Lotus Paste with Salted Egg Yolk Flaky Pastry (莲蓉咸蛋酥)

Time flies, we are going to celebrate the mid-autumn festival 2015 soon. As usual I spend a little effort to bake the salted egg yolk flaky pastry (咸蛋酥) for the coming festival. This year I would like to use the lotus paste bought from grocery shop instead of home made filling paste (and this really speed up my work).

Ingredients

Shortcrust Pastry Dough (水皮)

• 80g of shortening    80 克白油
• 2.5 table spoon of custard sugar    2.5 汤匙砂糖
• 250g of all-purpose flour   250 克普通/中筋麵粉
• 20g of corn flour    20 克玉米粉
• 150ml of water    150 毫升水

Flaky Pastry Dough (油皮)

• 215g of all-purpose flour    215 克普通/中筋面粉
• 130g of shortening    130 克白油

Lotus Paste (莲蓉馅)

• 400g of lotus paste    400 克莲蓉

Salted Egg Yolk (咸蛋黄)

• 8 pcs of salted egg yolk    8粒 咸蛋黄
• a touch of rice/ginger wine    少许米酒/姜酒

Final Garnish

• 1 egg yolk + a touch of light soya sauce (stir well)    1 个蛋黄加少许酱油 (拌匀)
• sesame/grind nuts    芝麻/坚果碎

Steps 

Lotus Paste (莲蓉馅)

1. Divide the paste into 16 portions and roll into balls.     把莲蓉馅分16份滚圆。

Salted Egg Yolk (咸蛋黄)

1. Crack the salted eggs and reserve the egg yolks.     把咸蛋黄从咸蛋取出待用。
2. Place the egg yolks in the baking tray, spray some rice wine/ginger wine on the yolk's surface.    咸蛋黄摆在烤盘，然后喷些米酒/姜酒在表面上。
3. Bake the yolks 8 minutes at 170°C.    以170°C烤咸蛋黄8分钟。
4. Cut each yolk into half, and turn out to be 16 portions.    每颗咸蛋黄切半成16份。

Shortcrust Pastry Dough (水皮)

1. Place the shortening, all-purpose flour, cornflour, sugar and water into a mixing bowl. Knead into a fine dough by hand for about 8 minutes.     把白油、面粉、玉米粉、糖和水都放进碗里。用手揉成约8分钟直到面团光滑不沾手。
2. Roll the dough into a ball and rest about 30 minutes.    面团滚成球状然后休面30分钟。
3. Divide the dough into 16 portions. Roll them into balls and rest 10 minutes.    面团分成16等份，揉成球状休面10分钟。

Flaky Pastry Dough (油皮)

1. Place all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix into a dough evenly by hand. Shorter kneading time is better in this step.     把所有材料放入碗里揉成一个均匀面团即可，不需揉太久。
2. Rest the dough for 30 minutes.    面团休面30分钟。
3. Divide the dough into 16 portions. Roll them into balls and rest 10 minutes.    面团分成16等份， 揉成球状休面10分钟。

Assemble

1. Take a lotus paste ball and wrap a halfed salted egg yolk in the middle like in photo 3.    取一份莲蓉球馅包着半颗咸蛋黄， 如图3。
2. Roll out a shortcrust pastry ball and wrap a flaky pastry ball like in photo 9. Rest the dough 10 minutes.    杆扁一份水皮，接着置一份油皮在中央包住搓圆，如图9那样。休面10分钟。
3. Roll out the dough from previous step into oval shape. Roll up from 1 side to another side (in photo 10-12). Rest for 10 minutes.    把步骤2的面团杆成椭圆形，再从一边卷起到另一边 (图10-12)。休面10分钟。
4. Repeat step 3 (photo 13-16).    重复步骤3 (图13-16)。
5. Take 1 dough from step 4，fold both ends to the middle (photo 17) and make it into a ball. Roll out the ball and wrap a lotus paste ball from step (1) in the center (photo 18-19).    取一份步骤4的面团,两边尾端折去中间(如图17)，再揉成球状。压扁圆状，杆平后包起一份莲蓉咸蛋黄馅 (图18-19)。
6. Egg wash the flaky pastries twice (Let the first coat dried then follow by the second coat). Sprinkle the sesame/grind nuts on top. Bake at 180°C  for 25-30 minutes.    咸蛋酥表面涂上两层蛋液  (第一层干后才涂第二层)。撒上芝麻/坚果碎，以180°C烘25-30分钟。