Wow, ive been subbed for a while and somehow I didnt know you were from xiamen. My paternal great great great grandfather was a missionary priest (Dutch Reform Episcopal Church of America) and linguist stationed in Amoy from c.1840-1880. Back then it took 6 months (!!) by wooden sailing ship to get from long island (new york) to Amoy.
Thank you for the recipe. I'll reciprocate with a similar themed chinese recipe I reverse engineered and reworked from elsewhere. Ingredients: 260gr Fresh Pumpkin flesh (calabeza or butternut squash), peeled & seeded 1 lg Egg 2 tbsp Sugar (I like hand-shaved punjabi cane sugar aka gur or jaggery, or some palm sugar) 1 tsp Salt 1 tsp Baker's yeast 400 gr All Purp Flour 2 tbsp (30gr) Veg Oil (I used grapeseed) Directions: 1) Pumpkin: (OPTIONAL HACK: You can substitute an equal wt of canned pumpkin and skip this step) Peel a fist sized chunk of pumpkin, then slice 1/8th inch thick, until you have 260 gr. Scatter slices loosely in a 9-10" cake pan, spray lightly with oil, and steam covered (I used a bamboo steamer set atop a 12" saute pan) on high heat for 15 mins or until fork tender. Drain and discard any visible liquid, then cover and let cool completely. For best presentation scrape thru a tamis until smooth, but you can also just pulse it in a 7 cup food processor. 2) Combine: Scrape down the sides of work bowl to settle the puree, then add all the other ingredients atop the puree except for the oil. Pulse the food processor repeatedly, scraping down as needed, until a damp loose homogeneous mass appears. Spray a large 3L work bowl lightly with oil and transfer the dough into it. Drizzle the oil evenly atop, then knead briefly to distribute and consolidate it into a wet sticky dough. Cover and let rest 10 mins for the flour to hydrate, then flour your counter and knead for 1-2 mins, working in just enough flour so the dough is merely tacky rather than sticky. 3) First Rise: Oil the dough ball generously and let rise in a covered 3L bowl until fully Quadrupled in size (approx 1 hr at 95F or 90 mins at room temp). 4) Second Rise: punch down and lightly knead the dough on a lightly floured counter for 15-20 sec to mostly deflate it, then using scissors and a kitchen scale divide dough into 8 portions roughly 85gr each. Lightly oil a pizza pan or cookie sheet, and shape each dough as follows: Make an OK symbol with your off hand, with the tips of your thumb and index fingers toughing to form a ring. 👌 Gently push a dough ball upward through the ring from below, letting friction stretch the surface tight ... continue until most of dough is through and shaped like a golf ball, then squeeze the last little bit tight. The resulting shape is like a large button mushroom with a stem. Push the stem up into the underside to form a ball, then press lightly agaist the counter to form a rounded hockey puck shape. Place the first dough upright in the center of the pan, followed by the other 7 (as you form them) in a ring around it, all spaced about 1" apart. Spray with oil, cover loosely with platic wrap, and let rise 30 mins or until they're all nearly touching. 5) Cook: Preheat a 10" cast iron skillet to 380F ish (I use an Infrared gun to monitor) and reduce heat to low-med to maintain. Working 3 or 4 at a time, depending on the size of your pan, lightly reflatten each dough into roughly the shape of an english muffin or scooter pie, dip the bottom of a small spice bottle in water then in sesame seeds, then press gently into the center of a muffin, then repeat til you have 3-4 doughs ready. Place them face down in the skillet, cover loosely with a pyrex lid, and pan sear approx 3 1/2 mins or until crispy light golden brown. Turn over, press gently to reflatten the side in contact with the pan, cover, and pansear 3 1/2 mins more until dough is just done ... firm but springy to the touch, and roughly 170F internal. Transfer to wire rack or pizza screen to cool. 6) Enjoy. These make a great alternative to dinner rolls ... they're only faintly sweet, and the pumpkin note is delicate and restrained. I like to tear in half horizontally and spread with a little unsalted butter while warm. They're also good treated as "Thomas's English Muffins" - store in fridge in freezer bag for upto 10 days, split horizontally and toast until golden brown, then top as desired (butter, cream cheese & lox, cream cheese n jam)
