Beijing Sesame Shaobing

Ingredients

• 300 g plain flour
• 5 g instant yeast
• 3 g fine salt
• 180 ml warm water
• 40 g plain flour, for the roux
• 60 ml neutral oil, for the roux
• 2 tbsp Chinese sesame paste
• 1 tsp ground roasted Sichuan pepper
• 1 tsp five-spice powder
• 3/4 tsp fine salt, for the filling
• 2 tbsp maltose or honey
• 2 tbsp hot water
• 80 g white sesame seeds

Before you cook

• Whisk the 300 g of flour with the yeast and 3 g of salt in a large bowl.
• Pour in the warm water and stir to a shaggy dough.
• Knead for 8 minutes, until the dough is smooth and springs back slowly.
• Cover the bowl and leave it somewhere warm for 1 hour, until doubled.
• Stir the maltose into the hot water until it dissolves.
• Tip the sesame seeds into a wide shallow bowl.

Steps

1. Heat the 60 ml of oil in a small pan until it just begins to shimmer.
2. Pour the hot oil over the 40 g of flour in a heatproof bowl and stir it to a loose paste.
3. Stir the sesame paste, ground Sichuan pepper, five-spice and 3/4 tsp of salt into the warm roux, then leave it to cool.
4. Roll the risen dough on a lightly oiled surface into a rectangle about 45 cm by 25 cm.
5. Spread the cooled paste over the dough, leaving a clean 2 cm border along one long edge.
6. Roll the dough up tightly from the opposite long edge into a long rope.
7. Cut the rope into 6 equal pieces.
8. Stand each piece on a cut end and press it down into an 8 cm round so the layers show as a spiral.
9. Heat the oven to 200C and line a baking tray.
10. Brush the top of each round with the maltose water.
11. Press each round face-down into the sesame seeds so they stick in a thick coat.
12. Set them seed-side up on the tray and leave them for 20 minutes.
13. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until deep gold and hollow-sounding when tapped underneath.
14. Cool for 5 minutes on a rack, then eat warm, split open and stuffed with braised meat or dunked in hot soy milk.