Ideas/Help for elastic dough

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Ghostbuster

Assistant Cook
Joined
Jun 16, 2015
Messages
2
Location
Jutland
Hi there,

I am trying to cook the chinese dish named Baozi (stuffed meat buns). The tricky part is to make beautiful wraps of the dough.

I have seen some clips on youtube and one thing puzzles me, the dough used in the videos is always super extremely elastic almost like "Play Doh". When they stretch the dough it never goes back again, if you know what i mean.

Any ideas or rules of thumb? when I make the dough and roll it out it seems to contract alot again its the opposite of what i see in the videos.

I basically use "normal white" flour, dry yeast and some baking powder. Does the secret lie in the flour?
 
...Any ideas or rules of thumb? when I make the dough and roll it out it seems to contract alot again its the opposite of what i see in the videos.

I basically use "normal white" flour, dry yeast and some baking powder. Does the secret lie in the flour?

The secret does not lie in the flour. When you mix and knead dough and set it aside to rise, the liquid reacts with the proteins in the flour to create gluten. Typically, you then portion the items and let the dough rest for a second time. This rest gives the dough an opportunity to relax so when you form the item it doesn't shrink.

Short answer = if the dough shrinks, let it sit for a bit and try again.
 
Hi again, thanks a lot. I'm getting tips I newer thought about :)

After you portion the dough for the rest would you then knead it again, or just divide then rest without knead?
 
Also, how loose the dough is makes a difference. That is, loose, or moist dough is subject to less elasticity. When I want to make noodles, my dough is very sticky. I just make sure to use plenty of flour when rolling or stretching it so that it doesn't stick to my hands, the rolling pin, or the work surface. Of course, if it's too loose, it won't have enough strength to hold together when it's worked. It comes with practice.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
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