Flaky Scallion Pancakes (蔥抓餅)

Directions

• Make the Dough. First, mix together the all-purpose flour and salt. Then slowly stream in the hot water while mixing (a pair of long chopsticks is my preferred tool for this). Once all the hot water is added, knead the dough in the bowl for just 2-3 minutes until the dough just comes together (do not over-knead!). While mixing, try to clean off some of the flour that originally got stuck to the inside of the bowl as well. The dough doesn’t have to be smooth at this stage; in fact, it will seem barely work-able. Brush the top of the dough with a little bit of vegetable oil (prevents drying) and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight to extend the autolyse.
• Make the Scallion Oil Paste. First, combine the thinly chopped scallions, all-purpose flour, and white pepper in a heat-safe bowl. In a small sauce-pan or shallow pan, heat up the vegetable oil until just shimmering. Then quickly pour the oil over the scallions — it should sizzle immediately. Stir to form a smooth paste.
• Roll out the Dough & Apply Oil Paste. Take your rested dough and divide into eight even portions. Take one portion and roughly roll it out into a thin rectangle. If you find that the dough is sticking to your work surface, brush a little bit of oil on the work surface. For the thickness of the rolled out dough, I generally aim for the thickness of a coin. Once the dough is rolled out, apply anywhere between 2-3 tablespoons of the oil paste with a brush. Once you’ve evenly spread the oil paste, fold the top 1/3 down and the bottom 1/3 up, and then fold the whole thing in half. At this point you should get a long rectangle. Stretch it by pulling gently on both ends against the work surface, kind of like stretching Biang Biang Noodles.
• Cut, untangle, and re-form. Cut your long rectangular dough into pasta-like strips. take each strand, untangle, and stack them on top of each other. Once you’ve stacked all the untangled strands together, coil from one end to the other and tuck the final end beneath. Repeat for the rest of the dough.
• Flatten the Pancakes. Before cooking the pancakes, be sure to let them rest for at least 15 minutes. After they have properly rested, flatten the pancake either with your fingers or a rolling pin to around 0.5 to 1 cm thick.
• Cook the Pancakes. Heat up a non-stick pan with a little bit of oil on medium-high heat. Note: you don’t really need oil here if your pan is well-seasoned or very non-stick. The pancake itself will give out some oil. However, for the best street food-like experience, I recommend frying in 2-3 tablespoons of oil. The difference is significant — the pancakes will take on a shatteringly crisp, almost deep-fried texture. Place a flattened pancake in the pan. Cover the pan with a lid and lower the heat by a little bit. Cook the pancakes covered for around 4 minutes, or until the top of the pancake has changed color (a sign that the steam has lightly cooked and hydrated the top). Now, remove the lid, flip the pancake, and turn up the heat to high heat. Cook until both sides become lightly crispy and browned. The cooking time for this step is totally up to you — I like my pancakes extra crispy, so I cooked the pancakes longer. You can cook them for a little less time and they will be tender and flaky either way. Finally, towards the very end of the cooking, take two spatulas and shove the pancake to release all of its layers. Shove the pancake just enough so that the layers are released, but don’t completely come apart and shatter into pieces. Enjoy immediately with the dipping sauce.