Country Fried Pancakes

Overview

When I was 8 or 9 years old, after the distribution of production to each household was implemented in the countryside, each family had their own land, and their lives improved greatly. The most important manifestation was that they had more oil! Because my hometown grows cotton, every household has a lot of cottonseed oil, which is pressed by the oil mills in each village. The oil is dark in color, but the smell is very fragrant. At this time, when there is a new baby in the village, the neighbors will give 3, 5, or 7 eggs depending on the distance, or give the child one or two cents to wear. The money is folded in four and tied with a red thread to look like a necklace. When they see the newborn, they wear it around their neck. When the child is one month old, the host will invite people to help him fry the pancakes in his yard (fried pancakes are called Zhuhuamozi in native dialect). Make the dough one night in advance, add salt, pepper leaves, and fried sesame seeds if you are more particular about it. Roll out the dough to a size of more than one foot in diameter, and finally use a striped rolling pin to cross-roll it into a small diamond-shaped check pattern. Use chopsticks to poke a hole in the middle and fry until golden. The host will personally fill a big basket with fried fried cakes, and each family will give three or five fried cakes as a thank you, depending on the number of gifts. My sister and I get excited every time we eat pancakes.

Tags

• staple food
• home cooking
• children
• old man
• breakfast
• cooked sesame seeds
• high gluten flour
• sugar
• warm water
• yeast
• zanthoxylum bungeanum leaves
• salt

Ingredients

Steps

1. 1 grams of Wudeli high-gluten flour, 3 grams of salt, 330 grams of water for kneading, and 3 grams of yeast are dissolved in warm water. Note: Water cannot be poured in at once, and at least 30 grams of water should be reserved! Knead it into a slightly soft dough first, then dip your hands into water and slowly pour (chuai) the water into the dough. This will make the dough stronger and more tense. If you think the oil cake is too glutenous, you can add some oil or eggs when kneading the dough to change the molecular structure of the dough and make the oil cake softer and easier to bite.

   

2. 2 When the dough is almost ready, add a spoonful of crushed pepper leaves and a spoonful of fried cooked sesame seeds. If there are no pepper leaves, you can use a little five-spice powder instead, but the effect will be much worse. Some people use bitter bean leaves to make it, but I don’t think it has the fragrance of Zanthoxylum bungeanum leaves.

   

3. 3 The dough will rise until doubled in size, and a uniform honeycomb shape will appear when spread out with your hands. Sprinkle a little flour on the cutting board and wet your hands with flour (because the dough contains a lot of water and will stick to your hands). Remove the dough from the fermentation basin. Just knead it into strips, but don’t knead it! Don't rub it!

   

4. 4 Put more oil in the pot (I put about 800ml in a pointed bottom wok) and start heating the oil. Cut the strips into even pieces. I divided this amount into fifteen pieces. Sprinkle some flour on the chopping board and pot. Not too much flour, just enough that it doesn't stick to your hands. Gently press it flat and shape it into a round shape.

   

5. 5 Use a rolling pin to gently roll it into a round piece. Make sure to poke a hole in the middle. Don't get too much flour (too much flour will leave a lot of flour left in the pan after frying the pancakes).

   

6. 6 Or you can make three cuts.

   

7. 7 Heat the oil to 180 degrees, the oil will be hot but not smoking. If you don’t have a thermometer, try the next pancake. If the temperature is right, the oil cake will expand quickly when it goes down. If the oil temperature is low, the oil cake will not expand. If the oil temperature is too high, the oil cake will quickly turn black instead of golden yellow. When you see the oil cake expand and float, turn it over quickly. Wait for the second side to turn yellow and then turn it again to make the color of the first side turn into a pleasant golden brown. Do not fry it until it is golden brown in one go.

   

8. 8 The oil temperature should be maintained as much as possible during frying, not too high or too low. I usually put two or three fried cakes at intervals, wait for the first fried cake to expand and float, then add the second fried cake, and then turn the first fried cake over, and the fifteen fried cakes will be fried quickly.