Chinese pancakes #2

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
2 cups Flour
1 cup Boiling water
3 tablespoons Oil for brushing

Directions

Measure the flour into a large bowl and add the boiling water gradually as you stir with chopsticks or a wooden spoon until the mixture resembles lumpy meal. Press the mass into a large ball.

Dust your work surface with flour and turn the dough out onto it. Knead it, pushing with the heels of your hands and turning it, for 5 minutes, until it is no longer sticky. Dust lightly with flour whenever necessary.

Cover with a damp cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Flour the work surface again and knead the dough another 5 minutes until it is soft and smooth, dusting with flour when necessary. Shape the dough into a log, cut it in half lengthwise, and then roll each half back and forth with your palms to form a sausage shape about 15 inches long. Cut each sausage into 1-inch pieces and stand them up on their edges on a floured surface.

Brush 1 side of a piece of dough with oil and press this side onto another piece; then roll into a double pancake measuring about 6 inches in diameter. Repeat until you have made 15 double pancakes. Doubling is to cut the pan baking time and effort in half.

Heat a heavy skillet over low heat until hot. Place a pancake in the center and "bake" it for about 1-½ minutes, until the surface puffs into a bubble and the bottom is speckled with small light brown spots. Flip and bake the other side about 45 seconds. These pancakes should be soft and slightly chewy. The crucial point in making them is the heat level; if the pan is too hot the pancakes will be covered with large burned spots and if it is not hot enough the pancake will dry out in cooking. Be careful to bake only 1-½ minutes and test for light brown spots, and you'll have a perfect pancake. ake.

Remove the double pancake to a plate while you put another one into the skillet; then peel off the finished top one to give you 2 individual pancakes. Fold each one to make a half moon and place on a plate. Repeat the baking, peeling and folding until all 30 pancakes are made, lowering heat if pancakes are browning too fast.

Steam the folded pancakes on a heatproof plate for 5 minutes before serving them. You may make them hours or days in advance, and you can freeze them. Wrap tightly in plastic for refrigerating or freezing. Reheat by steaming 10 to 15 minutes until soft and resilient.

EASTMAN@...

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