Yau Char Kway II

When i made the first successful yau char kway, i was so excited and had to post the recipe before i forget how it should be done. But......., i could not make a good holey yck with that recipe. What happened???????? So, back to the drawing board and with thinking cap on , I came to the conclusion that the process of kneading, resting, stretching and frying the yck have to be improved. This time I have achieved very light, holey yck but they are not so uniform in shape and size, so alot of practise in shaping is needed to make them more presentable.

Ingredients:

3 cups bread flour

7 – 10 ozs water (Denver friends - use 10 ozs)
1 tsp ammonia bicarbonate
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp alum
1 1/4 tsp salt

Method:

Mix the ammonia bicarbonate, baking soda, alum and salt with 7 ozs water until dissolve.

Add in to the flour and using the end of a wooden spoon, stir in a circular motion until a dough is form – dough should be sticky, if not, add in more water – dough must stick to fingers. I have used as much as 12 ozs altogether to get the dough to be sticky.

Cover with cling wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, punch down the edge and all over dough with your knuckles for at least 8 punches, then take the dough from the side of bowl, lift it as high as it can go and fold in the middle - 4 folds will do . Let is rest for 15 – 20 minutes.

Repeat the punching , folding and resting for 3 – 4 times more.

Next, oil your fingers and dough, lift it up and overturn it, oil the top so that it will not dry. Wrap tightly with cling wrap, and leave in the fridge for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, remove from bowl, divide into 2 portions and fold in to make a long smooth elastic dough. Wrap it back with greased cling wrap. Then put in a Ziploc bag and leave in the fridge for 3 – 4 hours.. Leaving in the fridge, well wrapped, overnight is better – the dough is easier to handle and the result is lighter.

Heat a large wok with oil half full.

After 3 – 4 hrs or overnight, lightly flour the pastry board .

Spread dough into a flat long 2 inch wide and 1/4 inch thick. Use a rolling pin to aid the spreading.

Cut into ½ inch strips.

Check oil temperature, it must be more than 350 f to begin frying.

Using a bamboo skewer, dip in water and dap very little in the middle of a strip of dough. Top with another strip and using a dry lidi(bamboo skewer)or a chopstick,press down horizontally in the middle of the two strips to adhere.

Pull and stretch the pressed strips until as long as possible, and put the stretched strip in the hot oil. (I stretch a pressed strip until it resists, then do the next and when I finished the rest, I come back and stretch the first and so forth)(i found that the stretched dough has to be stretched uniformaly to achieve a presentable yck)(if you have a buddy to help to do the frying and turning, you could stretch and put to fry one at a time)

When the yck floats to the top, use a pair of chopsticks and turn the yck. Keep on turning until it has finished expanding.

Fry until slightly brown. Remove from oil

Repeat with the rest of the strips until all are done. .(yck can be packed well wrapped and leave in freezer and it can be re fried or baked in the oven)

Re fry all the yck until crispy.

Preheat oven at 250 – 300 f and leave the yck in the oven for 10 minutes to rid of some oil.

Serves