肉夾饃 | Rou Jia Mo (Chinese Burger)

February 2, 2021

Rou Jia Mo, Chinese burger, originated in Shanxi Province in China. That is the province where Terracotta Army stands! Different cities in Shanxi Province eat Rou Jia Mo also differently; warm meat vs hot meat, braised pork belly vs lamb, beef, different ways to make, cook doughs, etc. I have tried this three times so far, the previous two failure results from either dough too soft, or cook at high temperature or cook too long. Understanding the expected texture and how it is formed definitely make this process much easier!

QUICK TAKEAWAYS

dough is semi-proofing traditionally. I like softer dough so I proof them till size doubles. If want traditional style, change the proofing till size doubles to rest for 20-30mins.
cooking of the dough does NOT need oil, mainly just heat of the pan to cook it. And look for specific patterns (鐵圈虎揹菊花心, described below) and see if you shape dough perfectly!!
be patient and cook dough over low het; cook too long will be too hard/stiff, cook too high temperature dough will be burnt.

RECIPE

Portions: 8-10

500g All Purpose flour
5g dry yeast
5g sugar
260g warm water (30-40C, 80-100F)
(2g baking powder, next time)
(15-20g oil, next time)

Fillings (feel free to improvise!):

green peppers, sliced
braised pork belly or cumin lamb or beef, whatever you like

Step 1: activate yeast by adding 5g yeast, 5g sugar to 260g warm water till it becomes foamy

Step 2: in 500g AP flour, add in yeast water in three different times. Each time stir well till all water is absorbed; knead to form dough, do not need to worry if not smooth yet. Rest in room temperature with lid on/cover with wet cloth for 20mins

Step 3: after resting 20mins, knead till smooth. Rest in room temperature with lid on/covered with wet cloth again till size doubles.

Step 4: de-gas and knead dough till smooth, divide dough into 8-10 portions, each will weight 50-70g.

personally I like lighter dough so mine is 50-60g per portion

Step 5: knead till each dough till smooth, start shaping. Cover the rest of doughs not being shaped!

roll out dough to beef-tongue shape
fold along the short side
roll tightly along the long side, fold the tip to the evenly rolled up side
with open-ends facing up and down, press down dough
use palm or roller to roll into larger circular shape
- if you like thicker burger bread, roll to smaller circle
- if you like thinner burger bread, roll to larger circle

Step 6: cover the shaped dough to rest for 15-20mins before cooking, move on to the next dough ready to be shaped

Step 7: when doughs are all shaped, can start cooking the first dough. Over low heat, NO OIL NEEDED, put dough in pan; flip when brown pattern forms. Because of the rolling and pressing down, they will have different patterns on both sides:

鐵圈，虎揹，菊花心 (not perfectly shown below :p )
the pattern will be: one side with brown lining (iron circular lining), and little brown center (chrysanthemum stamen), the other side will have large brown center (tiger back)