Sesame shaobing
A Beijing breakfast eaten with soy milk or split and filled with meat. Outside it is a flatbread crusted in sesame; inside, a dozen thin layers spread with sesame paste and Sichuan pepper. The layers come from rolling a spread sheet into a log, then the log into a coil. The key is a half-scalded dough: part of the flour gelatinises, making the dough pliable yet flaky once baked.
Your own work in that: 25 min.
- Dough 15 min
- Resting 45 min
- Rolling the layers 25 min
- Baking 25 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneScald the flour with half the water
Mix the flour and salt in a bowl and pour in 120 ml of boiling water, stirring with chopsticks. Dissolve the yeast in 120 ml of cold water and add it once the scalded flour stops steaming. Scalded flour makes a soft, pliable dough, and yeast added with the cold water never meets the boiling water.
Ingredients: 400 g plain flour · 240 ml water · 3 g dried yeast · ½ tsp salt
Knead and rest 45 minutes
Knead into a smooth, soft dough for 5 minutes, cover and rest 45 minutes. There is no classic rise here — the yeast only lightens it, and the rest relaxes the gluten for thin rolling.
Ingredients: 400 g plain flour · 240 ml water · 3 g dried yeast · ½ tsp salt
Mix the spiced sesame paste
Mix the sesame paste with the sesame oil, Sichuan pepper, star anise, cinnamon, salt and a spoon of flour into a smooth, thick mass. The flour stops the paste oozing from the layers in the oven.
Ingredients: 80 g sesame paste · 2 tbsp sesame oil · 1 tsp Sichuan pepper · 1 pinch star anise · 1 pinch cinnamon · 1 tsp salt · 1 tbsp plain flour
Roll the dough out and spread the paste
Roll the dough on an oiled worktop into a 30 × 50 cm rectangle, very thin, and spread the sesame paste evenly over it, leaving a 2 cm border. The thinner the dough, the more layers in the finished bread.
Ingredients: 80 g sesame paste · 2 tbsp sesame oil · 1 tsp Sichuan pepper · 1 pinch star anise · 1 pinch cinnamon · 1 tsp salt · 1 tbsp plain flour
Very thin and evenly spread — more layers inside.Roll into a tight log and cut
Roll the dough from the long side into a tight log, seal the edge and cut into 8 pieces. Coil each piece once more into a snail, tucking the ends underneath — this double operation multiplies the layers.
Ingredients: 400 g plain flour · 240 ml water · 3 g dried yeast · ½ tsp salt
A log, then a coil — the double roll multiplies layers.Flatten and coat in sesame
Flatten the coils by hand into rounds 1.5 cm thick, brush the tops with honey water and press them into a tray of sesame. The honey glues the sesame to the dough and turns it golden in the oven.
Ingredients: 80 g white sesame seeds · 1 tbsp honey · 3 tbsp water
Honey water is the glue — and the sesame's gold.Brown the bases in a pan
Set the rounds sesame side up in a dry, hot pan and cook in batches for 3 minutes each, until the base browns. This is the traditional way — baking from below on a griddle, then in an oven, gives crispness on both sides.
Ingredients: 400 g plain flour · 240 ml water · 3 g dried yeast · ½ tsp salt
Finish in the oven
Move the rounds to a tray and bake 12–15 minutes at 220°C, until the sesame is golden. Serve warm — in Beijing split and filled with spiced beef or egg, with a bowl of warm soy milk.
Ingredients: 80 g white sesame seeds · 1 tbsp honey · 3 tbsp water
Before you start
Chinese sesame paste versus tahini
Chinese zhimajiang is made from toasted sesame, so it is darker and more intense than tahini from raw seeds. Tahini works well, but add an extra teaspoon of sesame oil to lift the aroma.
The sweet version
There is also a sweet shaobing: brown sugar replaces the salt and pepper in the sesame paste. The top often goes without sesame, and the layers are flaky and sweet.
They freeze beautifully
Baked rounds freeze very well. Reheat straight from frozen in a dry pan, covered, for 5 minutes, turning once — they come back crisp outside and soft within.