Chinese Hot Dogs

Who would have thought that hot dogs could possibly be from China? Well they originally aren’t. The commonly known hot dogs first appeared in the USA but the sausages themselves came from Europe. Specifically, they were brought by German immigrants. The name hot dog refers to the ‘dachshund’. The sausage dog. It was first used in Germany as a name for the sausages and was later translated and used to refer to the snack. This recipe, however, will help you make a slightly different and, in my opinion, better version of the hot dog. Instead of sticking a hot sausage between two buns, the sausage is wrapped in yeast dough and covered with sesame before being baked. Super easy to prepare these hand-sized snack rolls make the perfect food to be the star at any picnic or to make school children extra happy with their lunch box.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 10 Wieners
• 1 small beaten Egg
• Sesame Seeds

For the dough

• 400g Flour
• 220ml Water
• 3Tbsp Sugar
• 2/3 package Fresh Yeast (notes)
• 1tsp Salt
• 3Tbsp Melted Butter
• 1 small Egg

Instructions

1. Warm the water and mix in the Sugar until disolved.
2. Crumble in the yeast and integrate it well
3. Leave the mixture to proof for 10 minutes.
4. Mix the salt into the flour and form a well in the middle.
5. Pour in the yeast mixture, the butter, the egg and a bit of the water.
6. Mix with a fork. Add in the rest of the water.
7. Use your hands to keep mixing the dough.
8. Tilt the dough onto a floured surface and keep kneeding until the dough is smooth.
9. Leave the dough to rise for an hour or until doubled in size.
10. Separate the dough into 10 pieces and roll them out into strips 3 times as long as the sausages.
11. Wrap the sausages in the dough and leave them to rest for another 15 minutes.
12. Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
13. Brush the eggwash over the hot dog buns and sprinkle with sesame.
14. Bake for 10-15 minutes until they are golden on top.
15. Take out of the oven and serve hot.

Notes

Fresh Yeast: When using fresh yeast, the package usually specifies the yeast to flour ratio. It can be different for different brands of yeast. The yeast I usually use comes in packages of 25g and is used for 500g of flour. If you prefer to use active dry yeast, check the back of the package. I usually use two packages of active dry yeast instead of one package of fresh yeast.

Yeast: First of all make sure the water is not too hot. It should not be burning. It should be merely warm not hot. If your yeast mixture is not puffy after you let it proof for five minutes, try leaving it for another five. If it still isn’t puffy, do not continue with that mixture!!! It will take less time to redo the yeast mixture and get it right than it will to remake the entire dough because it didn’t rise. Yeast is a tricky ingredient to work with and much can go wrong. This is a way of catching any mistakes early on and sparing yourself a lot of work.