Text 11936, 75 rader
Skriven 2011-06-07 22:17:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av GLEN JAMIESON
Ärende: battered house 3
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And some follow-up tips...

MMMMM-----Meal-Master - formatted by MMCONV  2.10

     Title: About Xiao Long Bao 
Categories: Chinese, Dumplings
  Servings: 4

           Shanghai Steamed Soup
           Dumplings Tips

It took about half a day to prepare the soup, chill & set with
agar-agar, prep the filling, make & knead the dough, cut out dough
circles, wrap, and steam.

Notes on Hot Water Dough: 

The combination of using hot water and cold water was perfect and is
one of the secrets -the boiling hot water partially cooks the dough
& forms gluten better, resulting in a soft, stretchy, pliable and
very easy to work with and do multiple pleats. The dough rolled
beautifully, but it was still very strong and held the filling
without breaking. When you add the hot water, take a pair of
chopsticks and use that to stir vigorously to get the gluten going.
How vigorous? Well, the best way to describe is to show the dough
who's boss and slap the dough around!

After a couple of minutes of all that slapping, add the cold water,
stir more. Dump it out on your floured surface and knead. Magically,
the dough changes and becomes so soft and springy. Simply put, the
dough is giving in to you. Tired of being slapped. Yes, you're the
boss.

My mom initially told me 300g of all purpose flour, however, I found
that not to be enough and kept adding more flour as I went along. In
the recipe, I'm going to estimate that it is 400g. However, I'll
talk a little about how I know when to add more flour below.

Notes on Kneading: 

When I am making anything that involves flour and kneading, I always
use 90% measurement of flour than what the recipe calls for
initially. The reason is that I can always add more flour if needed
– its very simple to do that and very simple to knead the additional
flour in by hand. However, if you have too much flour, it is very
difficult to add more water to the dough. I also measure out the
flour by weight, not by cups, as everyone measures a little
different and ingredients may settle in the measuring cup a little
different. So I initially use 90% of the flour and reserve the
remaining 10% on my counter to incorporate bit by bit as I knead.
This ensures that I never use too much flour. Your counter should be
floured, so that the dough doesn't stick to the counter. While you
are kneading, if the dough is very sticky, add 1T of flour at a
time. Sprinkle some on top of the dough, some on the counter – and
knead to incorporate the new flour thoroughly. It feels right when
its slightly tacky, but not sticky. The dough should come together
beautifully in a nice, smooth, round ball. Let it rest (you'd be
tired too if you were slapped around). When you poke it with your
finger, the dough should slowly ease back into position.


  From: Steamy Kitchen                  
 
MMMMM-------------------------------------------------

Cheers

YK Jim


... If not actually disgruntled I was far from being gruntled

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