Kesme

The sheet is floured, folded accordion-style and sliced into strips, then dried for a day before it is used.

Egg. Not vegetarian — contains cheese whose rennet the source does not name.

Ingredients

the noodles

• 500 g plain flour
• 2 eggs
• 100 ml milk
• 60 ml water
• 8 g salt
• extra flour, for folding

to serve them

• 60 g butter
• 100 g white cheese, crumbled
• 2 teaspoons Aleppo pepper flakes

Method

1. THE SHEET IS FLOURED, FOLDED ACCORDION-STYLE AND SLICED INTO STRIPS. The dough is rolled out to one large thin circle, dusted generously with flour, then folded back and forth on itself in flat pleats -- not rolled up, pleated, so the layers lie on top of one another without touching properly. The pleated stack is then cut straight across with a long knife into strips a few millimetres wide, and the strips are shaken loose. The flour between the pleats is what lets them separate; without it the stack welds and comes off the knife as a solid comb.
2. THE SHEET IS LEFT TO DRY A LITTLE BEFORE IT IS FOLDED. Twenty or thirty minutes flat on a cloth, until the surface is leathery rather than tacky. A fresh damp sheet sticks to itself whatever the flour; one dried too far cracks along the pleats instead of folding.
3. THE STRIPS ARE DRIED FOR A DAY AND THEN STORED. Spread out on cloths or trays, turned once, for twenty-four hours until they snap. That drying is not just preservation: a dried noodle holds its shape in broth where a fresh one softens into mush, and it is why this is made in large batches in autumn and eaten through the winter.
4. THEY ARE BOILED IN THE BROTH THEY ARE SERVED IN, NOT IN WATER FIRST. Straight into the simmering liquid for eight to ten minutes. The starch they shed is what thickens the broth slightly, which is wanted here -- boiled separately and drained, the dish is noodles sitting in thin liquid.
5. THE WIDTH IS A FEW MILLIMETRES AND IS CUT BY EYE. Three to four, the width of a shoelace. These are not meant to be uniform; the unevenness is visible in the bowl and is how a handmade one is told from a bought one.
6. The flour and salt mixed with the eggs, milk and water to a FIRM dough.
7. Kneaded 12 MINUTES until smooth and tight. Rested, covered, 40 MINUTES.
8. Rolled out to ONE large thin circle, 2 mm or less.
9. Left flat on a cloth 20 to 30 MINUTES, until the surface is LEATHERY, not tacky.
10. Dusted GENEROUSLY with flour over the whole surface.
11. FOLDED BACK AND FORTH in flat pleats about 6 cm wide -- pleated, not rolled up.
12. SLICED straight across the pleats into strips 3 to 4 mm wide.
13. The strips SHAKEN LOOSE and spread on trays.
14. DRIED 24 HOURS, turned once, until they snap.
15. TO SERVE: dropped straight into simmering broth for 8 to 10 MINUTES.
16. Buttered, scattered with crumbled cheese and Aleppo pepper.
17. TESTED: the dried strips should snap cleanly and separate freely. A welded comb means too little flour between the pleats.
18. Stored in a cloth bag; keeps months.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Turkey · All recipes