May Recipe #1: You Tiao (Savoury Chinese Fried Dough Fritters) 🥖🥖

Check out the stream where I made this recipe!

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⭐ Ingredients
300g AP flour
6g baking powder
2g baking soda
3g salt
1 large egg (room temp)
15g unsalted butter (room temp)
130g water (room temp)

• Put all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix and knead until it forms a dough ball (roughly 10 min).

  • If dough seems too sticky and loose, sprinkle flour in a little at a time, until it becomes a tacky but not sticky dough.

  • The dough does not have to be perfectly smooth, just formed together.

• Let dough rest in bowl covered with saran wrap or a lid, for another 10-15 min.

• Knead the dough again until smooth.

• Make a few letter folds (folding into thirds on itself) until it becomes a rough rectangle.

• Wrap in saran wrap and let rest overnight in the fridge (preferred) or on a counter for at least 4 hrs to let the dough fully relax.

  • If overnight, let the dough sit out on the counter the next day until roughly back to room temperature.

• Bring a wok or large pot full of frying oil up to about 375°F (about medium/medium-high heat).

• Lightly flour your work surface.

• Take a portion of dough, or all of it if your work surface is long enough, and gently roll out dough lengthwise until about 1 cm thick.

  • Your dough should be very soft and pliable. DO NOT overwork or touch the dough too much. You want it to keep the softness.

• Cut into even number of strips widthwise.

• Prepare a small bowl of water and brush half the strips lightly with water

• Double up the remaining half of the strips to the ones that've been brushed with water, try to match them as best as possible.

  • The dough will be very soft and stretchy, so be very gentle and patient with this step. Do not pull on the dough too much and cause it to morph.

• Once all the strips have been paired, using a skewer or chopstick, gently press down the middle of the strips lengthwise so it leaves a light indentation. This is to also keep the strips sticking together when they fry

• Once oil is hot enough, grab a strip of dough, gently pull it lengthwise so it's as long as the diameter of the wok, and slowly lower it into the oil.

• Using a chopstick or tong, keep rotating the dough so it fries evenly.

• It will slowly start to puff up. Using a chopstick, gently try to pry the layers open a little bit on each side so it has more space to expand and puff.

• Keep rotating and frying until light golden.

• Transfer to a draining rack to cool and drain oil.

• Repeat with the remaining dough. Outside should be crispy, inside should have big puffy holes and be soft and chewy.

• Enjoy warm with fresh soy milk or congee.