Perfect Crispy Layered Salted Egg Yolk Pastry
Talking about salted egg yolk pastry, we have to start with Chinese puff pastry snacks, which can be traced back to the Tang and Song dynasties. Chinese puff pastry is divided into open, semi-open, and closed layers. The salted egg yolk pastry we are discussing today belongs to the closed kind. In fact, salted egg yolk pastry is one type of Suzhou-style mooncake. Considering its popularity today, it has reached the peak status of Chinese desserts, with significance for Chinese people far exceeding that of traditional mooncakes. Salted egg yolk pastry mainly consists of the puff pastry shell and the filling. Let’s start with puff pastry preparation. Chinese pastry dough includes both water-oil dough and lard pastry. Ingredients for water-oil dough include all-purpose flour (medium gluten flour or Chinese pastry flour), fat, water, and fine sugar. You can substitute a 1:1 ratio of high-gluten and low-gluten flour for medium flour. Why not use only high-gluten or low-gluten flour? Using only high-gluten flour results in a dough with strong gluten, making it hard to roll out, while using only low-gluten flour results in weak gluten, so the dough cannot form thin layers to encase the lard pastry. Fat is also key to making puff pastry snacks. The first choice is homemade lard, rendered from pork fatback. It has excellent flakiness and a rich aroma. If you dislike the smell of lard, you can substitute it with butter, which gives salted egg yolk pastry a creamy fragrance. However, butter is slightly less effective for flakiness compared to lard. Margarine is not advisable as it contains a high amount of trans fats, which are harmful to health. In water-oil dough, fat typically comprises 30% of the baking ratio. Such a large amount of fat improves dough elasticity, making it less likely to shrink back during rolling. Water forms 40%-60% of the baking ratio and can be adjusted according to the environment’s temperature and humidity: reduce water in hot summer when the fat softens, and increase water in cold winter when the fat hardens. Ideally, knead the water-oil dough to a moderate softness, ensuring it has good elasticity and doesn’t dry out easily. Adding fine sugar aims to increase sweetness, adjust dough texture, and enhance water retention, typically at about 10% of the baking ratio. Lard pastry consists only of low-gluten flour and fat. Its unique characteristic is high plasticity, separating the water-oil dough into layers. The flour-to-fat ratio in lard pastry is usually 1:0.5. In a hot summer, where lard softens easily or if substituted with liquid fat, the fat ratio can be reduced to 1:0.4, ensuring the pastry isn’t too soft to form. The most common filling for salted egg yolk pastry is red bean paste, which can be homemade or store-bought. Homemade bean paste offers a rich aroma and controllable sweetness but takes time to prepare and has a short shelf life. Store-bought bean paste, on the other hand, is convenient, with a long shelf life and stable quality. Homemade bean paste tutorial: http://www.xiachufang.com/recipe/104032515/. When it comes to salted duck eggs, there are two options: purchase ready-made salted yolks or fresh salted duck eggs to separate the yolks yourself. The difference lies in convenience versus freshness. Store-bought yolks save time but might lack freshness and have less ideal texture and controllability in salinity. If time allows, I recommend using fresh salted duck eggs. The oiliness of salted yolks depends on the curing time. Generally, eggs need to be cured for at least a month to achieve oozing yolks with sandy textures. However, curing too long makes them overly salty and crumbly, so the timing is crucial. If the store-bought salted eggs feel insufficiently cured, you can leave them for a while before use, essentially extending the curing process. As long as the outer red mud remains intact, spoilage is unlikely. The production process for salted egg yolk pastry can be summarized into four steps, with each divided into clearer instructions, making it relatively easy to master. Step one: Preparing water-oil dough and lard pastry. Adjust the water-oil dough based on the aforementioned ratio and mix all four ingredients directly. Knead until the dough is smooth and can stretch into very thin films, achieving about 80% gluten development. Reference my kneading guide 'Kneading Dough with a Stand Mixer to Achieve Windowpane' at http://www.xiachufang.com/recipe/103759240/. Well-kneaded water-oil dough should be elastic and stretchable, not prone to tearing or difficult to roll out. When making salted egg yolk pastry, pay close attention to environmental temperature. High temperatures soften both the water-oil and lard pastry doughs, causing oil from the water-oil dough to seep out, leading to stickiness and poor elasticity. If too soft to handle, chill the dough before proceeding, or reduce water or fat in the dough to adjust hardness to an appropriate consistency. Step two: Wrapping the pastry. Laminating techniques in pastry snacks can be categorized into large laminations and small laminations. For beginners, I suggest starting with small laminations as improper technique during large laminations can mix the layers, resulting in a hard and compact crust lacking flakiness. Once you’ve mastered small laminations, you can consider large laminations to improve efficiency. During wrapping, keep several key points in mind: apply even pressure during rolling; don’t roll the dough too thin as excessive layering causes indistinct layers or tearing; avoid overly long resting times as the oil from the lard pastry can absorb water from the water-oil dough, making the dough dry and hard; and cover the laminated dough with plastic wrap to prevent drying out. Step three: Wrapping the filling. The water-oil dough we prepared is relatively soft, so you can use your thumb and index finger ring (tiger’s mouth) to seal it. Take care to keep the puff pastry layer uniformly thick. Many people experience cracking in the pastry during wrapping, mainly due to the water-oil dough being too dry, which makes cracking more likely during rolling. Prevent dough from drying out to avoid this issue. Step four: Decorating and baking. Place the filled pastries on a baking tray to rest while brushing egg wash. Brush one layer, wait for it to dry, then brush another to make the surface golden and appealing. Sprinkle a little black sesame on top to enhance the visual appeal and taste.
Ingredients
Steps
Baking: Preheat oven to 190°C (top and bottom heat). Bake at 180°C (top heat) and 170°C (bottom heat) in the middle-lower rack for about 25 minutes. Adjust time based on your oven.
Soak the salted duck eggs (with red clay coating) in water for a while and clean them thoroughly.
Crack open the duck eggs, remove the yolks, and take off the white membrane on the yolks (to remove the raw smell).
Place the yolks in a preheated oven at 180°C and bake for 3 minutes. Let them cool afterward. Baking removes the raw smell and allows the yolks to partially cook. Optionally, you may spray a little liquor over the warm yolks, but fresh salted yolks are typically not too smelly and can skip this step.
Combine water-oil dough ingredients in a mixing bowl. Blend into a dough using a spatula.
Use a stand mixer at medium speed (level 3) to knead the dough until smooth.
When the dough can be stretched into a thin, almost transparent film (80% gluten development), it’s ready. If you don’t have a mixer, hand kneading works as well.
Wrap the dough in cling film and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.
Mix the lard pastry ingredients, initially using a spatula and then knead by hand until completely smooth.
Similarly, wrap the pastry dough and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Roll the bean paste filling into 25g portions and shape into rounds.
Flatten the bean paste slightly and wrap it around a salted egg yolk.
Seal the edges tightly to form a closed ball.
Divide the water-oil dough into 18g portions and round them into balls; let them rest.
Cover the resting dough balls with cling film to prevent them from drying out.
Divide the lard pastry into 12g portions.
Shape them into balls; let them rest too.
Roll out the water-oil dough into thin discs.
Wrap the lard pastry inside the thin water-oil dough disc, ensuring even thickness when sealing. Place it seam-side down. Cover with cling film to prevent drying out.
Ensure the seam is tightly sealed to prevent leakage. Given the time taken to prepare 10 portions, the first batch will naturally rest while completing the others, so you can roll out the first batch immediately after finishing.
Place the wrapped dough ball seam side up, slightly flatten it, and roll it into an oval.
Roll it up from one end, seam side up again, and roll into a longer shape. Roll up again seam side down, cover, and rest for 10 minutes. Skipping rest between rolling steps is fine.
Lightly sprinkle flour on a surface. For rested dough, fold both ends toward the center and flatten.
Use a rolling pin to roll it into a circular shape with thicker middle and thinner edges. Roll once upwards and downwards (don’t roll back and forth). Rotate 90° and repeat once. Avoid over-thinning to prevent cracking.
With smooth dough side facing out, wrap the egg yolk bean paste filling entirely. Seal tightly, rotating it with your hand to ensure roundness.
Ensure the seam is tightly sealed to avoid splitting during baking. Place the sealed side down on a baking tray in preparation for egg wash application.
Preheat the oven to 190°C.
Brush a thin layer of egg yolk liquid over the dough; wait 5 minutes and brush a second layer for better color. Avoid thick application in one go.
Dip a fingertip in egg yolk liquid, then dip in black sesame seeds and press lightly on the pastry to place as topping.
Bake in the preheated oven, adjust the top heat to 180°C and bottom heat to 170°C. Place in the middle-lower rack for about 25 minutes.
Remove the pastries once the tops are golden to your liking.
Cool the pastries completely on a wire rack after removing them from the oven.
Arrange on a plate.
Take a bite and enjoy the crispy layers!