In China, breakfast usually includes foods such as eggs, milk, congee, bread, and fruit. With the improvement of people’s living standards, more attention is paid to nutrition in diet. Some people prefer to have soy milk and oil sticks for breakfast, and the taste of soy milk and oil sticks is quite delicious. Making oil sticks is relatively simple, but there are certain skills involved in making them. What are the steps for making crispy oil sticks? What are the steps and ingredients for making crispy oil sticks?

1. Ingredients for making oil sticks

Low-protein flour (500 grams), aluminum-free baking powder (12 grams), baking soda (2 grams), butter (35 grams), lard (15 grams), salt (3 grams), water (285-290 grams), one egg.

2. Knead the dough

Firstly, add 6 grams of baking powder and 1 gram of baking soda to the flour, but not all at once, because this baking powder loses some of its effectiveness when it comes into contact with water. Therefore, we add half of it first, then add butter and lard. Everyone should know that both butter and lard are good for making crispy foods, with lard being the best. So in this case, I choose two different oils, aiming to get the fluffy feeling of lard and the fragrance of butter. Add one standard-sized egg, not too small. As for salt, there is a saying in our industry: ‘Salt is the bone, and alkali is the sinew.’ I’m not recommending adding a lot, as salt itself is a substance that enhances elasticity, and oil sticks don’t need to be very salty. Just a little bit to adjust the taste is enough. Regarding water, generally speaking, 285 grams should be enough, but it’s not excluded that some friends’ flour absorbs more water, so it can be up to 290 grams. The oil stick dough itself is soft, so a little wetness is fine, and it should be a slightly soft dough. Also, add the water little by little, don’t add it all at once.

3. Knead the dough

Here I want to explain that don’t underestimate the dough for oil sticks. It also needs to be kneaded well, especially with so much filling inside. After the dough is mixed for the first time, we need to add the remaining baking powder and baking soda to the dough and continue to knead. This step is even more critical than the first kneading. If you have a bread machine, run a few more cycles, as there is no yeast, it won’t rise. The recipe emphasizes that kneading is very important. Good kneading makes everything better. Steamed buns and dumplings look beautiful and white, and the dough for oil sticks is fluffy.

4. Knead the dough well

At this point, we need to enter a three-knead and three-proof situation. This is to make the dough more elastic and let it rise better. The specific operation is to knead the dough, let it rest for half an hour, knead it again, let it rest for half an hour, and knead it again. Knead the dough three times and proof it three times.

5. Proofing time

After three kneads and three proofs, it’s not over yet. This is just the initial proofing stage. There is still a deep proofing stage. After the dough is proofed, knead it into strips, wrap it with plastic wrap, and place it in the refrigerator for 8 to 10 hours. It is recommended to knead it at night and fry it in the morning.

6. Place

Remember to take the dough out in advance the next day and let it warm up at room temperature. Don’t fry it directly, or it will become very hard. However, it depends on the season. It’s about half an hour in summer, and 1 to 2 hours in winter.

7. Shape

Gently press the strip-shaped dough, don’t knead or apply too much force. The dough is in the most relaxed state now. If you knead or apply too much force, it will become tough and won’t have a hollow and fluffy feeling.

8. Cut into strips

Stack two layers, press them with chopsticks in the middle, and stretch them to fry in the oil. By the way, don’t stretch them too long. I once taught a few friends to stretch them too long, and there would definitely be no hollow and fluffy feeling inside. This is like the relationship between a tall, thin person and a short, chubby person. The short, chubby person is definitely fluffy, isn’t it?

9. Oil temperature

The oil temperature should be 200 degrees. Too high and it will solidify and color too quickly, after all, there are egg ingredients inside which are easy to color. Fry until it expands.