Scallion Pancakes
A hot-water dough rolled thin, painted with oil paste, coiled and flattened. The layers come from the coil, not the rolling.
- Prep
- 40m
- Cook
- 20m
- Waiting
- 45m
- Total
- 1h 45m
- Serves
- 4 pancakes
- Effort
- Involved
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 2.5 cups | Knead a hot-water dough and rest it 30 minutes 15m Boiling water scalds the starch and denatures the gluten, so the dough rolls thin without springing back. | Spread with oil paste, roll into a rope, coil into a snail 15m Stretch the rope as you coil to multiply the turns. Tuck the end underneath. | Roll each coil out to 20 cm and rest 15 minutes 20m Roll gently. Press too hard and the layers weld back into a single sheet. | Fry in a dry-ish pan until blistered, then crush the edges inward 20m Squeeze the hot pancake between two hands or spatulas — the layers separate and fluff up. | |
| 180 ml | |||||
| 30 ml | |||||
| 1 tsp | |||||
| 5 tbsp | Cook flour into hot oil to make the paste 5m A flour-and-oil roux stays put between the layers; plain oil just runs out the sides. | ||||
| 3 tbsp | |||||
| 1 tbsp | |||||
| 1 tsp | |||||
| 1/2 tsp | |||||
| 8 | |||||
| 4 tbsp | |||||
| 3 tbsp | Stir the dipping sauce 3m | ||||
| 2 tbsp | |||||
| 1 tsp | |||||
| 1 tsp | |||||
-
Knead a hot-water dough and rest it 30 minutes
15m- plain flour 2.5 cups
- boiling water 180 ml
- cold water 30 ml
- salt 1 tsp
Boiling water scalds the starch and denatures the gluten, so the dough rolls thin without springing back.
-
Cook flour into hot oil to make the paste
5m- neutral oil 5 tbsp
- plain flour 3 tbsp
- toasted sesame oil 1 tbsp
- salt 1 tsp
- white pepper 1/2 tsp
A flour-and-oil roux stays put between the layers; plain oil just runs out the sides.
-
Spread with oil paste, roll into a rope, coil into a snail
15m- from 1 Knead a hot-water dough and rest it 30 minutes
- from 2 Cook flour into hot oil to make the paste
- spring onions 8
Stretch the rope as you coil to multiply the turns. Tuck the end underneath.
-
Roll each coil out to 20 cm and rest 15 minutes
20m- from 3 Spread with oil paste, roll into a rope, coil into a snail
- neutral oil 4 tbsp
Roll gently. Press too hard and the layers weld back into a single sheet.
-
Stir the dipping sauce
3m- light soy sauce 3 tbsp
- Chinkiang black vinegar 2 tbsp
- ginger 1 tsp
- chilli oil (optional) 1 tsp
-
Fry in a dry-ish pan until blistered, then crush the edges inward
20m- from 4 Roll each coil out to 20 cm and rest 15 minutes
- from 5 Stir the dipping sauce
Squeeze the hot pancake between two hands or spatulas — the layers separate and fluff up.
Why boiling water
Wheat flour hydrated with boiling water behaves very differently from a cold dough. Above about 60°C the starch granules gelatinise and the gluten proteins denature before they can organise into an elastic network, so the dough stays soft and slack and can be rolled paper-thin without snapping back. That thinness is the whole game — the coil multiplies whatever number of layers you started with, and thin layers separated by oil paste steam apart in the pan into something flaky rather than bready.
Notes
- The oil paste must be a cooked roux. Brushed-on plain oil leaks out during rolling and you lose the separation entirely.
- Rest twice: after kneading, and after rolling out the coils. Both rests let the gluten relax so the discs hold their shape.
- Crushing the hot pancake between your palms as it comes out of the pan is the step everyone skips. It is what makes them shaggy instead of flat.