File photo of mooncakes. [Photo/Sipa]

Mooncakes are indispensable for the approaching Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, which falls on Sept 21 this year, and to taste the delicacy made by oneself will add a sense of ceremony to the festival.

Here are the methods of making the two major kinds of mooncakes.

Guangdong-style mooncake

Crust making: Mix 150 grams of low-gluten flour, 30 g of salad oil, 75 g of syrup, 10 g of alkaline water, and 1 g of salt. Knead the mixture into dough and leave it to ferment by covering it with preservative film for one hour.

There are a variety of fillings that can be used for Guangdong-style mooncakes, including peach kernel, salted egg yolk, roast pork, pineapple, banana, sea-ear, and dried scallop.

Cut the dough into 15 smaller pieces, place prepared fillings onto the smaller dough, roll it into a ball, then press it into a mould. Next, put the moulded dough onto bakeware and bake them for 15 to 20 minutes after brushing a layer of egg liquid over the dough.

Suzhou-style mooncake

The biggest difference between Suzhou-style and Guangzhou-style mooncakes is the way to make the crust.

Water-oiled crust making: Mix 200 g of plain flour, 10 g of sugar, 5 g of salt, 80 g of water, and 50 g of lard. Knead the mixture into dough and leave it to ferment for 30 min.

Pastry dough making: Mix 120 g of low-gluten flour and 50 g of lard. Knead the mixture into dough and leave it to ferment for 30 min.

Cut the two doughs into 20 smaller pieces each. Press a small water-oiled crust dough flat in your hand and then put a pastry dough over it, then wrap them together into a ball.

Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a long piece, roll them up, wrap it with preservative film, and leave the roll there for 20 min.

Then put fillings into the roll and bake them for 20 min.