Sesame-Paste Biscuit (芝麻醬燒餅)

Here is a flour-based biscuit perfect for making a special kind of sandwich with stewed beef (widely known as 牛肉燒餅), or for breakfast.  The method used here is similar to the Sesame Pancake posted earlier.  Instead of making larger-sized pancakes (8-10" in diameter), we are making smaller biscuits (~3" in diameter).  Instead of vegetable oil and scallion, we use sesame paste inside.

1. Make the dough: Add 1.75 tsp of regular yeast (not Rapid Rise Yeast), 1 tsp of sugar, into 1 cup of warm water (<88-deg-F).  Let it sit for 5 minutes, and then pour into 4 cups of all purpose flour.  Add another 3/4 cup of warm water into the flour.  Use a mixer or knead with hand (see more info in this earlier post).  Let the dough rise until it's doubled in its size.  Note 1- Add 0.75 tsp of yeast if the yeast is old (e.g., on the shelf for over 2-3 years).
2. Prepare the sesame paste: Sesame paste can be found in any Chinese market (see product package to the right), or made at home from scratch (see our recipe at the bottom of this post).  As the paste sets to the bottom of the bottle on the shelf, we must first mix the paste evenly before use.  Take 3 Tbsp of mixture from the bottle, add 2 tsp of sesame oil, 2 tsp of Chinese Pepper (胡椒粉), and 1 tsp of salt, and stir to create a even mix.
   
3. Cut the dough into 8 even parts.  Place one pare on a kneading board (or any clean flat surface), hand-press the part into a larger oval shape (see left picture above), then roll the oval into an elongated sheet (see middle picture above),  Spread sesame paste evenly on the sheet with a spoon (see right picture above).  Note 2- The sheet is stuck to the board at the point.  But there is no need to worry!
   
4. Start to roll the sheet up with both hands using 3 concurrent motions: (1) roll the sheet from the bottom up, (2) pull the sheet up slightly and back toward yourself (scrape the sheet off of the board with both thumbs), (3) pull the roll to the left and to the right (with both hands).  Note 3- The sheet is very elastic by its nature.The left picture above is the sheet half rolled-up. Middle picture shows a long roll from the sheet, after being stretched by the three concurrent motions.
5. Cut the long roll into half.  Build the roll into a spiral (~2" in diameter, see upper half of the right picture above).  Hand-press the spiral from the top down, to form a biscuit (2.5"-3" in diameter, see bottom half of the right picture above).
   
6. Brush egg fluid on the top surface of the biscuit, and press the top surface into a rice bowl with raw white sesame seeds at its bottom. See 12 biscuits ready to bake in the picture.
7. Preheat the oven to 360-def-F, and bake the biscuits for 16 minutes. See left picture below for finished product. Note 4- Baking makes the top surface popping up (looks like a scone now?).
8. Alternatively, we can also pan-fry the biscuits under low heat.  First, spread a thin layer of vegetable oil in a flat pan (enough oil to coat the pan surface), place the biscuits in by placing the top surface (with sesame seeds) down initially.  Close the lid (to prevent the moisture from escaping), and cook for ~5 minutes (check to make sure the sesame seeds are not burnt).  Flip the biscuits and cook (with the lid on) for another 4-5 minutes.  See middle picture below for finished product.  Note 5- This version is flat on both sides (in better shape :-).  Note 6- The rightmost picture below shows two stewed-beef sandwiches (牛肉燒餅). Simply follow Part A of this recipe to make your own stewed beef.