Best 7 Chinese Bao Recipes

CHINESE PORK BUNS (CHA SIU BAO)

Steps:

• Dissolve 1/4 cup sugar in 1 3/4 cups warm water, and then add the yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes, or until mixture is frothy. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Stir in 2 tablespoons shortening and the yeast mixture; mix well.
• Knead the dough until smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a greased bowl, and cover it with a sheet of cling wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place for about 2 hours, or until it has tripled in bulk.
• Cut the pork into 2 inch thick strips. Use fork to prick it all over. Marinate for 5 hours in a mixture made with 1 1/2 tablespoons light soy sauce, 1 1/2 tablespoons hoisin sauce, and 1 teaspoon sweet soy sauce. Grill the pork until cooked and charred. Cut roasted port into 1/2 inch cubes.
• Combine 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce, oyster sauce, and 1 cup water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil. Mix cornstarch with 2 1/2 tablespoons water; add to the saucepan, and stir until thickened. Mix in 2 tablespoons lard or shortening, sesame oil, and white pepper. Cool, and mix in the roasted pork.
• Remove the dough from the bowl, and knead it on a lightly floured surface until it is smooth and elastic. Roll the dough into a long roll, and divide it into 24 pieces. Flatten each piece with the palm of the hand to form a thin circle. The center of the circle should be thicker than the edge. Place one portion of the pork filling in the center of each dough circle. Wrap the dough to enclose the filling. Pinch edges to form the bun. Let the buns stand for 10 minutes.
• Steam buns for 12 minutes. Serve.

CHAR SIU BAO RECIPE

Steps:

• Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a pan or wok, sauté the onion for 1 to 2 minutes until soft and transparent. Add the diced chicken breast meat and sauté until the chicken is cooked.
• Add the remaining ingredients. Stir and cook until the gravy thickens.
• Transfer to a plate and let it cool.
• Dissolve the dry yeast in water.
• Add 200g of pao flour and icing sugar. Mix well and cover for an hour.
• Add the ingredients under the title 'Other ingredients of the dough' into the starter mixture and knead for 8 to 10 minutes.
• Cover the dough with a piece of damp cloth and let it proves for 30 minutes, or until the size has doubled.
• Divide the dough into 50g portions. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
• Flatten the dough with a rolling pin to form a circle of 8-10 cm in diameter. Place 30g of filling in the middle, wrap and pleat the dough to seal. Place it on a 1.5 inches (4cm) square baking paper, sealed side up. Rest for 15 minutes before steaming.
• Place the Char Siu Pao in a steamer, leave about 2-3 cm gap in between each Char Siu Pao. Steam in a preheated steamer on high heat for 8 minutes.
• Remove the Char Siu Pao immediately from the steamer and cool them on a rack to prevent the bottom of the Char Siu Pao from becoming soggy.

STEAMED BAO BUNS (FLUFFY CHINESE BAO)

Steps:

• Combine the all purpose flour, wheat starch, baking powder, yeast, and sugar into the mixing bowl with the dough hook attachment. Set to the lowest / stirring speed until all the mixture is evenly distributed.
• Turn the mixer speed up slightly to level 2.
• In a small mixing bowl, combine the milk and oil. Slowly add the liquid into the mixer.
• Turn up the speed to level 5. When the dough turns into a ball and releases from the sides of the mixing bowl, continue to knead on medium (about level 5) for 5 more minutes. If necessary, scrape down the sides of the bowl. It's done when the ball of dough should look smooth with no lumps and completely detach from the sides of the bowl. See photo for final texture.
• Remove the dough from the mixer, and use your hands to form it into a ball. On a clean surface, hover your hands over the ball while making a heart with your thumbs and fingers, and make circular movements with the ball to get a tight, smooth surface.
• Place the ball into a bowl, cover it with a lid, and let it rest for about 5 minutes to give the dough a break from kneading--you don't want to overwork your dough.
• Poke the ball of dough, if it leaves a mark from your finger and doesn't spring back, you can begin to roll it into balls.
• Transfer the ball onto a clean surface, remove the excess gas from the dough by kneading it a few times with the heel of your hand.
• Weigh your entire dough ball to get its final weight. If you followed this recipe without scaling it up or down, it should be approximately 515 grams.
• Portion out smaller dough balls with a knife, weighing each one to be 32 grams. This will give us 16 bao total if you didn't scale the recipe. Repeat until all the smaller dough balls are portioned out. Keep the unused balls of dough under a towel to prevent them from drying out.
• Take one piece and roll it around until it turns into a ball.
• Use a rolling pin to make it into a 2 ½ x 4 inch oval.
• Lightly brush on the vegetable oil on top and fold it in half. This is your completed bao.
• Place it on top of a parchment paper lined steamer. Make sure each bao is separated by at least 1 ½ inches since these expand when cooked.
• Repeat until you have all the bao made. Note: If you cannot fit all of the proofed bao into your steamer at once, place the remaining bao in the fridge to prevent them from proofing more. Chilling them should slow down the proofing process. Remove them from the fridge about 5 minutes before the proofing and steaming process to get them to room temperature.
• Proof the bao. Add hot, but not boiling water to a sauce pot and place the steamer on top. Add the bao to the steamer. Cover with a lid and let rest for 30 minutes.
• After proofing, uncover and check the dough, they should be at least 1 ½ times bigger. Cover again with the lid and turn on the stove to high heat. When the water begins to boil, lower to low and continue to steam for 20 minutes. Make sure the heat is high enough to generate steam the whole time, and add additional water if it runs too low.
• After 20 minutes of steaming, remove the pot from the stove and let the steamer rest for 4 minutes before opening the lid. This will prevent the bao from deflating from temperature shock.
• Uncover the lid and serve the bao with your preferred fillings immediately.

STEAMED BAO BUNS

Steps:

• Mix together the flour, caster sugar and ½ tsp salt in a large bowl (see tip). Dissolve the yeast and a pinch of sugar in 1 tbsp warm water, then add it to the flour with the milk, sunflower oil, rice vinegar and 200ml water. Mix into a dough, adding a little extra water if needed.
• Tip the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 10-15 mins, or until smooth. Put in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and leave to rise for 2 hrs, or until doubled in size.
• Tip the dough out onto a clean work surface and punch it down. Flatten the dough with your hands, then sprinkle over the baking powder and knead for 5 mins.
• Roll out the dough into a long sausage shape, about 3cm thick, then cut into pieces that are about 3cm wide - you should have 18. In the palm of your hand, roll each piece of dough into a ball and leave to rest for 2-3 mins.
• Use a rolling pin to roll out each ball, one by one, into an oval shape about 3-4mm thick. Rub the surface of the dough ovals with oil and brush a little oil over a chopstick. Place the oiled chopstick in the centre of each oval. Fold the dough over the chopstick, then slowly pull out the chopstick.
• Cut 18 squares of baking parchment and put a bun on each. Transfer to a baking tray, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to prove in a warm place for 1 hr 30 mins, or until doubled in size.
• Heat a large steamer over a medium-high heat. Steam the buns for 8 mins until puffed up (you'll need to do this in batches). Prise open each bun and fill with our barbecue pork and pickled carrot & mooli. Eat while they're still warm.

BANH BAO

Steps:

• Mix pork, shallots, fish sauce, oyster sauce, and soy sauce together in a large bowl. Let mixture marinate in the refrigerator, about 30 minutes.
• Combine self-rising flour, milk, and sugar in another large bowl; knead until dough is smooth and no longer sticky. Cover dough with cheesecloth; let rest, about 5 minutes.
• Divide dough into 18 balls. Roll out each ball into a circle with a rolling pin on a floured work surface. Place a spoonful of the pork mixture in the center; top with 2 sausage slices and an egg quarter. Gather the edges of each circle together like a coin purse; twist and pinch to seal the bun.
• Cut waxed paper into eighteen 2-inch squares. Place each bun on a waxed paper square. Arrange 1 inch apart in a steamer; cover with lid.
• Steam buns until puffed up, about 30 minutes.

BOLO BAO (CHINESE PINEAPPLE BUNS)

Steps:

• Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar, lukewarm water, and 1 cup lukewarm milk in a very large bowl. Add yeast and let stand until yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam, about 10 minutes.
• Add 2/3 cup melted butter and 2 eggs to the bowl with the yeast mixture and mix well. Add 7 cups flour, 1 cup at a time and mix in; when dough comes together, start kneading until elastic but still sticky. Cover the bowl and let rise for 1 hour in a warm place.
• Divide dough into 36 equal pieces; cover and let buns rise for 1 hour more.
• While buns rise, beat 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup butter together in a bowl. Add egg yolks, 4 tablespoons milk, and baking soda. Combine 2 cups flour and baking powder in a separate bowl; add to the sugar-egg yolk mixture. Refrigerate cookie topping at least 1 hour.
• Flatten 1 bun in your palm; place a spoonful of red bean paste inside. Squeeze edges together to cover filling and roll bun back into a ball. Let filled buns rise again, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Divide cookie topping into 36 equal balls. Flatten the balls and use a knife to make shallow hash mark lines resembling pineapple skin on each. Place 1 topping on each bun and place them on a baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden, 15 to 20 minutes.

HOW TO MAKE BAO BUNS - MANTOU CHINESE STEAMED BUNS | TASTING TABL

Steps:

• In a small bowl, whisk together the water, yeast and sugar until the yeast dissolves. Let the mixture sit until the yeast starts to get foamy and bloom, 4 to 6 minutes. Stir in the oil and set aside.
• Meanwhile, sift the bread flour, salt and baking soda together. Add the yeast mixture to the dry ingredients and stir using a rubber spatula. If the dough looks sticky, add 1 additional tablespoon of flour at a time until it is less sticky.
• Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth. Cover the dough with a damp kitchen towel and let the dough rest until it has doubled in size, 1½ to 2 hours. Punch the dough down to flatten it.
• Portion the dough into balls that are 2 inches in diameter and let rest for 5 minutes. Flatten each ball into a disk 3 inches in diameter.
• Fill the buns with your filling of choice and wrap by gathering the edge and twisting slightly. Cover with a damp kitchen towel to keep the bao from drying out.
• Place the buns in a steam basket lined with parchment paper and steam until the buns have expanded, 7 to 9 minutes. Serve.