Have you ever wanted to make bao buns at home but thought it was too difficult?
Well this recipe is for you!
All you need to purchase is some bao or bun flour and everything you need is inside the packet, including the instructions. You can normally get these from your local Chinese supermarket or any oriental supermarket. My go to is the one you see in the picture below “Special Bun Wheat Flour”. Whilst I bought extra yeast, there is a packet of fast acting yeast in the bag.
Ingredients
- 1kg Bun/bao flour
- 10g Yeast
- 500-520ml Water
- 60 Sugar
*I tend to use the whole bag as I make quite a lot in one go and then freeze them. Depending how big you make your bao buns, the full 1kg packet makes around 20 char siu bao’s, more if you don’t add any fillings inside.
Method
- Dissolve the sugar and yeast in the water. Using slightly warm water can make this process a little quicker (you should be able to touch the water without it burning you, I tend to boil some water and let it cool down).
- Once dissolved, sift the flour into the mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until it’s all combined into dough.
3. Cover the dough with either a damp tea towel or cling film for 20mins. If you use the latter, be sure to only cover it loosely.
4. The dough should have risen after 20mins. Take half of it out and use a rolling pin to flatten it into a long rectangular/oblong shape, then role it into a cylinder shape. You can either cut these into even pieces and let rise or place the dough back into the bowl and pull a piece of dough as you go.
5. There are several dishes you can make once your dough is ready, These are my top 3 favourites:
- Mantou – these are simple yet super fluffy pieces of bread. They’re great for dipping into sauces as they soak up all the flavour
- Char Siu Bao – these are staples in dim sum and have bbq pork inside them (check out my Char Siu Bao recipe)
- Salted egg yolk buns – these are my all time favourite desserts. They have this sweet and salty custard oozing out of the centre. I’m still experimenting with my recipe for this one but I will be sure to share it once I’ve perfected it 🙂
In my example below, I was making char siu bao. As you can see, my first one failed miserably but that’s half the fun!
6. To turn the dough into a round shape, I used a small rolling pin to evenly roll it out whilst turning the dough. Once you’ve had a bit of practice, you can use one hand to turn the dough whilst the other rolls it out. You then add the pre-cooked filling and steam the buns for about 15-20mins or until piping hot. And that’s it!
Did you make this recipe?
Don’t forget to comment below and tag me @eatsbymunntz on Instagram with the hashtag #eatsbymunntz if you decide to try these out!
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