Chapter 784 Fried Dough Sticks

When it comes to breakfast, many people probably think of fried dough sticks.

Think about it, getting up early in the morning to go to school, queuing up at the breakfast stall at the school entrance, packing soy milk and fried dough sticks and leaving, then wolfing down the fried dough sticks in each hand, swallowing the soy milk, and rushing to class.

Even though many years have passed and I have been far away from school life, as long as I pass by such a breakfast stall, I will be reminded of those prosperous years again.

Fried dough sticks definitely play an important role in breakfast. Fried dough sticks that are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, paired with soy milk, tofu curd, porridge, and a plate of pickles are the standard breakfast for many people. After eating, wipe the grease stains from the corners of your mouth with a paper towel to welcome a busy day of work and study. It feels very solid.

Regarding the origin of fried dough sticks, the most widely circulated story is that after the traitor Qin Hui framed Zhongliang Yue Fei during the Southern Song Dynasty, the people of the Southern Song Dynasty hated him so much that they kneaded dough into the shapes of Qin Hui and his wife and deep-fried them in a hot oil pan to relieve their hatred. Hate, someone took a bite and thought it was quite delicious, so a stall specialized in frying this kind of food appeared, and called this kind of food "fried cypress". It is said that some places still use this name. .

The origin of fried dough sticks is also recorded in "Qingyi Leichao": "Fried cypress, as long as one person, beat the noodles to make them thin, twist two into one, like a rope and fry them, at first they resemble human figures. There are two hands on the top and two legs on the bottom... The people of Song Dynasty hated Qin Hui for harming the country, so the image of the elephant seemed to punish him."

"Zhao Shi Xian Lu" records the names of many fried dough sticks: "Fried noodles are like cold utensils. This snack is eaten in all provinces in the north and south. It is called fruit or fried dough sticks. In Henan Province, it is also called sesame candy and fried dough sticks. Steamed buns are the deep-fried ghosts in the capital." The names of these fried dough sticks are still used in many places today.

Now, Yang Ming is preparing to fry fried dough sticks.

The ingredients for fried dough sticks are very simple, just flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, eggs, oil, and water.

Let me tell you something. Baking powder and baking soda are the key to making the dough sticks fluffy. This is very important. Salt can increase the texture of the fried dough sticks, and adding a little oil will make the noodles smoother and crispier when fried.

During the process of kneading the dough, Yang Ming was like a master with decades of experience. He did not slack off at all in the whole process, and the whole process was done in one go, as if he had practiced it countless times. The whole action was pleasing to the eye, as rigorous and standard as a textbook.

It is worth noting that do not put the oil in first. Wait until the other ingredients are kneaded into a ball, then add the oil and knead evenly. This process will be a bit disgusting, because the whole dough is like a lump, both in appearance and feel. People feel nauseous all day long, but to Yang Ming, these are just trivial matters, and he can just hold on for a while.

Cover the kneaded dough with a piece of gauze or plastic wrap and let it rise for two hours. It can take longer. Yang Ming got up early in the morning just for this. He had already made it and put it in the refrigerator, just waiting for now.

The proofed dough is very small, about the size of a bowl. It is not like making steamed buns or bread. After proofing, the dough becomes very big, even as big as a washbasin.

In comparison, the dough for dough sticks is indeed very small.

This involves the way the dough fluffs up.

Many pastas, such as breads, steamed buns, biscuits, cakes, etc., need to be fluffy first to prevent them from being hard and difficult to chew.

Steamed buns and breads use the biological fluffing method, that is, live yeast. During the proofing process of the dough, these yeasts breathe and produce carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide makes the dough fluffy. Therefore, the bun and bread dough will become larger after proofing.

The cake is physically fluffy. The egg whites are stirred quickly to turn into fluffy bubbles, and then mixed with flour to form a batter, which also makes the batter fluffy.

Biscuits, as well as fried dough sticks, all use chemical fluffing methods, that is, sodium bicarbonate and ammonium bicarbonate react at high temperatures to produce carbon dioxide, which makes the dough fluffy.

Therefore, the dough of the fried dough sticks will not expand now, but it will expand after being placed in the pan.

Yang Ming brushed a layer of oil on both the board and the dough, then rolled the dough into a long strip, flattened it slightly into a strip shape, cut it into small long squares with a knife, rolled the dough into a sheet, then cut it into strips and stacked them two by two. . Press it again with chopsticks.

Stack every two long squares together, and use chopsticks to press down firmly in the middle of the long square dough. The pressed dough will take on the shape of a beautiful four-petal flower.

At the same time, Yang Ming poured vegetable oil into the pot, heated it to low heat to maintain the temperature, gently pulled the two ends of the pressed dough and slowly stretched it, put it into the oil pot, and kept turning it with chopsticks until the dough sticks Expand and form, just pinch out and drain the oil.

As soon as the fried dough sticks are put into the pot, they will make a crackling sound and splash a lot of oil, and some of it will even splash on your body. If it hits your eyes, it will be even more tragic, so you need to pay close attention to your skills.

During this process, Yang Ming always held both ends of the fried dough sticks with both hands, pinched them tightly, and gently put them into the pot. This was a small secret. It is worth noting that when stretching the dough sticks, you must not use too much force on both ends, otherwise it will affect the expansion of the dough sticks.

The fried dough sticks will float to the surface quickly, so you need to stir them constantly with chopsticks, otherwise they will not fry evenly. Cook until completely fluffy and golden brown on the surface.

Everyone who has eaten fried dough sticks knows that a fried dough stick is made up of two pieces of dough joined together. The outside is golden and crispy, and the place where the two pieces of dough are joined together is white in color and soft in texture. There are big holes inside the fried dough sticks, making them crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

So why do you have to fry fried dough sticks with two pieces of noodles together?

Fritters, like cakes and bread, are porous foods formed by the expansion of gas bubbles. The rising agents of cakes and bread are yeast and egg white respectively, which slowly expand at a suitable temperature.

The fried dough sticks are different. The very high temperature of the hot oil will cause the fried dough sticks to be quickly shaped before they have time to expand. With the shape of two pieces of dough together, the soft and unshaped contact surface in the middle can continue to expand outwards and become larger. By constantly Turning them over can make the fried dough sticks plump and delicious.

To put it simply, the reason why two fried dough sticks are fried together is because the fried dough sticks cannot expand if fried alone!

Just a ball of risen dough can be fried into at least ten fried dough sticks when put into the oil pan at one time.

Don’t underestimate this small piece of fried dough sticks, and don’t underestimate the people selling fried dough sticks at small stalls. In fact, the people selling fried dough sticks are very rich. They can earn at least 20,000 yuan a month, which is more than any coder or Internet writer. Having made a lot of money, he is truly an invisible rich man, which makes the author even want to be a eunuch frying fried dough sticks.