These are often available as dim sum, but they are surprisingly easy to make at home in spite of the length of the instructions.
They do require some advance planning, as the dough needs to rest. Otherwise, it is a very simple dough to handle, and pretty foolproof. The technique of rolling and coiling the dough intersperses the dough with fat and just a touch of air. The end result is a rich, flakey-chewy panbread spiked with bits of green onion.
You can also use chives or garlic chives, in which case it becomes some other sort of Ping, but still awfully good. I used bacon fat for mine, but I would like to try them with some of the lovely local sunflower seed oil I've been getting lately. Some recipes include sesame seeds; I think they would be great with chopped up sunflower seeds as well as the sunflower oil.
6 panbreads
40 minutes to roll and cook, plus 10 minutes to mix the dough and an hour or more to rest the dough
To Make the Dough:
1 cup hard whole wheat flour (bread flour)
1 cup boiling water
1/3 cup cold water
Put the flour in a bowl and slowly add the boiling water, stirring it with a fork, until it has absorbed as much as it can. Repeat with the cold water, then turn the mixture out onto a clean board or counter, and knead it for about 5 minutes, until all the flour is amalgamated, and you have a smooth, not too sticky dough. Dust your hands and the board with a little flour if needed. Wrap the dough in plastic or parchment paper, and let it rest for at least an hour to overnight.
To Make the Pan Breads:
a little more flour to roll
9 to 10 teaspoons bacon fat or butter, or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Wash the green onions, and cut off the white portions, which should be reserved for another use. Chop the green sections finely, and keep them aside in a little bowl.
Divide the dough into 6 equal sections. Roll each one out on a floured board, dusting the board and roller as needed to keep the dough from sticking. It should be rolled out to a roughly rectangular shape, and quite thin.
Spread each rolled-out section with 1 teaspoon of bacon fat, butter or good vegetable oil, then sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of the minced green onions, and a pinch of salt. Starting from one of the long edges, roll the dough into a cylinder, enclosing the onions. Try not to get too much air trapped in there, although a little bit is fine. Pinch the seam and ends closed, then coil your tube into a snail shaped round. Pinch it to seal it together, and make it form a nice flattish circle. Roll it out, again dusting with a little flour, until it forms a circle of about 1/4" thick. Repeat with all the remaining sections.
Heat a 2 teaspoons of bacon fat or vegetable oil, or a combination in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook each pan bread on each side, until golden-brown with toasted brown spots on each side - not likely more than 2 minutes per side. Cut each round into quarters to serve. Add a little more fat or oil to the pan as you start new panbreads if the bottom of it is no longer covered.
Keep them warm in the oven until wanted, if you are cooking them all at once. I would think they would freeze very well when raw though, and that may be a good idea since they are rich and filling. Just keep them well wrapped in plastic, and thaw them out in the fridge overnight before cooking them.
Jennifer Sanders is a Meaford resident and author of the popular 'Ontario Seasonal Food' blog site. She is a regular contributor of local food articles to The Meaford Independent.
