Scallion Pancakes

Scallion pancakes (葱油饼) are a crunchy snack with multiple layers of crispy dough and scallions. They're great eaten by themselves or with soy sauce.

Method

Make a soft and stretchy dough from wheat flour and water. Roll it into a large thin flat sheet with a rolling pin. Spread oil on the dough and sprinkle minced scallions and salt over it. Roll the dough into a tube. Then make an overlapping spiral with the rolled dough. 

Roll this spiraled dough flat and repeat the process above once (or twice) more. 

Heat up some oil in a flat pan and pan fry the pancake on high for a few seconds, then on medium-low heat for several minutes. Flip it and pan fry for several minutes until ready.

Notes

Rolling the dough (especially after the first roll) will be very messy, but it is necessary for creating the delicious layers from the pockets of oil. When you spread the oil, there is no need to spread it to the edges. It will get there when you roll the dough into a tube. Mincing the scallions very small and sprinkling (rather than dumping a huge load) will reduce the chances of the dough breaking when you flatten the dough. 

With each successive roll, you'll notice that the dough can only roll out to a thicker and smaller sheet before the layers break and bleed into each other in a big way. This is expected. I've found that keeping the pancake slightly thicker (1/3 inch) at the end will result in a pancake with crisper layers.

My father-in-law adds a little water and covers the pan to steam the pancake after the initial sear. While it definitely works to cook it, I've found this makes the pancake chewier and less crunchy even in the middle layers.