Cereal Chem 67:338-342   |  VIEW ARTICLE

Chinese Wet Noodle Formulation: A Response Surface Methodology Study.

K. Shelke, J. W. Dick, Y. F. Holm, and K. S. Loo. Copyright 1990 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

After a preliminary testing of 10 commercial Southeast Asian noodle flours, brands A and B were used to determine optimum formulation for Chinese wet noodles. The response surface study consisted of 27 combinations of the following independent variables: flour protein level (10.5-12.7%), sodium chloride (0.0-3.34%), and sodium carbonate (0.0-2.0%). Noodle quality attributes measured for each formulation combination were color, pH, firmness, mold growth, and odor. Sodium carbonate affected all properties of partially cooked noodles; protein level affected firmness, and sodium chloride had little influence on the noodle quality parameters examined. Among the interaction terms, the only significant (P less than 0.01) contribution to any noodle quality parameter was that of sodium carbonate and protein content on color. The results suggest that a Chinese wet noodle of excellent quality can be made from a wheat flour in the 10.0-11.5% protein range, using 1.4-1.7% sodium chloride and 0.7-1.2% sodium carbonate.