Youtiao-Chinese Doughnut Sticks

Youtiao, possibly is the most well-known Chinese breakfast. It is usually served with congee or soy milk. Chinese youtiao and soy milk are believed to be the best partners. With this recipe, you can learn how to make youtiao at home with that beautiful golden brown color and crispy shell.

Why you need to try this

I have simplified the process and require the least effort in kneading the dough. With this simple method, you can make super fluffy youtiao with beautiful colors. All we need is to knead the dough until almost smooth, stretch, resting and assembling.

What’s Youtiao- yóutiáo (油条)

Youtiao also known as Chinese oil stick, Chinese doughnut or Chinese cruller is a traditional Chinese breakfast. Youtiao in fact is a deep-fried Chinese breadstick. The perfect match with Youtiao is soy milk. Once the breadstick soaks in the soy milk, the bouffant texture will absorb the soy milk and thus creating a very special taste. It is also a street food in China like many other options like tanghulu, jian bing and etc. You can get it in breakfast restaurants or from street vendors.

Since Youtiao is deep-fried, it is not as popular as in the old days. We eat this possibly only once a month because of our weight problems. But it can always bring happy memories. We ate youtiao and soy milk almost everyday in high school.

Some background theory of making youtiao at home

After testing and reading, I finally get my youtiao recipe figured out. let’s start with my conclusions: the inflation or expansion of youtiao is due to carbon dioxide and ammonia released by the agent (there is a specialized youtiao agent, but we are using baking powder) after chemical reactions. When the gas is generated, the dough expands based on the elasticity and ductility of the gluten. So we need to overlay two pieces together and press a mark in the center.  When heated by the hot oil, the outside gets settled quickly. While the inner part is still cooler and soft, the dough can continually expand with the effects of the air pockets.

The dough variations

There are two variations of the youtiao dough. One is with yeast and the other is using baking powder. I started my journey by using a yeast version, but sooner or later, I find it quite hard to handle the yeast youtiao dough. So after reading several “academic”  papers about how to make youtiao, I turn my option to the baking powder version. This is the new version and it is quite easier to handle.

💭Tips for a perfect youtiao dough

1. I recommend using all-purpose flour because it contains an appropriate content of gluten and can provide enough support for elasticity, but not too strong to make the dough tough to handle.
2. Recommend you use a kitchen scale to measure all the ingredients as the amounts of ingredients are crucial to success. If you plan to use cups, remember we use a dip and sweep method. Don’t shift the flour before using it.
3. You need to rest the dough for enough time so the gluten can be well relaxed and can expand during the deep-frying process (I will recommend 3 hours). If you plan to rest in the fridge, remember to transfer the dough to come back to room temperature before deep-frying. Cold dough will influence the temperature of the oil and cause failure.
4. The dough might be a little bit sticky because it contains lots of liquid content. You may feel the dough is a little bit sticky at first and quite hard to knead, I will recommend using a punching method shown in the video. But please don’t change the ratio or add extra flour to avoid sticky problems.

Ingredients

• 2 cups (300g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. (4g) baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 small egg
• 1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil, you can use softened butter as a substitute to enhance the flavor
• 120ml (1/2 cup) water
• 20ml vegetable oil for brushing

Instructions

Make the dough

Stand mixer method: in a stand mixer, add all the ingredients together and then knead on low speed for 7-9 minutes until the dough is quite elastic. Shape into a ball and then cover with a plastic wrapper and set aside to rest. The dough will be like the high water content bread dough.

By hand: combine the dry ingredients, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar with flour. Crack the egg and add oil. Stir with a chopstick or a spatula to mix the ingredient well. Then start using your hand. I love the method of using the fist to press the dough gently, this helps a lot with the sticky problem. Once a dough is formed, cover and rest the dough aside for 15 minutes. Then repeat the process until the dough becomes almost smooth on the surface. No need to be super smooth! At this stage, the dough will be super soft but not sticky. We only need the gluten network to be formed. Cover well and set aside for 1 hour.

Shape the dough into a long retangle and brush some oil on the surface (this can help to avoid sticky problems after the later stage of shaping and assembling).

Or you can fridge overnight if you are making the dough the previous night, but remember to move it from the fridge in advance so the dough can go back to room temperature.

Assemble the deep-frying strip

Cut the rectangle into strips around 3cm wide.

Take a chopstick, wet it with some water, and work a line in the center of one piece of the strip.

Lay one stripe over the other one and press a mark in the center (lengthwise). Water helps to make sure the two pieces stay together in the deep-frying process.

Deep-fry youtiao

Heat the oil to around 180 to 190 degrees C (400 degrees F). Then hold the two ends and slightly stretch the strips (or slightly adjust the length according to your frying wok).

Gently slide into the oil and roll around continuously with chopsticks. This can prevent any surface of the youtiao is overcooked and thus firmed too quickly. Once the youtiao expands and turns golden brown. Transfer to a baking rack to drain out the extra oil. The whole deep-frying process may need 1 minute.

Do this by batch and use a slow fire to keep the temperature of the oil. You can fry two youtiao each time but adding too many ones will decrease the oil temperature immediately, and usually, we don’t have enough space for them to roll and rotate. So take your time.
The successful youtiao should have a crisp shell and large holes in the center.

What to serve with Youtiao.

The best and my dream way of serving youtiao is to serve it with soy milk either soaked or not. I love to deep youtiao into soy milk. It presents a totally different taste and texture after absorbing soy milk. You can also serve it with congee too.

By the way, I strongly recommend matching youtiao with smashed cucumber salad.

You can also combine youtiao with other food like Chinese rice balls (fantuan) and steamed rice noodles also known as Cheung fun. It can add some lovely crispy texture.

How to store and serve

• Freshly deep-fried youtiao has the best flavors and taste. If you have leftovers, keep them in the fridge in an air-tight bag for up to 7 days.
• How to reheat: you can choose to re-deep fry them with a lower heat. You can choose to reheat it in the oven. 4-5 minutes at 180°C/ 356°F