Scallion Pancakes
I mentioned to my stepson, Ben, the other day that I had made scallion pancakes. Please post that, he requested! So here it is.
The recipe is adapted from Flour, Too, by Joanne Chang. She had the brilliant idea to use focaccia dough for her scallion pancakes. As a result, if you don’t want to or, for whatever reason, can’t make the dough yourself, you can use store-bought pizza dough from the refrigerated or frozen section of the supermarket.
Unfortunately I only had 6 scallions, which is short of what the original recipe calls for, which is 8-9. I kept one for the sauce and chopped the rest and the scallion pancakes were still delicious! Do use more, however, if you have them.
I’ve posted a series of photos to show the steps for rolling the dough, and forming and cooking the pancakes. Because there are only two of us at home right now, three scallion pancakes were quite filling for dinner, with a few other items to snack on afterward.
Scallion Pancakes
Dough, or buy 1 pound of refrigerated or frozen pizza dough:
½ teaspoon instant yeast
¾ cup tepid water
3¼ (410g) cups all-purpose flour
⅔ (75g) cup bread flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup olive oil
Pancakes:
5-7 scallions, white and green parts chopped into ½-inch pieces
2 Tablespoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Canola oil for frying the pancakes
Dipping Sauce:
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon ginger, grated
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon sriracha or other hot sauce, optional or to taste
½ teaspoon sesame oil
1 scallion, white and green parts chopped fine
(If using dough from the supermarket, skip to the next paragraph.) For the dough, in the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the yeast and the water and allow the yeast to activate for about a minute. Add the flours, sugar, and salt, and using the dough hook, mix the ingredients until it gets to the shaggy dough stage, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the olive oil gradually, then knead, still using the dough hook, for about 5 minutes or until smooth. Remove the dough to a bowl and let rise for 1½-2 hours.
For the pancakes, mix the scallions, sesame oil, and salt in a small bowl. For the dipping sauce, mix the sauce ingredients in a separate bowl.
From here, see the photos below: Divide the dough into three equal pieces and roll each portion out to a rectangle about 5x10 inches. If possible, do this on a baking mat to help with the measurements and with clean up later. Divide the scallion mixture evenly among the three pieces of dough and spread carefully over each piece leaving at least a ½-inch border. Starting from the long side, roll each piece jellyroll style and then coil each strand into a spiral. Cover the spirals loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for another 1-1½ hours. Gently press out each spiral and then use a rolling pin to make a smooth 10-inch round. This does get messy as some of the sesame oil will leak out.
Heat about ¼ inch of canola oil in a skillet, preferably cast iron. Do not use nonstick as this will be too hot for those surfaces. Test the heat of the oil by dropping in a pinch of flour. If it sizzles immediately, the oil is ready. Carefully place one pancake into the oil and fry 1-2 minutes on each side until nicely browned. Remove to paper towel or a paper bag to drain and continue with the next pancake. If you need to add more oil between pancakes (which only might be necessary before the third), be sure to allow the oil to get hot again before frying the next pancake.
Cut the scallion pancakes into wedges and serve with dipping sauce.
