Real African Dishes: [MC-AllEthnic-Recipes] Chinese Buckwheat Honey Country Bread

Thursday, October 20, 2011

[MC-AllEthnic-Recipes] Chinese Buckwheat Honey Country Bread - Shaobing Tienda

* Exported from MasterCook *

Chinese Buckwheat Honey Country Bread - Shaobing Tienda

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
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2 1/2 cups soft whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sunflower oil -- or peanut oil
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water -- approximately
2 tablespoons buckwheat honey -- to 3 tablespoons

Mix the flour and salt together in a medium bowl. Stir in the oil. Make a well in the center of the mixture, pour in the warm water, and stir from the center out to incorporate the flour; add a tablespoon or so more water if the dough is too dry to be easily kneaded. Turn out onto a lightly floured bread board and knead for 3 to 5 minutes. Clean out the bowl, oil lightly, and return the dough to the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and let stand for at least 30 minutes. (We often leave shaobing dough overnight at room temperature, covered with plastic wrap. In the morning it is slightly soured and just as easy to work.)

Line the bottom rack of the oven with quarry tiles, leaving a 1-inch gap between the tiles and the oven walls. Preheat oven to 450F.

Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Flatten each piece between floured hands. Then, with a rolling pin, continue to flatten each bread to an 8-inch square. Spread 1 to 2 teaspoons buckwheat honey over one half of each square. (If the honey is thick and too sticky; causing the dough to tear while spreading, dilute with a little hot water.) Fold over the other half of each bread to make a 4x8-inch rectangle. Roll gently to seal the two sides firmly together.

Bake the breads on quarry tiles for 6 to 8 minutes, until the tops have begun to brown. Cool on a rack momentarily before serving.

Make 4 rectangular flatbreads, approximately 4 inches by 8 inches.

AuthorNote: 'Shaobing' or "roasted cake", is probably the most common flatbread throughout China. There are many varieties of shaobing, all of which fall into one of two categories: 'tienda' sweet, and 'xienda', salty or savory. The savory shaobing most familiar to people outside China is a rectangular, somewhat flaky bread covered with sesame seeds. It pulls apart into different layers created by a lard-flour mixture around which the dough has been repeatedly folded, rolled out, and folded again. Most of the shaobing we've tasted in villages and small towns in China are, however, not at all rich and refined.

This particular sweet country-style shaobing is made with buckwheat honey. If buckwheat honey is not available where you live, substitute whatever honey you prefer. Buckwheat honey does, however, have a very distinctive taste that holds up well in baking.

Source:
"Flatbreads & Flavors: A Baker's Atlas by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, William Morrow, 1995"
S(Formatted by Chupa Babi):
"Oct 2011"
Yield:
"4 4x8-inch flatbreads"
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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 317 Calories; 5g Fat (12.8% calories from fat); 10g Protein; 63g Carbohydrate; 9g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 539mg Sodium. Exchanges: 3 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

Nutr. Assoc. : 26182 0 0 5472 731