Bao Buns are one of my favorite things to not only eat but also make! It's fairly easy and
incredibly satisfying!
Serving:
9 Bao Buns
Ingredients
For the dough:
160g of All Purpose Flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of yeast
3 tbsp. of water
50g milk
15g neutral oil
For the filling:
300G ground chicken/beef/pork/tofu
10g chopped green onions
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of grated ginger
1 tbsp. of chili flakes
1 tbsp. of soy sauce
1tbsp. of neutral oil
1 tsp of cornstarch
For the dipping sauce:
1 tbsp. of soy sauce
1tsp. of honey
1tsp. of chili oil
1/4 tsp of sesame seeds
Green onions to garnish
Optional:
1 tbsp. of white sesame seeds
1 tbsp. of black sesame seeds
Tools:
Parchment squares approx. 10x10 cm
Steaming basket with two levels
Saucepan
Non-stick pan
Instructions
The dipping sauce:
In a small bowl combine the soy sauce, honey, chili oil, sesame seeds and green onions and set aside at room temperate.
The dough:
In a bowl add the luke-warm water, then add the yeast. Mix to combine and set aside for 5-10 minutes until the yeast completely dissolved.
Once the yeast has dissolved add the milk, oil and water and mix to combine.
Now add in the flour, baking soda and salt, and mix until a shaggy dough forms.
Lightly flour your working surface. Pour out the shaggy dough onto your working surface, and knead until the dough is smooth. This will take approximately 10-15 mins. You can also do this in a stand mixer.
Wrap and rest the dough for an hour at room temperature.
Tip: You will know the dough is done kneading when it is smooth, but also when you poke it, it bounces back slowly.
The Filling:
In a separate bowl add your choice of protein. To the same bowl grate 2 cloves of garlic and add the ground ginger.
Now, add the chopped green onions, chili flakes, cornstarch, soy sauce, and neutral oil to your protein.
Mix until everything is completely incorporated. You want to continue mixing the filling until it becomes a pasty texture. This will not be the case if you are using ground tofu.
Once mixed thoroughly, allow your filling to rest in the refrigerator for one hour.
Tip: Mix the filling in one direction, either clockwise or counterclockwise, but stick to it! This encourages the filling to stay tender and juicy.
Crimping:
Pull out the filling from the refrigerator.
Lightly flour your working surface.
Now that your dough has rested for one hour, you want to roll it out into a log and divide it into 9 pieces.
Shape each piece into a ball and set it aside. Make sure to cover the dough balls with plastic wrap or a damp dishtowel to prevent them from drying out.
Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough ball, focusing on flattening the edges while keeping the middle plump.
Now add a generous tsp of the filling to the middle of the dumpling.
Using your index finger and thumb, crimp the edges together until you have completely sealed the dumpling.
Now repeat these steps with all the remaining dough balls.
Once you have filed and crimped all the dumplings, place them onto your parchment squares and into your steaming basket.
Let the bao rest at room temperature for 45 min to 1 hour. They should have nearly doubled, but not completely.
Tip: If you are having trouble crimping and making a traditional bao, you can create a half moon shape bao like perogies and seal the edges by pressing them together with a fork.
Cooking:
Fill a saucepan with water and bring it to medium-low heat. The water should be barely simmering.
Place your steaming basket onto the saucepan and cook for 25-30 mins, or until your bao has doubled in size.
Once the bao has cooked, remove the steaming basket from the saucepan and allow them to completely cool.
In a non-stick pan add 1tsp of any neutral oil and bring up to medium low heat.
Place the cooled bao into the greased pan, flat side down, and cook until a golden brown crust is formed.
Optional: To make bao with a sesame seed crust, follow these steps continuing from step 4 from above:
In a shallow bowl add 2 tbsp. of water.
In another shallow bowl add 1tbsp. of white sesame and 1 tbsp. of black sesame and mix to combine.
Once, the bao has completely cooled, dip the bottom, flat part of your bao into the water, then immediately dip it into the sesame bowl.
Place the sesame crusted bao into the greased pan, sesame side down, and cook until a golden brown crust is formed.
Serve hot and enjoy!
Additional Notes
You can prepare the dough and filling a day in advance as long as it's refrigerated. In fact, I would argue, it is better if you let the filling and dough rest for a day to develop flavor.
You can easily make these with vegetarian filling. Such as a mix of mushrooms sauteed until golden brown!
You can double the recipe to increase the serving size.
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