Conversely, noodles made from a blend of buckwheat and wheat flours tasted milder because the addition of wheat flour tempered the buckwheat’s intensity. The exact ratio of flours isn’t typically listed on the packaging, but most of the manufacturers were willing to share that information with us. Among the blended noodles, the overall top scorer was made with 20 percent wheat flour and 80 percent buckwheat, a formulation known as nihachi style (ni means “two” and hachi means “eight”). We also gave high marks to a blend made with 40 percent buckwheat flour. One soba noodle made with just 30 percent buckwheat was so mild that it risked being mistaken for spaghetti.
For the most part, the textures of the noodles corresponded with their flavors and colors. The noodles that contained the highest percentages of buckwheat flour were fragile and prone to clumping during cooking, so we had to stir them very gently and handle them carefully. These noodles had the strongest flavors and were firm, chewy, and dark brown in color once cooked. The noodles with lower percentages of buckwheat flour were more tender and more resilient, thanks to the gluten from the wheat. They were also less assertively flavored and not as dark. Tasters loved their “really good chew” and “springy texture.”
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