Thousand Layer Scallion Pancake

One of those absolutely delicious breads that’s just insatiable, it fills you up very fast and it’s different from Mawusa in that the flour needs to be kneaded first.

(Yields: 12, Serving: 4, Prep time: 40 mins, Cook time: 15 mins each)

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour (and more for kneading)

• 1/4 teaspoon salt (to be mixed with flour)

• 1 cup water

• 3 scallions, finely chopped

• 2 teaspoons sesame oil

• 1/2 teaspoon salt (sprinkled on flatbread)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil (& 1/2 teaspoon for each additional flatbread)

• Soy sauce (dipping)

Instructions

Chop scallions into extremely small (aim for microscopic) sizes.

(They must be as small as possible, otherwise they will plunge holes in your pancake.)

Mix flour, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and water together in a bowl.

Scatter some flour on a wooden board and knead the dough for about 5-10 minutes until it’s a solid lump. By this time, there should be barely any mixture on your hands, or in the bowl.

After the dough is kneaded, cut it in half.

Flatten it with a rolling pin. Try and make the shape into somewhat of a circle.

Then, spread 1 teaspoon sesame oil on the dough just enough so that it can be spread out. (Do not put too much, otherwise oil will leak everywhere!)

Spread the oil so that it reaches every part of the dough.

Spread 1/4 teaspoon salt in the same way so that a little bit reaches every part of the dough. Do not overload it with salt.

Put half of the scallions you’ve cut on the dough and spread it out.

Roll the thing up so it looks like this:

Then, cut it into small pieces.

Twist both sides and push your hands down on the twisted part.

Flatten both sides with the rolling pin. Now, it should be thousand layered flatbread.

Work on all the other pieces so that they’re all flattened.

Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a non-stick frying pan and put it on medium heat (4-5) and cook the flatbreads until one side has become a golden brown colour. Then, flip it over and cook the other side. It should take about 15 minutes for both sides to be brown.

(I like to flip back and forward so I know they don’t burn.)

Repeat steps for the other half of the dough.

Serve on its own or with some soy sauce or other dip.

This is one of our family friend, Christine’s recipe. In Chinese, this bread is called Qian Cheng Bing.