Yes, scooping water mainly plays a role in relaxing the dough and enhancing the extensibility of the dough. Without scooping water, the moon cake will only harden less, and the impact is basically not too great.

The function of scooping water is to neutralize the acidity in syrup, so that the crust is alkaline and easy to be colored during baking. The higher the alkalinity, the easier it is for the crust to turn into a golden color, and the heavier it becomes. By adjusting the amount of scooping water, the color of the crust can be adjusted.

scooping water is not exactly equal to alkaline water. scooping water is a mixture of caustic soda and soda water, while alkaline water is sodium carbonate solution. the concentration of scooping water is 6 degrees.

scooping water is not directly related to the oil return of the cake crust, but whether the cake crust returns oil is only related to the sugar used for syrup concentration, including the cake crust, stuffing and oil.

Extended information:

1. The scooping water used now is not plant ash, but an alkaline mixture made of potassium carbonate and sodium carbonate as the main components, supplemented by carbonate or polyphosphate, which is the same as plant ash scooping water in function, so it is still called scooping water.

2. When making Cantonese-style mooncake crust dough, a substance called "scooping water" is often added. Guishui is a common traditional auxiliary material of Cantonese pastry. It is an alkaline solution with PH value of 12.6, which was obtained by ancestors boiling plant ash with water for one day and taking the supernatant. The main components of plant ash are potassium carbonate and sodium carbonate. In the absence of modern chemical alkali in history, the plant alkali prepared by this indigenous method had to be used.

3. The mooncakes made of scooped water containing potassium carbonate are dark red and bright, which is different and appetizing. This is the main difference between using scooped water and using sodium carbonate alone.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia-Guishui