18th Street Mahua
This iconic Tianjin specialty, a filled twisted dough (mahua), is crispy, sweet, and boasts a uniquely distinctive flavor, with a long shelf life that keeps it fresh for extended storage.
Ingredients
wheat flour
25 kg
green silk
0.11 kg
red silk
0.11 kg
osmanthus flowers
0.275 kg
sesame seeds (blanched with boiling water)
0.75 kg
vegetable oil
12.25 kg
white sugar
6.75 kg
sliced ginger
0.25 kg
alkaline powder
0.175 kg
saccharin
0.05 kg
water
7.5 kg
fermented dough starter
0.5 kg
rock sugar crumbs (added after frying)
to taste
melon strips (added after frying)
to taste
Instructions
1
Step 1
The day before frying the mahua, mix 3.5 kg of wheat flour with 0.5 kg of fermented dough starter (leavening dough), add 4 kg of warm water and stir evenly. Ferment the mixture into dough starter for use the following day.
2
Step 2
Dissolve 3.5 kg of white sugar, 0.135 kg of alkaline powder, and 0.05 kg of saccharin in 2 kg of water over low heat to make sugar water for later use.
3
Step 3
Take 35 kg of wheat flour, mix with 0.55-0.65 kg of hot oil to make crispy dough for later use.
4
Step 4
Take 0.75 kg of sesame seeds, blanch them with boiling water, keep them at a moisture level that is neither too wet nor too dry, and set aside for making sesame strips.
5
Step 5
Mix the prepared crispy dough with 3.25 kg of white sugar, 0.11 kg each of green silk and red silk, 0.275 kg of osmanthus flowers, 0.175 kg of sliced ginger, and 0.025 kg of alkaline powder. Add 1.75 kg of cold water and stir evenly. Dust your hands with 5 kg of dry flour while kneading, and mix the dough until it reaches a suitable softness and hardness. Use 1 kg of flour for dusting during the strip-making process.
6
Step 6
Put the remaining 16 kg of dry flour into a dough mixer, add the previously fermented dough starter, pour in the prepared sugar water, then add an appropriate amount of cold water according to the flour's moisture content and the current season. Knead into large dough pieces for later use.
7
Step 7
Let the large dough rest, then cut it into large strips. Feed the large strips into a strip-pressing machine to press them into thin strips, then tear them into short strips about 35 cm long and straighten them. Make some of the strips into plain strips, knead the rest with sesame seeds to make sesame strips. Also make crispy strips from the prepared crispy dough. Match the plain strips, sesame strips, and crispy strips in a 5:3:1 ratio, then twist them into rope-shaped mahua.
8
Step 8
Pour oil into a pot and heat over low heat until warm. Place the raw mahua into the warm oil and fry for about 20 minutes until they turn jujube red and the mahua bodies are straight and not bent. Remove from the oil, add an appropriate amount of rock sugar crumbs, melon strips and other small ingredients between the strips, and serve.
