Until a few months ago, at the turn of a page inside a local Beijing market, I found its trails.

There are stalls inside the market making fresh Chinese breads, buns and noodles (where I got these from), among which are giant round sheets of common lao-bing (Chinese unleavened bread) piled high behind the shop window.  In one innocent and accidental purchase, I was stunned at how closely it resembles the perfect, unleavened bread of my dream.  Soft, slightly oily, stretchy and irresistibly chewy with almost translucent tissues that are intricately layered.  For the past 6 months… 6 months!, I’ve been stalking… loitering… subtly probing… flat-out harassing the ma’am behind the window, hoping for the formula of my unicorn-dough, with no prevail.  Only helpful, but inconclusive clues like “bread flour”… “dough without oil”… and a final, alerted silence.

So finally, I tried a different approach.  Last week, I bought myself a hunk of completely raw dough.

I studied the shit out of that dough.  I studied it like my college admission depended on it.  I studied it from all possible perspectives just to make sure that I didn’t miss any part of the truth, say which can only be revealed if being stared fiercely at a 180º angle within 2″ proximity for over 30 seconds…  And those effort did not go wasted.  Discoveries were made.  For one, the dough was wet.  Very, very wet.  It was more “lava” than a “dough”, almost formless, and it had an incredibly mesmerising, glossy shine.  Like silk.  Silky lava.  It resembles nothing that any recipes I’ve ever found would ever get me.  So un-dough-like that I thought to myself, this has got to be wrong.  This glassy glob is somehow going to hold itself together and translate into bread?  But I did see, with my own two eyes, that it was yanked straight out of the mother-tub… so be it.

I replicated the dough, eye to eye, by adjusting the moisture level as I went.  I knew the dough has to be soft – indicates the use of warm water, but extremely elastic and stretchy – meaning a prolonged and stern kneading.  And under a cloud of flickering dust of flour, the final truth – a whopping 90+% ratio of water to flour by weight – sprung liberated out of the fountain of secret doughs!  Almost identical, hers and mine, glossy silky and smooth.  I could see it moving promisingly through the mist, but does it have goddamn horn?  Armed with prediction for failure, I pressed on.  I used just enough flour needed to work with this dough, rolled it and brushed it with clarified butter, then curled it up and rolled it out again.  With the last blessing of clarified butter on the surface, I sent it into my blazing oven with all my skepticism.

The next following moment I believe, in kitchen history, is called BOOYA!

I don’t have to describe it to you again, because I already did.  It was exactly that: stringy, oily, chewy and layered un-yeasted bread, well with the bonus of crispy flakes.  20 years of searching, kitchen unicorn and I, touched.  And if you must name my unicorn, I’m calling it “roti” today, purely because of the dip that goes with it.  Oh, the dip.  The dip that is seriously ass-kicking, a smooth puree of curried cannellini beans swirling in a red sea of cayenne and cumin olive oil.  It’s unjust to cast it under the bright lights of my glorious dough-day.  After all, what’s a roti without its dip?

Ingredients:

• Chewy layered roti:
  • 300 grams (appox 2 1/3 cup + 1 tsp) of unbleached bread flour 
  • 4 grams (3/4 tsp) of salt + more for sprinkling later
  • 240 grams (1 cup + 1/2 tsp) of warm/hot water, 130ºF/55ºC
  • Another 30 grams (2 tbsp) of water
  • 113 grams (1 stick/8 tbsp) of clarified butter (here’s how to), warmed
  • Semolina or all-purpose flour for dusting
• Curried cannellini bean dip:
  • 1 small red onion, finely sliced
  • 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 1/4 cup of olive oil
  • 3 tbsp of tomato paste
  • 1 1/2 tsp of curry powder
  • 1 tsp of ground cumin
  • 1 tsp of salt
  • 1/2 tsp of freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 can (400 grams) of cannellini beans
  • 1/4 cup of plain yogurt
  • 1 ~ 2 tsp of potato starch, or cornstarch
  • Cayenne spice oil:
    • 1/4 cup of olive oil
    • 1 tsp of ground cayenne pepper
    • 1/2 tsp of ground cumin
    • 1/4 tsp of freshly ground black pepper