Hotteok Re-imagined

Hi TFLers! It's been a while since I last posted! That's because of my weight loss journey. I tried to avoid baking treats because it's difficult to stop once you have a taste and I need to limit my portion sizes or opt for foods with a high satiety to calories ratio so instead of eating a small piece of bread, I will just eat some rice which has the same calories but makes me feel full and contented longer. :) I also avoided stalking TFL because it will stimulate cravings!

Gladly, my efforts have paid-off; in almost 4 months from 39" I have trimmed my belly to just less than 35" and I even gained 5 pounds and when the scale goes up but the measurements drop, it is more good news! I have also brought my body fat percentage down to healthy levels form 26% to 21% the last time I checked, I hope it's at 19% now. Fat loss is very obvious in my legs and arms, some shadow of definition is even there but the fat just keeps holding on to my belly so I will still continue this journey which also means less bakes and visits to TFL. :( I'm nowhere as fit as some but I saw a huge huge improvement in myself and that's what is the most important I'm extremely happy with it. Also, my posts are usually picture heavy and long but this time I don't have much time to take pictures because of my workout and I'm keeping this short because I need to sleep to recover from my workout. :P



Today is my mom's birthday so it's an automatic cheat day! Yey! :D It is also an early Mother's Day treat. My mom and I like Korean food and I've been wanting to make this popular Korean street food for a long time so I think this is the perfect time to make Hotteok. Hotteok is like a rustic version of a cinnamon bun. Cinnamon bun was raised in a manor but Hotteok grew up in the streets. It is a simple but very delicious and comforting food. Yeasted dough filled with sugar then fried. The dough is crispy, soft and chewy and the sugar inside turn to syrup. Best and should only be eaten straight from the oil. Be careful with the burning hot sugar though!

Of course, I just don't want to make it the classic way. So I made some adjustments inspired by my various "baking" backgrounds: I made the dough flaky because I imagined the flavor combination would go well with other laminated doughs like croissants and Danishes. Then, after frying I "baked" it in a skillet preferably in an oven for extra crispness which is inspired by some Chinese treats. It seems I have a penchant for flaky treats for my mom's birthday; croissants and pains au chocolat last year and this flaky Hotteok this year. Hotteok is made with a very sticky dough for its signature rice cake like texture but I made my dough a bit drier for the ease of lamination. My filling is still the classic one; brown sugar, cinnamon, and sesame seeds though you could also use other or a combination of nuts like peanuts, walnuts, pecans but my biggest change is the use of sourdough which adds a wonderful nice tang that complements the sweet filling. Zhou Clementine also has this characteristic of making the dough taste buttery even though there's none!



Tuesday night. I refreshed my sourdough starter which has also gone meal less for the past 4 months. Starters are really difficult to kill, they are like villains in movies! Then I made the levain Wednesday morning and made the dough in the afternoon, 6 hours bulk fermentation then to the fridge. I divided it into 6 pieces and laminated each one by one before filling. I fried them until golden on both sides the crisped them on a skillet 5 minutes on each side. 



The result; very crispy and flaky and not at all greasy on the outside, slightly chewy and tender on the inside with a sweet, nutty, lightly spiced gooey filling! The best with a cup of black coffee.





Look at all the melted sugar inside! Just pools of gooey dreams!





Happy Birthday Nay!

My starter will also be one year old on May 15, so also Happy one year of commercial yeast-less baking! And..

Happy Mother's day to all moms out there! I hope you enjoyed this post! See you next time!