Green Onion Cake

It’s [been long time] since I got back on the horse but here we are. I made green onion cakes again and have made improvements to my recipe with learnings from my experimentation.

This was inspired after watching Inga Lam. The recipe and technique she uses jive with some of the changes I wanted to try out:

• lowering hydration
• making a roux paste
• rolling out to a rectangle
• no second roll step

And these are the same things I gleaned from Omnivore’s Cookbook.

Updates

Roux

First change is to use a roux, instead of spreading oil directly on rolled-out pancake. This allows for a thicker spread than oil alone, which will not readily leak out. When cooked, this will allow for definitive flaky layers.

This is actually a lower baker’s percentage than normal roux: a traditional roux is 1:1 oil to flour by volume. This is about 180% of oil.

Instead, aim for 150%. This will make the paste a little thicker and will allow for more to adhere to the pancake layer.

Rolling into a rectangle

Rolling into a rectangle, and treating this like a cinnamon roll, is definitely the way to go. It’s produces an even rolled, with less spillage out the sides.

It’s not a big deal but I think it was tidier to work wtih.

Lower hydration

The Serious Eats has a hydration of 75%, which is too sticky. It might work well if you are using a food processor, which can quickly build the gluten required to make this easier to handle.

The dough felt much better at 60% hydration for hand-kneading. The dough was ever so slightly sticky, needing a dusting of flour for every step. I wouldn’t attempt higher than 60% unless you can use bread flour, which has higher protein content.

Resting before final roll

After rolling up and coiling, the cakes are left to rest. This allows gluten to relax before final roll.

This is not usually a problem as you can simply move on to rolling the remaining dough balls. And then continuing with prepping for frying.