4/10/2020: Youtiao, a deep-fried dough stick, was a part of my childhood memory. It’s a common breakfast that we bought from any breakfast store back in Taiwan. They also made the flatbread with sesame seeds on top (燒餅) in the clay oven. The customers would put the youtiao inside the flatbread (燒餅) and eat them together. Also, a bowl of soy milk, sweet or salty, is a must to go along with the set of youtiao and flatbread.

Luckily, I have a soy milk maker to make fresh soy milk in the mornings now. I also found a good recipe to make pretty good youtiao myself. Below is the recipe for anyone who has a craving for youtiao, as I do sometimes, or if you just want to try to make it:

Ingredients:

(2 &1/2 ) cup of all-purpose flour

(1) cup of cold milk

(1) tablespoon baking powder

(1) teaspoon yeast

(1) teaspoon salt

(1) tablespoon oil

Instructions:

1. Mix flour, baking powder, yeast, and salt well.
2. Pour the cold milk in and mix all well (I use the mixer).
3. Cover the dough and rest for 30 minutes.
4. Remove the dough and add some oil to the surface of the dough and cutting board, roll the dough out to two long flat pieces (see picture below).
5. Brush oil onto the surface of the pieces and cover them up for ten minutes.
6. Cut the flattened pieces into small strips horizontally (approximately 3/4 inch wide), and then stack two small strips together.
7. Use a chopstick or a thin stick to press down length-wise along the center of the stacked strips so they will stick together.
8. Heat the largest pan you have with cooking oil. The oil is ready when you dip the chopstick inside the pan and see the tiny bubble around the tip of the chopstick.
9. Pull both ends of the youtiao dough, making it longer before sliding it into the oil.
10. Keep turning the youtiao until it turns light brown on both sides, then remove from the oil and place on a paper towel on the plate to drain the extra oil out.
11. A good youtiao should start swelling when frying. It’s crispy outside and hollow inside when you eat it.