come together; add flour by the tablespoon if it sticks to your palms.
- Shape into a ball, wrap tightly, and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 4 pieces and keep 3 covered. On a lightly floured counter, roll one piece into a sheet about 1/16 inch (1.5 mm) thick. Repeat with the rest.
- Lay the sheets on flour-dusted towels and air-dry for 30 to 45 minutes, turning once, until leathery: dry to the touch but still able to bend without cracking.
- Dust a sheet with flour and fold it into a flat roll about 2 inches (5 cm) wide. Slice across the roll into strips about 1/8 inch (3 mm) wide, then stack the strips and cut them into 1 1/2-inch (4 cm) lengths. Toss with your fingers to separate.
- Spread the noodles thinly on floured towels or baking sheets and dry in a warm, airy spot for 4 to 24 hours, stirring occasionally, until a noodle snaps instead of bending.
- For toasted erişte, spread the dried noodles on a rimmed baking sheet and bake at 300°F (150°C) for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring once, until pale gold. Cool completely.
- Store airtight in a cool, dark cupboard. To cook, boil in salted water for 5 to 8 minutes until tender, drain, and toss with melted butter, crushed walnuts and crumbled white cheese.
Troubleshooting: Sticky Dough, Cracked Sheets, Clumped Noodles
Sticky dough. Too much liquid, or oversized eggs. Knead in flour a tablespoon at a time until it stops clinging; a sticky dough never dries evenly.
Cracked sheet. Too dry, or not rested. Wrap it, wait 15 minutes, and if it still cracks knead in a teaspoon of milk.
Clumped noodles. The sheet was cut before it reached leather, or was not floured before folding. Separate what you can, and wait longer next time.
How Do You Dry, Toast and Store Erişte for the Winter?
Drying decides whether your erişte lasts a week or a season. The noodles need moving air more than heat: a warm kitchen with a window cracked, or a screened porch on a dry day. In a humid climate, a dehydrator on its lowest setting gets you there in 4 to 6 hours.
The test is the snap. If a noodle flexes, it needs more time; if it breaks with a clean click, it is done.
Why Toast the Noodles?
Many households give the dried noodles a short toast in a dry pan or a low oven. It drives off the last moisture so they keep longer, and turns them from straw to pale gold with a faint nutty flavor.
Storage
Airtight, cool and dark. Fully dried and toasted, homemade erişte keeps for several months on the shelf next to the tarhana and the dried beans.
How Do You Cook and Serve Fresh-Made Erişte?
A large pot of well-salted water at a rolling boil, and the noodles go in loose. Start tasting at 5 minutes; hand-cut noodles vary, so the pot is done when the thickest strip is tender. Drain, but do not rinse.
The classic plate is cevizli erişte (erişte with walnuts): hot noodles tossed with melted butter, coarsely crushed walnuts and crumbled beyaz peynir. Sadeyağ (clarified butter) gives a nuttier result; our guide to Turkish butter and sadeyağ explains the difference.
Erişte also goes into soups and pairs with green lentils in a one-pot weeknight dish; our guide to Turkish lentils and legumes covers which lentil holds its shape. It can stand in for the pasta in fırın makarna, the Turkish baked pasta — cook it a minute short, since it finishes in the oven.
Stock the winter shelf: green lentils, bulgur and rice are in our grains, rice and legumes collection, and the rest of the pantry is in the full Turkish grocery online range.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make erişte without a pasta machine?
Yes, and most Turkish cooks do. A rolling pin and a sharp knife are the traditional tools. Roll the rested dough to about 1/16 inch (1.5 mm), dry the sheet to leather, fold it flat and slice it thin. A machine only speeds up the rolling.
Why did my erişte dough crack while I was rolling it?
Too dry, or not rested long enough. Flour absorbs liquid differently depending on the bag and the weather, so a dough that felt right in the bowl can tighten on the counter. Rest it 15 more minutes, and knead in a teaspoon of milk if it still cracks.
How long does homemade erişte keep?
Fully dried until it snaps, toasted, and stored airtight in a cool, dark cupboard, homemade erişte keeps for several months. That is the point of making it in the fall. Untoasted noodles keep a little less long. Bending noodles or condensation in the jar mean they went in too damp.
Can I freeze fresh erişte instead of drying it?
Yes. Cut the noodles as usual, air-dry them 30 minutes so they are not tacky, then freeze them on a floured tray until hard and bag them. They keep about 3 months and cook from frozen in the same 5 to 8 minutes, with a softer texture closer to fresh pasta.
Do I have to toast the noodles?
No. Toasting is optional, and plenty of households skip it. It adds a pale gold color and a light nutty flavor, and it drives off residual moisture so the noodles store more safely. If you will eat the batch within a few weeks, leave them untoasted.
Can I use whole wheat flour for erişte?
Partly. Replace up to half the all-purpose flour with whole wheat and the dough still rolls and cuts well, with a darker color and nuttier taste. Go past half and the bran cuts the gluten, so sheets crack and cooked noodles turn crumbly. Expect to add a spoonful of milk.