Flaky Pastry – 酥油餅 – (Sūyóu bǐng)

As one of the typical snack food in China, this pastry is very popular among the people. I especially like making Chinese pastries. This Wushan Flaky Oil Pastry is one of Hangzhou’s famous dim sum snacks and its history went back 700 or 800 years.

Because this pastry is made with lard, it’s better to fry it in hot oil for a better taste and texture. After frying, it’s best to use extra absorptive Bamboo Kitchen Towel to get rid of the excess oil.

Amount:

Makes 10-12 pieces

Ingredients:

Dough A

Dough B

For Frying

Decoration

Method:

1. First collect all the needed ingredients together, the lard should be at room temperature
2. For me, the most important thing is the Bamboo Kitchen Towel, I always have some close at hand
3. Make the dough: Mix the 2 different doughs separately. You can form Dough A by mixing the lard into the dough and roll it out until smooth. For Dough B, mix the flour and water together first before incorporating it into the dough. If your dough is particularly thin, reduce the amount of water by 5g
4. Roll out Dough B into a sheet and place Dough A in the middle and wrap Dough B around Dough A. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
5. Roll the dough out into a long rectangle and fold it three times. (This is similar to making croissant)
6. After folding the dough, rotate 90 degrees and roll it out until it is about 2mm thick, 55cm long by 20cm wide. Cut off uneven ends until you have a perfect rectangle
7. Now roll it carefully into the tube from top down. Make sure the dough is neat and tight
8. Cut off any odd shapes or excess dough leaving only a neat scroll. Cut the tube into disc of about 1.5com to 2cm thick. You should have 10 to 12 pieces
9. Next, push the disc from the centre out to make a cone. The dough will dry out and crack, so cover the discs of dough with damp Bamboo Kitchen Towel. Make sure to squeeze out excess water.
10. You should have 10 to 12 little cones ready for frying 
11. To prevent the pastry from deforming due to overheating, brush a layer of egg white all over the pastry
12. When the oil is fairly hot, about medium high, carefully lower the pastry into the oil to cook the pastry. Then, increase the fire to brown it nicely.
13. Once done, arranged the pastry onto the Bamboo Kitchen Towel point side up to make sure all the excess oil has been soaked away.
14. Decorate the pastry with a little dusting of powdered sugar and a rose petal on top.

The original recipe can be found at Xia Chufang, here you can find picture instructions for your convenience.

This recipe is mentioned in Cooking Saint, Chapter 135

Have fun cooking and eating!