This bing bread is buttery-creamy in texture and crispy-crunchy on the surface. Simply seasoned with peanut oil and salt, it has such an addictive flavor that just makes you want more! Chinese bing bread (家常饼, jia chang bing) should be known by more people around the world. It’s a humble food, of which you can easily get a dozen for less than two dollars at most small markets in Beijing. Its flavor is so simple and delicious that I consider it to be the best staple food. To speak of stable foods in Chinese cuisine, there are countless varieties of them, including noodles, dumplings, rice, porridge, steamed buns, and so on. The bing bread is a bit more special than the rest. Although it doesn’t have any filling, it uses a technique to combine oil and salt to create a savory flavor and crispy, layered texture. It is delicious enough to serve by itself. If you have it at a restaurant or farmer’s house, the texture will be as light as puff pastry. Seriously! However, the perfect bing bread is a bit challenging to make at home. To make a restaurant-style bing (like puff pastry), you need to make a super soft dough that you can barely lift by hand. You need to roll super wet dough out into a huge thin sheet and create layers from there. I tried it several times at home. Although I can still make it work (it tasted heavenly, by the way!), the cooking process can get quite messy.
In this recipe, I altered the flour-water ratio to make a slightly drier dough, so you can easily cook it at home. It will still yield a super crispy bread with lots of layers and a creamy, nutty texture. With this bread, you don’t really need anything else to serve it with. It tastes wonderful by itself. We usually serve simple porridge and stir-fried vegetables with it. However, if you want big flavor, you could top it with scrambled eggs and even sausage. Or, you could brush some sauce on the bread, such as fermented bean paste (dou ban jiang), but I rarely do that. The sauce is too strong and will cover the nice fragrance of the bread.
Menu Ideas
{Vegan} bing bread + millet porridge + 15-minute okra stir-fry (or bok choy stir-fry with crispy tofu) {Feeling fancy} bing bread + hot and sour soup + braised chicken with mushrooms (can be prepared ahead) {Healthy dinner} bing bread + Thai Brussels sprouts salad If you make this bing bread, don’t forget to take a picture and tag it #omnivorescookbook on Instagram. I love seeing your photos! The nutrition facts are calculated based on 1 of the 8 breads generated by this recipe.
