Recently I stumbled upon a cookbook with many authentic recipes on northern Chinese delights, as well as tips from professional chefs and helpful illustrations. It's like a dream find for me. I call it "serendipity", one of my favorite English words, meaning the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.
Other than dumplings, this book also includes various Chinese pancakes, steamed buns, rice and noodles recipes. Most featured recipes are very familiar items but one particular page caught my eye as I don't recall eating this specific combination before. This bread is like a hybrid between bread and pancake, and is stuffed with grated Chinese radish, ham and scallion....does it remind you of pizza?
Having enjoyed similar golden breads that came with different fillings, I was keen to give this recipe a try. I modified / simplified some of the steps and was not disappointed at all with the results. The fragrance and taste of Chinese radish works very well with the bread which has been given some time to develop its flavor.
If you have ever wanted to bake bread but do not have an oven, this is a great recipe for you. (If you have an oven, this is also a great recipe for you.) Instead of baking bread in an oven, a "baking environment" is simulated via a covered pan on a stove. Overall this is a relatively simple bread to make. Just monitor the heat control - if too high the bread & sesame seeds will get burnt before it's fully-cooked; if too low the bread will not cook fully or turn golden brown. Watch it closely and you'll enjoy fresh delicious bread at home.
RECIPE FOR GOLDEN RADISH BREAD
Makes 4 bread servings
__________________________________________Ingredients
(A) Dough
300g plain/all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp instant yeast
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
150ml water
(B) Filling
300g Chinese radish, thinly shredded or grated
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp oyster sauce (or chicken boullion powder)
few dashes of pepper
1 Tbsp water
50g scallion, chopped
25g ham, shredded
(C) Others
1/2 egg - egg wash
50g (1/3 cup) white sesame seeds
4 Tbsp oil (1 Tbsp for each bread)
Steps:
Dough
1) Add the dry ingredients under (A) Dough in a large bowl. Slowly add water and mix well with the dry ingredients. Knead with hands for 5-10 minutes till dough is smooth. Place dough in large bowl and covered with plastic wrap or damp cloth. Leave dough to rest for an hour.
Tip: when weather is cold, I leave the dough in microwave or oven together with a cup of hot water. This creates a warm and humid environment which helps dough rise. Do not turn on the oven.
Filling
2) In a bowl, mix thinly shredded radish with 1 tsp salt and leave for 5 minutes. Squeeze water from radish and discard water.
3) Heat up 1 tbsp oil in pan over medium heat. Add shredded radish and cook 2-3 minutes till slightly softened. Add seasonings: 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp oyster sauce, pepper, 1 Tbsp water and mix well. Sprinkle chopped scallion, ham and remove from heat.
Wrap
4) After an hour, gently knead and roll the dough into log shape.
- Divide into dough into 8 equal portions. If needed, lightly dust work surface with some flour.
- With a rolling pin, flatten each portion into a 5 inch (13 cm) circle.
- On a piece of dough, add some filling, and place 2nd piece of dough on top.
- Use your fingers (or an inverted bowl) to press and seal tightly the 2 pieces of dough around the rim. Remove any extra dough around rim if using an inverted bowl.
- Repeat with rest of dough to make 4 bread servings in total.
5) Brush egg wash on one side of bread and coat with sesame seeds.
Pan-Fry
6) Over medium heat, add 2 Tbsp cooking oil to a large flat pan.
- Place 2 bread servings in pan with sesame-coated side facing down.
- Pan-fry till bottom of bread turns golden brown. Flip and cook other side till golden-brown. This should take about 5 minutes.
- Reduce heat to low and cover pan with lid. Cook for another 10 minutes.
- Remove from pan.
7) Cook the other 2 servings. Bread is best when eaten hot or warm.
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