• place a heavy dutch oven or large pot over medium heat, add 1 TBSP oil and let heat until it's hot
• meanwhile mix the flour, salt, garlic powder, and onion powder together in a large mixing bowl
• toss the beef cubes with the flour until covered, this is called dredging
• when the oil is heated add about half the beef to the pan
• let it brown, and then stir to brown on all sides
• once it's browned remove it and let it drain on a paper towel covered plate
• add the remaining oil and repeat the browning with the rest of the beef
• once the beef has been browned and removed from the pan add the 1/4 of the broth and scrape up all the browned bits off the bottom of the pot as it loosens, do not discard this is full of flavor
• when you've got all the browned flour off the bottom add the rest of the broth to the pan and stir until the flour dissolves, add the bay leaf, and the Worcestershire sauce
• add beef back to the pan, bring to a simmer, cover, reduce heat, and let cook until the beef is tender, about 1-2 hours or so--do not let it boil hard or cook dry, check on it and add more water to thin out the gravy as needed
• Once the beef is tender taste the broth and adjust for salt, then add the pepper
• at this point, you can just reduce the heat and let the soup stay warm until you're ready to cook the noodles and eat, if the liquid gets too reduced add water to reconstitute

HOMEMADE NOODLES

• mix the flour and salt together in the bowl of a KitchenAid
• stir the water, eggs, and oil together and add to the bowl with the flour
• mix with the dough hook until the dough comes together, then let it run 2-3 more minutes
• remove the dough hook, cover the dough, and let it rest 20 minutes or so
• divide the dough in quarters and roll each quarter out to a sheet about an 1/8th of an inch thick, sprinkle with flour as needed
• you CAN do this by hand or with a pasta roller or KitchenAid attachment
• once the pasta is rolled out, sprinkle it with a light dusting of flour
• then use a pizza cutter to cut nice wide noodles about 1 inch wide by 1-2 inches long
• sprinkle cut noodles with a little flour and let them rest until you're ready to cook them

TO ADD HOMEMADE NOODLES

• bring the soup to almost a boil, add the noodles a few at a time and stir them in, keep adding them this way until they've all been added, cook and stir for 3-5 minutes after adding the last noodles

TO ADD STORE BOUGHT NOODLES

• If using store bought noodles, use them according to the package directions for adding to soup