Charcoal Dough Sticks (Charcoal You Tiao)

Adapted from Octaphilosophy by André Chiang. 

Ingredients

Vegetable Ash

1. Carrot, 1
2. Onion, 1

Dough

1. Plain/all-purpose flour, 300g
2. Vegetable ash, 7.5g
3. Caster sugar, 40g
4. Active dried yeast, 5g
5. Water, 175ml + 10ml
6. Baking soda, 1g
7. Salt, 5g
8. Oil, for frying

Instructions

Vegetable Ash

1. Grill carrot and onion until completely blackened.
2. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 100C for 8-10h until dehydrated.
3. Let cool and process to a fine powder by pounding with a mortar and pestle/using a food processor.

Dough

1. In a large bowl, mix flour, vegetable ash, sugar, yeast and 175ml of water. 
2. Shape the dough into a ball and place in the bowl. Cover with oiled clingfilm and set aside to prove for 30 min, until doubled in size.
3. In a separate small bowl, mix 10ml of water with baking soda and salt. 
4. Knead the mixture into the dough, then return the dough to the bowl, cover and prove for another 45min.
5. Flatten the dough, and cut into 40 strips.
6. Take two strips and twist them together.
7. Heat oil to 190C and deep-fry the strips until crisp.
8. Drain on paper towels and serve.