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If you are looking for ideas to use up your sourdough discard, make these Chinese-style flatbreads filled with eggs. They make a delicious breakfast or snack.
What is Chinese Egg Flatbread (Ji Dan Bing)?
Ji dan bing is a popular breakfast food in China. It’s very similar to the Taiwan Egg Crepes (Dan Bing) I made a while ago. The most common ones are made with crepe-like batter and then cooked with eggs. The egg-wrapped crepes are then smeared with sauce, filled with veggies, and optional toppings. This egg flatbread is made with dough instead of crepe-like batter. The dough is made with a sourdough discard that hasn’t been fed for a few days or a week.
Why you’ll love this recipe
1. It’s a great way to use up sourdough discard
2. I love the crisp texture on the outside and the soft egg filling on the inside
3. It makes a great snack or can be used as a wrap to make a complete meal
Ingredients and substitutions for the dough
1. All-purpose flour
Flour with medium gluten content ranging from 9-10% is suitable for this recipe
2. Sourdough discard
I use my accumulated sourdough discard that hasn’t been fed for more than 5 days
3. Salt
I use fine sea salt
4. Oil
You can use any neutral-tasting oil
5. Five-spice powder
I use Chinese five-spice powder. This can be omitted if you don’t want to use any
Sourdough discard Ji Dan Bing (Chinese Egg Flatbread)
Ingredients
For the flatbread:
- 200 g all-purpose flour
- 200 g 100% hydration sourdough discard
- 60 g water or more as needed
- 4 g salt
- 10 g oil
For the flour paste:
- 30 g all-purpose flour
- 20 g oil
- ¼ tsp five-spice powder
- ⅛ tsp salt
For the filling:
- 5 large eggs
- 5 stalks green onion finely chopped
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
For cooking:
- 3 Tbsp Oil divided, or more as needed
Serve as is with dipping sauce:
- 4 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp minced garlic
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
Serve as a flatbread sandwich with:
- spicy bean sauce non spicy sauce like hoisin sauce works too
- lettuce
- slices of ham or meat of your choice
Instructions
Prepare the dough:
- Combine all of the ingredients for the dough and knead into a rough dough. It won't be smooth yet.
- Cover and let it rest for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, knead it a few times and you will see how the dough is smooth now
- While waiting prepare the flour paste by mixing the flour, oil, salt and five-spice powder. Set aside
Shaping:
- Roll the dough into a log.
- Divide the dough into 8 pieces.
- Round each one into round balls. Cover them and let them rest for 15 minutes so they can be rolled out easily
- Lightly oil your rolling pin and work surface. Work with one dough at a time, keeping the rest covered. Roll the dough out to about 5 inches square (don't have to be exact)
- Spread the paste in the middle.
- Fold the top down, slightly over the middle line.
- Fold the bottom over to overlap it a bit
- Flatten both ends a bit with a rolling pin.
- Fold one side over, slightly over the middle line. Fold the other side over to overlap it a bit.
- This is how it looks like from the side
- Now you have a rectangle package. Repeat with the rest of the dough
- Put the dough on an oiled plate or container. Rub some oil on the shaped dough too to prevent them from drying. Cover with a plastic wrap or a lid. Cover and let them rest for 45 minutes to 1 hour. This helps rolling out the dough much easier
- You can also rest them overnight in the fridge and cook them the next day
Cooking:
- Prepare the filling. Whisk five eggs with finely chopped green onion, salt, and pepper
- If you have rest the dough in the fridge overnight, get them out from the fridge 30 minutes before you plan to start cooking to let them come to a room temperature
- Preheat a large non-stick pan with about 1 teaspoon of oil over medium-low heat
- Get one dough, with the open end facing you
- Use a rolling pin to gently roll out the dough. Roll in the direction of the two open ends. Roll into about 8-10 inches long and about 4-5 inches wide. If the dough keeps retracting back, stop rolling and rest it a bit to relax the gluten. But this shouldn't be a problem if you have rested the dough long enough
- This rolling and cooking part can be a bit time-consuming. So I recommend to roll about 3-4 dough and then cook them and then continuing with the rest.
- Cook one flatbread at a time. Gently drape the dough over a rolling pin to pick it up and gently lay the dough on a preheated pan
- Let it cook over medium-low heat. You don't want the heat to be too hot as the bread will form a crust too quickly and won't have a chance to puff up. Cook for about 1 minute and then flip over.
- Let the bread cook until it starts to puff up really big
- Use a chopstick to poke a hole and the puff will deflate
- Use a chopstick to help you keep the hole opened and pour about 1/8 of the egg mixture into the hole.
- Use a chopstick to move the flatbread a bit to "distribute" the egg mixture inside the bread.
- Let it cook for about 10 seconds, flip over and cook for another 10 seconds or until the eggs are set
- Remove from the pan to a cooling rack. You can keep them warm in the oven while rolling and cooking the rest. Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling
Prepare the dipping sauce (optional):
- Mix all ingredients for the dipping sauce in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Set aside
To serve with a dipping sauce:
- The flatbread is best when served warm. You can cut into smaller pieces and serve with a dipping sauce
To serve as a flatbread sandwich:
- The flatbread can also be used as a wrap. Smear with some spicy bean sauce on the flatbread, put some veggies like lettuce, a few thin slices of deli meat on top and then fold in half and eat it
Marv’s Recipe Notes
*Nutrition facts are just estimates and calculated using online tools*
Did you make this sourdough discard Chinese egg flatbread recipe?
I love it when you guys snap a photo and tag it to show me what you’ve made. Simply tag me @WhatToCookToday #WhatToCookToday on Instagram and I’ll be sure to stop by and take a peek for real!
