BaoZi (steamed bun) Recipe

After a month or so of trying out new recipes I'm back! Last night the food pantry was conspicuously empty, there was no milk, no eggs, no rice, no noodles, and no yogurt, so I was thrown for a loop when it came to dinner. Then I remembered that I had a packet of yeast and some flour hanging around in the cupboard, so I decided to use up the last of my sweet red bean paste making BaoZi or Chinese steamed buns. It was my first try and it came out pretty well, but be careful, this is a long, hard process. You might want to know a little bit about making bread before you try.

What are steamed buns?: BaoZi are a traditional Chinese breakfast (lunch and dinner) bun that is filled with almost any kind of filling and then steamed to create a fluffy texture. They are best eaten hot and fresh out of the steamer, it's like eating a cloud!

Bao Zi Basic Recipe (adapted from My Lunch Can Beat Up Your Lunch!)
Prep Time: 30 mins

Rise Time:1hr 45 mins- 2 hrs

Steam Time:15-20 mins

Total: 3 hours*

Starter:
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 tsp white sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F)

Dough:
1/2 cup warm water or milk

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp white sugar

1 tbsp vegetable or peanut oil

Finish-up & cooking:
1/2 tsp baking powder

Vegetable steamer

Parchment paper

Paper towels

Starting: In your mixing bowl, mix the water and flour from the "starter" stage, then sprinkle the yeast and sugar on top. Leave it for around 15-30 minutes.

Dough Prep: Stir in the remaining water or milk, flour, salt, sugar, and oil. Mix it into dough. Flour your work surface, turn the dough onto it, and knead it until it's smooth. Then grease a bowl lightly, return the doughball to the bowl, roll it around to coat the ball with grease, cover it, and let it stand for an hour and a half until it has doubled in size. (I only let mine rise for 45mins, because of humidity here)

Part 2: Punch down the dough with the back of your fist, then spread it on the lightly floured working surface. Sprinkle the baking powder evenly over it and then knead it for five minutes. Then put half of the dough back in the bowl and cover it again, and pull off bits of the dough you still have out and shape them into spheres. You can put these on squares of parchment paper, to make them easier to handle later. You should end up with about a dozen rolls, unless you feel like varying the sizes.** Let rest for another 30 mins.

**If you choose to fill your buns instead of making spheres roll the dough out into circles and place filling in the middle, then gather up the bun around it and twist to close and make a pretty sculpted look. Buns swell to over twice their size while steaming, so if they look tiny dont worry. my version yeilds 8 jumbo buns.

Finishing: Now comes the fun part. Take the basket out of your steamer and bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Place some buns, still on their paper, in the basket, leaving an inch between them. Place the basket in the steamer, put a paper towel over the top, and put the lid on over that. (This will prevent condensation from dripping back down on the buns and creating blisters.) Steam them over simmering water for 15 minutes, or until they are puffy and light, and at least twice their previous size. Take them out carefully, the steam on the paper towel will scald you. Now repeat several times, unless you happen to have a huge enough steamer to do all these at once.

*It's totally worth the 3 hours of work when you bite into one. But plan to make them early. I started mine at 8pm, finished at 11.

It's not a bad recipe when you're low on supplies,I filled mine with some leftover redbean paste, but you can substitute for eggs and chives, marinated mushrooms, just about anything you can think of. Try this cute recipe for Bunny Shaped Bao. It's almost too cute to eat!