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Elasticity of Chinese pancake dough

starcraft's picture
starcraft

Elasticity of Chinese pancake dough

Hello everyone! I've been trying to replicate Chinese pancake that can often be found in street corners in the Mainland. Its texture is similar to Malaysian rotis, but softer, chewier (and oilier too). This is what it looks like:

Upon searching the web on how to make this, I stumbled upon this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxAIcdOhOQ8

I've been trying to make dough as stretchy as the one in the video.  Here's the ingredients I used: 500 grams all purpose flour, 57% hydration, 10grams baking powder, 10mL salt, 60mL sugar. What I do is mix the dry ingredients before slowly adding the water. I hand knead for 10 minutes before dividing the dough into 5 pieces. I oil the surface of the dough and let it rest for an hour or two.

While I was able to make the dough as thin as the one in the video, it is not as elastic and it tears a lot. Any tips on how to make the dough more stretchy without it tearing? Thanks guys

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

Chinese pancake dough is almost always made with hot water. The theory is it will deactivate the gluten and pre-gelatinize the starch so you can easily roll the dough without it fighting back.