Homemade Noodles

I recently watched Kung Fu Panda for the first time, and craved the amazing-ness of the Chinese noodles shops. But it also made me crave the rich smell in a traditional Japanese noodle shop. Last week, some friends from church invited me to go to an Amish store, and there I found pure buckwheat flour! And even better, it was $3 for 5lb! I was so excited, I had to buy some and see what if I could make homemade Japanese soba noodles. Now, I wasn't about to go through the whole extensive process that the real deal soba chefs in Japan do, but I thought maybe I could possibly replicate it with a simple pasta maker. And it actually turned out quite well! I was really excited. The noodles were more brittle than they usually are in the shops in Japan, and of course they weren't perfectly rolled out and cut by hand, but I thought it was a great substitution. I made my own soup, and we had a fantastic dinner last night! In Japan, we eat soba on New Year's Ever to "pass on to the New Year" so I can't wait until New Year's Eve to make it again! But this time with some mochi:)

2-1/4 C buckwheat flour
1 C all-purpose flour
1 C water

1. Mix together in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Once combined, switch to a dough hook attachment, and continue to knead until smooth. Cut the dough ball into quarters, and then again into quarters (so you should have 16 equal portions) and roll out using a pasta roller up to #4 thickness. Use plenty of all-purpose flour on the sheets to avoid sticking. Cut using the spaghetti noodle attachment. Lay noddles flat and straight. Discard very short pieces.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Pat off excess flour and boil for up to 1 minute, no longer.
3. Gently rinse under cold water to remove excess starch. Serve cold with dipping sauce or hot in soup.