In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt together. Add the water and use a spoon or chopsticks to stir everything together. 

Once the water has been absorbed into the flour, use your hands to start gathering all the loose flour into the dough. The dough will seem very dry in the beginning, and that’s normal. Use your fingers to work the dry flour into the dough. 

When you get a large lump of dough, knead the dough on a dry surface. You do not need to add additional flour the surface. Continue kneading the dough for about 8 minutes. Again, the dough may seem dry for the first few minutes. Just use your fingers to squeeze the dough to hydrate it more evenly. After kneading for 8 minutes, you should have a relatively smooth ball of dough. 

Set the dough inside the bowl and cover it with a damp towel, a silicone lid, or plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for 45 minutes to 1 hour. 

Once the dough has rested, take it out of the bowl. Knead it for a minute or two. The surface of the dough should now be very smooth now. 

Sprinkle some flour onto a large baking sheet and set it aside.

Generously flour your work surface. Divide the dough into 4 smaller pieces. Keep 1 piece out and cover the other 3 pieces of dough. 

Shape this piece of dough into an oval and roll it out into a rectangle that is about 12 inches long and 5 1/2 to 6 inches wide. The dough will be difficult to roll out in the beginning because it will want to shrink back. Gently press down on one end of the dough as you use a rolling pin to stretch out the other end. Do the same on the other side. If at any point the dough is sticking to the rolling pin, brush some flour over the dough. You may need to brush flour underneath as well. 

Once you have rolled out a rectangle, lightly brush flour over the dough. Then, fold it into thirds. 

Grab one short end of the dough and fold up about a third of it towards the center. Then, fold the other short end towards the center so that you now have 3 overlapping layers of dough. Use the photos in the post for reference. 

Next, rotate the dough 90 degrees so that the folds are on the top and bottom. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 1/2-inch pieces (see Note 1). Make sure your cuts are perpendicular to the folds. Unravel each individual noodle. Then, gather all the noodles and make fold them in half into a small, loose bundle. Transfer the noodles to the floured baking sheet.

Continue rolling out and cutting the remaining dough into noodles.

Mix all the spicy peanut sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set it aside. 

Add 4 quarts of water and 2 tablespoons of salt to a pot, and bring the water to boil. Add 1 or 2 bundles of noodles into the boiling water. Use a wooden spoon to stir the noodles a little to keep them from sticking together. Let the noodles cook for 3 to 4 minutes. The noodles will float to the top when they are done cooking. You’ll notice that the noodles expand once they’re cooked.

Use a spider spatula or skimmer to remove the noodles from the pot. Transfer the noodles to a bowl. Drizzle about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of sesame oil over the noodles and stir everything together. This will help keep the noodles from sticking together into a solid block(see note 2). Continue cooking the remaining noodles.

Once all the noodles are cooked, toss the noodles with the spicy peanut sauce. Add more chili oil if you want more spiciness. I served these noodles cold. I shocked the noodles in ice water for several minutes and drained them. Then, I tossed the noodles with the spicy peanut sauce. It’s up to you whether you want the noodles to be served hot or cold.

I served the noodles with baby bok choy that I blanched in boiling water for about a minute. I also pan fried extra-firm tofu pieces until they were golden brown (about 3 to 4 minutes each side). Then, I tossed the tofu with my teriyaki sauce.

You can garnish the noodles with pepper flakes, sesame seeds, and sliced scallions if you like.