Just a quickie...heh heh.

Ahhh yissss....flakiness...

Oh heyyyy. This will be a quick post. I hate to neglect this blog, but in a desperate attempt to give myself limits to help enforce studying and alleviate the fear behind the time-crunch of my upcoming test, I've allotted myself only 1 hour on the computer per day. Problems with self-motivation much, you think?

Anyways, nothing deep today, nothing complicated. Remember those scallion pancakes I was telling you about last post? Well, the brand was so damn good that of course, I tried to recreate it. So here's a first attempt; I'm sure there will be many more to come. For today though, just this. 

HNSTY makes a super flaky scallion pancake, a property which I'm assuming results from many layers of laminate. Laminate, and I'm not sure I'm using the term correctly, is a method of folding layers of dough and fat again and again, so that they alternate with one another within the pastry. Eventually, when being baked, the air that's trapped between the layers of dough and fat acts as a leavening agent (instead of the classic baking soda or baking powder). As it heats up and puffs the pastry from inside, the fat melts into the dough, overall creating that flaky texture we all know and love. Think croissants, but we're going Asian this time (meaning not butter, but lard). Neat, eh? Scallion pancakes are made using this laminating method. Depending on how many times you roll and fold the dough will determine how flaky your interior is. Although inexpensive and relatively easy to make at home, there are some caveats. Be careful when you handle and roll out the laminated dough; it's very easy to rip open the layers when rolling, especially if you have several layers of fat hidden within. The more layers you have, the more flaky your dough. I did about two rounds of lamination, and found the dough to be too difficult to work with after that. As a consequence of such, my scallion pancakes were not as flaky as those of HNSTY, but I'll get there one day, when I'm in less of a "must eat food and return to studying" rush. Anyways, catch ya later!

Scallion Pancakes

makes 6 medium pancakes

2 stalks scallions, diced

2 C bread flour

1 C boiling water 

1 teaspoon garlic salt

shortening

sesame oil

salt

Note: there are no set amounts for the fat/oil and salt. I used between 2-4 TB of shortening and a couple TB of oil, just have enough to spread on the dough during the assembly process.

Sift together flour and garlic salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the flour, then slowly pour in the boiling water while stirring with a fork or spoon. Once the dough comes together, turn out onto a floured surface, and knead lightly until smooth (should be sticky at first, less so at the end, but don't over-knead, remember, this isn't bread dough). Then wrap in plastic wrap, and let rest 30 minutes, preferably more. After the gluten has had time to relax, uncover the dough and make sure it is elastic and springy, meaning it springs back to its original shape when you push on it. If that doesn't happen, knead and let rest again. You want the gluten to have relaxed and connected with other gluten strands, which will help in trapping the air later.

Once that is done, using a rolling pin, roll out the entire ball of dough into a large rectangle until it has as thin a layer as possible. My dough was sticky, so I used a floured surface. After it is all rolled out and flat, brush sesame oil over the entire rectangular surface and sprinkle with salt. Then, starting from the long-edge of the rectangle, roll it up tightly, like you're forming a cake roll. Once the dough has been rolled into a long rope, cut the rope in half and pinch together the open edges.

Flatten each of these  rolls with your hand and then fold each one in half, length-wise. Flatten each piece dough again with your palm. Be gentle with the dough, you don't want to destroy the layers. Then, using a rolling pin again, roll each square of dough into a rectangular layer, trying to get the layer as thin as possible without ripping the dough. Once flattened, spread a layer of shortening on the surface of the rectangle and sprinkle with chopped scallions. Repeat the aforementioned process - staring from the long-edge, roll the flat rectangle so it turns into a long rope. Divide this rope into 3 pieces and pinch together the edges. You should now have a total of 6 pieces of dough.

Wrap each mini-roll into a circular shape by pinching together the ends of the roll in the center. Place the spiral sphere in between two layers of plastic wrap and press down gently, until flat. Using a rolling pin again, roll out the dough until it is circular and flat. Store in the freezer until frozen. To cook, place the frozen scallion pancake into a non-stick pan on low heat and let cook until brown on one side. Then flip the pancake over and brown on the other side. You'll know you conquered the laminate method when your scallion pancake puffs up while you are cooking it. If it doesn't puff up, no worries, it will still taste good, but it will be a bit more dense and not as flaky.