Chinese Pancakes

I was reading about Chinese Pancakes on George's blog and she included a link that showed how to make your own. I was suddenly inspired yesterday to give them a go.

Mix flour and sugar in a bowl, then mix in boiling water to make a sticky dough. Sprinkle more flour over the dough, and over the work surface then knead until smooth, elastic and no longer sticky. Cover and leave for half an hour.

With a floured rolling pin, roll out dough to half a centimetre thickness then cut out circles. Once cut, cover circles to avoid drying out. Re-roll leftover dough and continue cutting until used up.

Lightly brush each circle with oil, and stick circles together in pairs, oiled sides facing each other. Roll each pair of circles out with a floured rolling pin until paper thin.

Heat a pan to medium-high heat (don't add oil) then put a pancake in. Cook for about 1 1/2 minutes and then turn over and cook the other side. Some of the pancakes puffed right up like little balloons.

The idea is that you separate each pancake into two thinner pancakes while they are still warm. When separated, one side will have the cooked and slightly charred look, and the other side will be smoother and softer looking.

As I made these on the spur of the moment, I didn't have any delicious fillings prepared, but as the frying pan was already warm, Stephen had the bright idea of eating them with fried eggs as a filling. He added a sprinkle of salt to his, and to mine I added some soy sauce. Tasty!

Ingredients:
300 g flour
1 tbsp sugar
240 ml boiling water
sesame oil for brushing (I used olive oil)