Mooncake can be said to be the most classic and traditional Chinese snack. Although there are more and more types and patterns of mooncakes now, Chenguang insists on making some of the most traditional mooncakes for the children at home to eat every year, and will tell them the story of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Let them know that the full moon on this day symbolizes the harmony and harmony of the family.
In China, the four major schools of mooncakes are Cantonese-style mooncakes, Chao-style mooncakes, Su-style mooncakes and Beijing-style mooncakes, in addition to the four major schools of mooncakes in China, such as: ham mooncakes (Yunnan), pepper mooncakes (Jiangxi), crystal mooncakes (Chaoshan), thin shortbread mooncakes (Hunan), winter rong mooncakes (Taishan, Guangdong), Demao [mào] Gong crystal cakes (Shaanxi), three white mooncakes (Heilongjiang), seafood mooncakes (Shandong), chicken silk mooncakes (halal), shortbread taro mud mooncakes (Chaoshan, Fujian, Taiwan), There are many types of egg yolk crisp and mung bean lime (Taiwan), ice skin mooncake, milk yellow mooncake (Hong Kong) and so on.
When the ancient mooncake first appeared, it was not eaten as food, but as a sacrifice in sacrifice. The custom of eating mooncakes on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival is generally believed to appear around the middle of the Tang Dynasty, and it is recorded in the "Luozhong Seeing and Hearing" that Emperor Tang once gave the cake wrapped in red silk to the xinke jinshi on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
In the Northern Song Dynasty, this kind of Mid-Autumn Festival edible cake is called "palace cake", from the beginning in the palace of a small range of popularity, slowly spread to the folk, by the ordinary people called "small cake" or "moon group", Su Dongpo in his "farewell to honesty" once wrote: "small cake such as chewing the moon, there are crisp and food", the "small cake" here is what we call the moon cake today.
The word "mooncake" first appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty Wu Zimu's "Dream Liang Record", when the mooncake was a cake-shaped food such as diamond flower cake, and later gradually evolved into a classic circle, implying a beautiful reunion. In the Ming Dynasty, Tian Rucheng's "West Lake Tour" also mentioned: "August 15 is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the folk give each other with mooncakes to take the meaning of reunion", which shows that mooncakes were already popular among the people at that time.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > a list of ingredients needed</h1>
Inverted syrup × 75 g
Peanut oil × 30 g
10 grams of water ×
1 g of salt ×
Low gluten flour × 150 g
Green food red bean paste × 1 bag
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > key ingredient descriptions</h1>
Invert syrup: Here Chenguang uses its own boiled insecura the other day, it is more reassuring to use, and it is cheaper, if you are interested, you can try to make it yourself, there is no difficulty. Boil your own "mooncake syrup" at home, a success, as sweet as honey If you feel that you are too troublesome, you can buy ready-made conversion syrup, there are many brands and prices on the market for conversion syrup sales, here M&G recommends that you use 250 grams of Swire invert syrup, before M&G did not boil its own invert syrup, has been using this brand of syrup, the quality is very good.
Peanut oil: The use of peanut oil can make the mooncake crust taste better, and now there are small bottles of peanut oil for sale in supermarkets, so it is not recommended that you switch to other types of cooking oil.
Fengshui: You can buy ready-made Fengshui online, which is very cheap. You can also use the edible alkali to prepare, the specific proportions are as follows: 1/4 teaspoon of edible alkali, 2 teaspoons of water, slowly pour the water into the alkali, completely dissolve it. If you like the dark mooncake crust, you can increase the amount of water used in the recipe appropriately, which is the same principle as making German-style lye water bread.
Low gluten flour: You can also use ordinary medium gluten flour to make mooncake crust, but using low gluten flour is more fault-tolerant, just like making a chiffon cake, low gluten flour has a lower chance of being glutened, and you can eat that soft taste without waiting for the oil to return.
Green food red bean filling: for the moon cake filling, have you ever had such a feeling, buying ready-made moon cake filling is too expensive, boiling yourself is troublesome, in case of failure, how to deal with that large pile of fillings is a problem. Today, to be a Qingdao person, Chenguang will be this Qingdao local red bean filling recommended to everyone, and the general Japanese red bean filling or most other brands of red bean filling is different, green food this red bean filling can really see the traces of red beans, and its sweetness will not be so high, is very suitable for use as bean paste mooncake filling to use.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > detailed baking steps</h1>
- step 01 –
First, we pour the invert syrup, peanut oil, and water into a large bowl and mix well with a spoon or tamper.
- step 02 –
Add the low-gluten flour and table salt, continue to use a spoon to stir until there is generally no dry powder, and then use the grasping technique to mix the dough into the same state as in the FOLLOWING GIF (with your fingers, it feels very relaxed and smooth).
- step 03 –
The dough is compacted and flattened in a bowl, spread plastic wrap aside to relax for 1-2 hours, plastic wrap must be fitted with the dough, do not have air in it, easy to produce water vapor.
- step 04 –
At the time to loosen the dough, we process the bean paste mooncake filling, pour the red bean paste of the green food into a large bowl, and use a spoon or a stir stick to re-mix the released oil with the bean paste filling. Apply a little cooking oil on your hands, or wear disposable gloves, weigh the red bean paste according to the weight of 30 grams per serving, and then roll it into a ball shape by hand, cover it with plastic wrap to prevent the surface from drying; then weigh the loose dough at a weight of 20 grams per portion, and also roll it into a ball and cover it with plastic wrap for later.
- step 05 –
Next is the most testing method of the moon cake, take a 20-gram round ball dough, put it on the palm of the hand, use the thick part under the thumb of the other hand, slowly press the dough, and finally become a round cake the size of the dumpling skin; place the bean paste filling in the middle of the mooncake skin, flip the two over, the mooncake skin is on top, the mooncake filling is below; with the weight of the mooncake itself, use the tiger's mouth to slowly close the mooncake skin to about a finger thick, and then flip it back, Then continue to close the mouth with the tiger mouth until it is almost closed, and then pinch it with your fingers, and finally you have to roll the palms of your hands in a circle, and you are done.
- step 06 –
Sprinkle a little corn starch on the wrapped mooncake ball, roll it all over the starch with the technique in the following figure, and then use the hand to form a rectangle-like shape, the size of which can be put into a 50-gram mooncake mold.
- step 07 –
Lay a layer of baking oil paper on the baking sheet, use the moon cake mold to press the moon cake directly on the baking sheet, if you are like the morning light, using a square or other non-circular moon cake mold, when pressing, you can press more, so that the four corners of the moon cake are fully compacted, so that the shape will be more beautiful and beautiful. Finally, spray a layer of water on the surface of the mooncake embryo, which allows the skin of the mooncake to harden quickly during baking. Preheat the oven at 205°C, place the baking tray in the middle of the oven and bake for 5 minutes.
- step 08 –
While baking the mooncakes, we take an egg yolk, add a large spoonful of water and beat the yolk with the water. After 5 minutes, take out the mooncake, use a soft brush to gently brush the egg yolk liquid on the surface of the mooncake, then send it back to the oven to bake, bake at 165 ° C for 5 minutes, take out the mooncake again, and then use the brush to gently brush a layer of egg liquid around the mooncake, and then send it to the oven to bake at 165 ° C for 5-10 minutes, and then you can bake.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the key points and tips for baking</h1>
When working with dough or red bean paste, if you still feel that your hands are still very sticky, remember to apply a little cooking oil on your hands, or wear disposable gloves to operate, which will be much easier.
When weighing the mooncake skin, mooncake filling and mooncake package, it is best to complete a single action at one time, that is, call the mooncake skin, all weighed in one, do not weigh a package, so that the efficiency of the operation is very low, and it is easy to make mistakes in the busy.
The amount of this mooncake skin recipe of Chenguang can just use off a whole bag of green food red bean filling, if you are not made according to the amount of Chenguang, it is best to divide the mooncake skin by weight first, and then use the number of mooncake skins to process the red bean filling, so that there will be no waste problem.
Mooncake is always a sweet little pastry, some friends who do not like too sweet food, you can add the right amount of corn starch to the green food red bean filling, the proportion is about in a bag of red bean filling up to 1-2 spoons of starch can be, so that the baked mooncake filling will not be so sweet, and there will be some rustling taste, rather than the original soft taste. However, it should be noted that not adding too much starch will cause the mooncake crust to crack and bulge.
Egg yolk is best not to brush directly on the moon cake, too thick egg yolk liquid baked out, the color will be black, very unsightly, so be sure to dilute with water before use. In addition, the second time you take out the mooncake brush egg yolk liquid step, you can also omit not to do it, just let it bake in the oven until the end. Finally, the baking temperature, if you use a mold is large, remember not to increase the oven temperature, but to appropriately extend the baking time, so as to reduce the chance of bulging and cracking.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > The Tale of Morning Light</h1>
At the end of each recipe, there will always be a long and long talk, the reason is still afraid of missing the small details that need attention, which leads to the failure of your cooking process, I don't know if you have not used the morning light to throw bricks and jade, successfully make delicious or delicious dishes?
If you like Morning Light recipes, please also give Morning Light a little "Like"! This is the greatest encouragement and support for M&G's labor!
If you have a gourmet dish you want to try, or have questions about ingredients, you are also welcome to leave a message for M&G, who will work with you to solve various problems in cooking.