Scallion pancakes are a common street food in Taiwan and China. The layering, fragrant oil and an almost ridiculous amount of chopped scallions make it a simple but well-appreciated delicious meal on its own.
The Taiwanese tend to roll the dough out thinner while the Chinese prefer a thicker dough. I think both taste great. The former is crispier and chewier while the latter is softer and actually my preference.
Original recipe is in Chinese, this link has a pictorial and video step-by-step guide, I translated the former below.
Sourdough Discard Scallion Layered Pancake
Recipe makes 4
Ingredients
- 250g All purpose flour
- 100g fresh/ripe discard
- 130g warm water
- 10g sugar
- 1/8 tsp or 3g salt
- About 120g chopped scallions
- White pepper powder
- 2 tbsp Sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
Note: I used 200g fresh discard, 200g APF and 70g water
Directions
- Mix first 5 ingredients together in a mixer to form a smooth dough that’s no longer sticky (Mine only took a minute at speed 3). Add the last 10g of water with caution in case of wet dough.
- Proof for 1 hour, dough will not double, reaching at most 1.5 times the size
- Split the dough into 4 portions, shape them into balls, cover with cling wrap and let the gluten relax for 20 minutes
- Take each piece of dough, roll it completely flat. Sprinkle 1/8 tsp salt and some pepper onto it. Spread 1/2 tbsp sesame oil all over. Sprinkle chopped scallions all over. Roll it up lengthwise into a thin log. Roll the log into a pinwheel. Let gluten relax for 10 minutes and roll the dough into a thin flat circle for Taiwanese version. Flatten to half the thickness for the Chinese version.
- Heat some oil in a pan and fry the dough on both sides.
