MAKES 18 FLATBREADS
This is one of the great treats of northern Chinese eating—a rectangular, flaky flatbread that is cooked in a skillet with a blanket of sesame seeds. It is classically a breakfast food, split and stuffed with a deep-fried dough wand and then dunked cheerfully into a bowl of hot soybean milk. At China Moon, however, we love it as a crispy sandwich bread. Stuffed with thin slices of any of our roasted meats and cut into diagonal lozenges for finger eating, it is a great lunchtime favorite.
The flatbreads can be made in an hour. If you wish to prepare them in advance, be sure to leave them at room temperature. Refrigerated, they turn a bit leathery.
ROUX:
¼ cup Japanese sesame oil, Ma-La Oil (page 17), or Five-Flavor Oil (page 13)
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons corn or peanut oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
DOUGH:
4½ cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1¾ teaspoons Roasted Szechwan Pepper-Salt (page 5)
1 tablespoon baking powder
¾ cup very hot tap water
1 cup very cold tap water
Extra flour, for rolling out the dough
About 2 cups untoasted white sesame seeds
½ to 1 cup corn or peanut oil, for pan-frying
1. Make the roux: Combine the sesame and corn oils in a heavy 1-quart saucepan and set over moderate heat until the oil is hot enough to foam a pinch of flour, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the 1 cup flour and stir constantly for 2 minutes while the mixture bubbles and turns a pale gold. Watch the heat so the temperature does not rise and scorch the oil. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.
2. Make the dough: Combine the flour for the dough, the pepper-salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the flat paddle. With the machine running on low speed, add first the hot and then the cold water in quick succession, and mix until the mixture masses in a soft ball. If the dough is very wet and sticks badly to the paddle, sprinkle in a bit more flour to make it behave.
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes. (If you have mixed the dough in a food processor, it will need to rest upwards of 30 minutes.)
4. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions and gently roll each portion into an even 9-inch log. Slice each log into 1-inch nuggets (each weighing 2¼ ounces), for a total of 18 nuggets. Put the nuggets, cut side down, on a lightly floured portion of the board, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest 5 minutes more. While the dough is resting, put the roux, a pastry brush, a shallow dish holding the sesame seeds, and 2 parchment or waxed paper-lined baking sheets alongside your work table.
5. One at a time, shape the flatbreads: Roll the first dough nugget into a rectangle 6 inches long and 3 inches wide. Flour the board only very lightly, if needed; if too much flour is used and the dough gets dry, the sesame seeds won’t stick. Brush 1 teaspoon of the roux over the top two-thirds of the rectangle, as illustrated on this page, brushing all the way out to the edge. Then, as you would fold a letter into even thirds, bring the bottom third up over the middle and fold down the top. (The roux will squish out a bit; simply wipe it up as you go to keep the board clean for rolling.) Pick up the dough packet, press the bottom side down into the sesame seeds, then turn it sesame side up and roll it out lengthwise into the original rectangular shape. Put the rolled-out flatbread, sesame side up, on the baking sheet. Proceed to roll out the remaining dough nuggets. Keep the board clean as you work. There will be extra roux when you finish; discard it.
1. Brush the top two-thirds of the dough rectangle with the roux.
2. Fold the bottom third over the middle third. Then, fold the top third down over the middle. You will have a neat 2- × 3-inch packet.
3. Press the dough packet into the sesame seeds, encrusting the bottom.
4. Turn the packet sesame seed side up, turn it 90 degrees, then roll it out into a 6- × 3-inch rectangle.
5. The finished flatbread will be the size of the dough rectangle you began with. Only the top will be wearing a blanket of sesame seeds.
6. Proceed immediately to fry the flatbreads: Heat a large heavy skillet over high heat until a bead of water evaporates on contact. Add enough oil to lightly glaze the bottom of the pan, then swirl to coat the sides. Reduce the heat to moderately high. When the oil is hot enough to sizzle a sesame seed slowly, add as many flatbreads as can fit in a single layer, sesame side down, in the pan. Fry until lightly golden and crusty, 1½ to 2 minutes, adjusting the heat so the seeds sizzle gently without scorching. Turn and fry the second side until lightly golden, about 1 to 1½ minutes more. Remove the flatbreads to a paper towel to drain. Wipe the pan clean, reheat it, and add oil as above, then fry the next batch of flatbreads.
7. The finished flatbreads can be kept side by side on a baking sheet at room temperature for up to 8 hours. If not serving immediately, reheat in a low (200°F) oven until thoroughly hot but not dry, about 4 minutes. Munch the hot flatbreads on their own, cut crosswise on the diagonal into halves or thirds. Or, split them along their natural fold, stuff with thinly sliced meats and a generous swath of dressing, and slice on the diagonal into easily managed fourths.
MENU SUGGESTIONS: For plain eating, the flatbreads are wonderful with soup. If you wish to stuff them, choose from among any of our roasted meats: Brined Loin of Pork with Hoisin-Maltose Glaze (page 313) or Pasilla Pepper Sauce (page 310), Wok-Seared Beef Tenderloin (page 253), or Peppered Loin of Lamb (page 274). You can also stuff the flatbreads with most any cold meat or poultry, and then spread on some Sweet Mustard Sauce (page 21) and maybe a layer of Ginger-Pickled Red Cabbage Slaw (page 61) for a crazy East-West Sloppy Joe.
