Puff pastry biscuit is one of the most elegant pastries in Chinese cuisine. It used to be a pastry prepared by chefs in the royal palaces. Nowadays it has become a popular dessert and a fine food for gift. The preparation consists three major sections: preparation of the dough, the oil-flour mixture and the filling. Although it sounds to sophisticated to do at home, you can make it with patience and carefulness. It rewards you with great satisfaction, as much as if you successfully baked a cake, or made a table of Chinese dumplings.
In this recipe I'm making the puff pastry in the form of peach blossom (桃花酥). The puff pastry is with a pink color, while the filling is made of the red bean paste. It is a perfect option for a snack in the warm spring days.
THE PUFF PASTRY
The concept of the puff pastry is similar to a book. It consists multiple pages. Each page is a thin layer of dough. Between every two pages inserts a bookmark, aka the oil-flour mixture.
Exactly because the oil-flour mixture does not contain gluten, it blocks the two layers of dough from attaching together. This is why the puff pastry once baked has the airy texture. In Chinese this texture is called 酥 (Sū). The puff pastry in Chinese is 酥皮 (Sū Pí), meaning the wrap with airy texture.
THE RED BEAN PASTE FILLING
Here is the detailed recipe of the red bean paste. I would suggest you to add extra 20g oil when stir-frying the paste (in step 6), in order to increase the moisture of the filling.
I've also filmed a video recipe in order to demonstrate the preparation in a clearer way. You can find it in the recipe below. Head to my Youtube channel and find out more video recipe!
PEACH BLOSSOM PUFF PASTRY BISCUITS WITH RED BEAN PASTE 桃花酥
Course: SNACKCuisine: ChineseDifficulty: High4-8
persons1
hour20
minutes60
minutesINGREDIENTS
- THE DOUGH
All purpose flour: 180g
Water: 80g
Sugar: 20g
Lard: 40g
- THE PINK OIL-FLOUR MIXTURE
All purpose flour: 100g
Pink color food coloring: 1.5 tsp
Lard: 25g
Sunflower oil: 20g
- THE FILLING
The red bean paste: 400g
Preparation
- THE DOUGH
- Melt the sugar in water, then mix it with the lard and the flour.
- Knead the dough to have a solid dough. Cover it with plastic wrap and rest it for 10 minutes.
- (10 minutes later) Knead the dough for 1 minute until the surface of the dough turns smooth. Then beat and knead the dough on the platform for 3-4 minutes.
- Cover the dough again and rest it for 60 minutes.
- (60 minutes later) Divide the dough into 16 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Cover up with the plastic wrap to prevent them from getting dry.
- THE PINK OIL-FLOUR MIXTURE
- Mix all ingredients and consolidate the mixture together. Since no water is added, no gluten is going to be formed. Thus it is unnecessary to knead it too much.
- Divide the mixture into 16 portions. Roll each portion into a ball. Cover them with plastic wrap.
- THE FILLING
- Prepare the red bean paste following the recipe. Add extra 20g sunflower oil at the end of step 6.
- Let the red bean paste cool down completely. Make 16 balls of the paste, each weights 25g.
- THE PASTRY
- Take one piece of the dough, extend it to a disk.
- Place one piece of the pink oil-flour mixture at the center, wrap it up.
- Do this to all pieces to get 16 bigger balls. Remember to keep them covered under the plastic wrap through out the whole preparation.
- Take the first big ball that prepared in last step and roll it to oval shape. Scroll it from head towards the end. Work in sequence and apply the same procedure to all balls to get 16 scrolls.
- Take the first scroll, flatten it and roll it to oval shape. Then scroll it from head towards the end.
- Work in sequence and apply step 5 to all scrolls in order to get 16 puff pastry dough.
- Take the first puff pastry dough prepared in last step, flatten it and roll it into disk. Place one portion of red bean paste ball at the center and wrap it up.
- Work in sequence and apply the same procedure in step 7 to all pieces of the puff pastry doughs in order to get 16 pink balls.
- Take the first prima pink ball prepared in last step and gently roll it to a flat disk with thickness of 1.5-2 cm.
- Cut the edge 5 (or 6) times. Pinch the two cuts together to form a petal. Repeat this to all cuts to form a flower.
- Work in sequence and apply the same procedures in steps 9 & 10 in order to get 16 flowers.
- Dot a layer of egg yolk at the center of the flowers, then sprinkle sesames on top.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Bake the pastry biscuits for 18-20 minutes.
IL VIDEO DELLA RICETTA
16 pezzi possono sembrarti tanti. Ma quando li condividi in famiglia, credimi in men che non si dica possono sparire velocemente. Inoltre questo pasticcino lo puoi conservare facilmente a temperatura ambiente per una settimana. Quindi all’opera, divertiti nella preparazione e goditeli con i tuoi cari insieme al tuo caffè preferito! 🌸 🍵
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