Baked Wheat Cake

Baked Wheat Cake

　　Made from high-quality flour and oil dough mixed with fennel, and finely baked in a specially designed oven. (Huo Zhou)

Tujia-style Baked Wheat Cake Secret Recipe   

Ingredients: 15 types — salt, sugar, pickled mustard tuber, ginger, garlic, chicken essence, barbecue seasoning, cumin powder, thirteen-spice blend, five-spice powder, sweet leavening powder, regular soybean paste, and chili oil, among more than ten seasonings.   

Preparation Process: Use old dough (starter). Under normal weather conditions, the ratio of water : old dough : fresh flour is 5 : 1 : 8; in hot weather, adjust to 5 : 1 : 9; in cold weather, adjust to 5 : 1 : 7.5. Baking temperature is also a key detail emphasized in the secret recipe. The finished dough is first placed on a stainless steel tray, which is lightly oiled beforehand. The oven is set to around 300 degrees Celsius, and baking takes approximately 4 minutes, until the surface turns slightly yellow. However, the secret recipe specifically mentions only using sweet leavening powder, chili oil, soybean paste, chopped green onions, and sesame seeds during preparation. For the meat filling, the ratio of fat to lean meat should be 5 : 2. The weight of the dough for each baked wheat cake is 175 grams, with 10–15 grams of inner filling and 15–20 grams of outer filling.