Sichuan Pepper Pastries (云南椒盐酥饼/回饼)
Two Sichuan pepper baked goods that aren't 'numbing', actually.
Sichuan Pepper Cookies
Baker’s percentages are [in brackets]. If you do not know what baker’s percentages are, just ignore them.
Wet ingredients:
Beaten Egg, 30g [15%]
Sugar, 70g [35%]
Salt, 6g [3%]
Oils:
Sichuan Pepper Oil (花椒油), 16g [8%]
Lard (猪油) or ghee, 84g [42%]
Dry Ingredients:
Cake flour (底筋面粉), 200g
Baking powder (泡打粉), 2g [1%]
Baking soda (苏打粉), 2g [1%]
Milk powder (奶粉), 20g [10%]
Additional beaten egg, ~1 egg worth. For the egg wash.
Process:
Whisk together 30g of beaten egg, 70g of granulated sugar, and 6g of salt until the sugar is incorporated and the egg is slightly foamy. Add in 16g of Sichuan pepper oil and 84g of lard or ghee and whisk until incorporated.
Sift in the dry ingredients: 200g cake flour, 2g baking powder, 2g baking soda, and 20g of milk powder. Fold with a spatula until combined. Chill it down in the fridge (15 minutes cool climate, 60 minutes hot climate).
Place a couple pieces of plastic wrap onto your work surface. Lay the dough on, press it flat, and cover with the plastic wrap. Roll it out into a 1/2 cm thick rectangle. Toss back into the fridge for another quick 15 minutes if in a hot climate.
With a bench scraper, cut the dough into 4cm x 3cm cookies. Lay on a baking tray, and brush the top with a bit of additional beaten egg. Bake for 13 minutes at 175C.
Cool down on a cooling rack.
Sichuan Pepper Cookies
Baker’s percentages are [in brackets]. If you do not know what baker’s percentages are, just ignore them.
Bread flour (高筋面粉), 200g
Yeast (酵母), 3g [1.5%]
Salt, 6g [3%]
Sugar, 36g [18%]
Milk powder (奶粉), 20g [10%]
Water, 110g [55%]
Sichuan pepper oil (花椒油), 14g [7%]
Lard -or- ghee, 10g [5%]
Process:
Mix all the ingredients together except the Sichuan pepper oil and the lard, until it becomes a shaggy dough. Knead for 1-2 minutes until it becomes a rough ball.
Move onto the work surface, perform the 'chai mian' motion: smear the dough against your work surface, roll it up, turn it 45 degrees, and repeat. Do this for five minutes (or alternatively, in a stand mixer on speed two), or until the the dough is no longer craggily. Then, slap the dough: lift it up to about shoulder height, slap it against your work surface, fold it half way in, then twist 90 degrees. Slap 100 times (or use a stand mixer on speed five), or until the dough is stretchy enough that you can see your fingers through the dough if you stretched it into a film. Place the dough back into a bowl.
Add in 14g of Sichuan pepper oil and 10g of lard (or ghee) and knead until the oils are absorbed, about ~5 minutes. Slap the dough again for 200 times (or, stand mixer at speed five) until it's reached the same stage as before. Form into a smooth ball, ferment for one hour.
Portion the dough into 15 gram balls. Shape by pressing it flat, folding the sides in to get a rough ball, then pinch the ‘seam’ closed. Place on a baking tray ‘seam’ side down, and let the balls sit for 15 minutes to let the gluten relax.
Shape the balls once again in the same way. Proof for 30 minutes. Bake for 12 minutes at 130C.