Youtiao breakfast dough sticks

Your ingredients

Get ready: Scales, bowl, spatula, rolling pin, knife, chopstick, deep frying pan and oil thermometer.

• 🍚Dough: 400 g plain flour/plain flour
• 🥣Dough: 2 tsp baking powder
• 🥣Dough: ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda, optional
• 🥣Dough: ½ tsp salt
• 🥚Dough: 2 eggs, lightly beaten, plus water combined to 250g
• 🥣Dough: 2 tbsp neutral cooking oil
• 🍚Flour for dusting
• 🥣Oil for deep-frying

Let’s make it

1. Weigh and mix

   Beat two eggs, then add water until the total weighs 250 g. Mix flour, baking powder, optional bicarbonate and salt, then add egg-water and 2 tbsp oil. Combine into a rough dough.

2. Rest and smooth

   Cover for 15 minutes, then use lightly oiled hands to press and fold until smooth. Divide in two, coat lightly with oil, cover and refrigerate overnight. Bring out about 1 hour before shaping.

3. Shape paired strips

   Gently flatten each piece to about 10 × 25 cm without kneading again. Dust lightly and cut each into 10 strips. Stack strips in pairs and press down the centre lengthways with a chopstick.

4. Fry with an adult

   Heat suitable frying oil to 190°C in a deep pan no more than one-third full. Gently stretch one paired strip and lower in carefully. Turn with long tongs until puffed, evenly golden and cooked inside.

5. Finish in small batches

   Lift onto kitchen paper and repeat with one or two at a time, checking oil temperature. Let cool slightly before eating; keep water away from the hot oil.