Zoe made a marvelous Chinese pastry in the Caring Place Community Kitchen. The Salted Egg Yolk Red Bean Pastries were very flaky and the salted egg yolk complements the sweet red bean paste really well. A great dim sum dessert for tea time.

You can see the many layers of the pastry which make this dessert so flaky. You must check out the steps in the instructions below to see how it is done. It is a bit time consuming but worth all the effort. Zoe emphasized that many cooks will not spoil this recipe but many hands are needed to do the rolling.

Ingredients

Outer layer dough:

• 450g high gluten (bread) flour (in Canada, all-purpose flour will do)
• 180g water
• 180g lard or shortening

Inner layer dough (flaky dough):

• 300g low gluten (cake) flour
• 150g lard or shortening

Filing:

• 15 egg yolk from salted eggs, divided
• 2 lbs sweet red bean paste

Garnishing:

• 1 tablespoon toasted black sesame seeds (toast on dry frying pan until fragrant)
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons syrup
• 1 teaspoon oil

Click on the link below for the instructions.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 360F 15 minutes before its ready for use.

Divide the red bean paste into 30 equal portions. Zoe bought her red bean paste from a vegetarian store on Main St. and 25th Ave in Vancouver. She claimed that the red bean paste of that store is the best. The red bean paste cost $2 per pound. If I remembered clearly, Zoe said you have to pre-order the red bean paste.

Roll the divided red bean paste into balls and try to make them equal size. Place in the refrigerator to set.

This is the salted egg. When you break the raw salted egg, the yolk is actually solidified. Divide the egg yolk into 2 to cut down on cholesterol. Place the egg yolks on a baking sheet and spray with some cooking wine and bake at 350F for 8 minutes.

Insert the half egg yolk into a red bean ball and roll into a ball again. Repeat for all the 30 balls.

To make the outer layer dough, mix the flour, shortening and water together.

Knead the dough until pliable for about 10 minutes. Cover with a plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.

To prepare the flaky dough, mix the cake flour and shortening together.

Gently form the flaky dough into a log. The dough is very crumbly.

Divide the flaky dough into 30 equal portions. Roll the portion into balls and try to make all the balls equal size. Repeat for the outer layer dough after it has rested.

These are balls formed from the two different dough.

Place one of the outer layer dough ball on one of your palm and lightly press to make a dent.

Place the flaky dough ball on the flatten outer layer dough.

Bring the outer layer dough together to completely covered the flaky dough and re-roll into a ball. Repeat for all the 30 balls.

Flatten the combined dough ball with your palm.

Use a rolling pin to gently roll out the dough length wise.

Use the back of your palm to roll back the dough.

Place the seam side up.

Use the rolling pin to roll out the dough length wise the second time.

Use the back of your palm to roll back the dough. These is how the many layers are formed.

With the seam side up, use a thump to press down the seam while the thumb and the middle finger of another hand to pinch the dough together.

This is to eliminate as much of seam as possible.

Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough into a round, with the outside thinner than the center part. Make sure you do not make the round too big.

Place the red bean ball on the dough.

While you use the thumb and the index finger to slowly gather the dough around the filling, use the thumb of another hand to lightly push in the filing. This way, you will get dough ball with minimum seam. Pinch the seam together and roll into a ball and place the seam side down. Repeat for all the 30 balls.

Make an egg wash with 2 egg yolks, syrup and oil combined together.

Place the dough balls onto a parchment lined baking sheet. The dough will not expand much.Brush the egg wash onto the dough balls to give them a nice colour and shine.

Dip a finger into the remaining egg wash and then use the sticky finger to pick up some toasted sesame seeds and place them on the dough ball for garnishing. Bake in a preheated 360F oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until golden brown.

You may freeze these pastries after baking and cool down. You can reheat the frozen pastries in a toaster oven at 200F for 15 minutes.