Bao Buns Recipe
You can easily make bao buns at home. Nothing complicated about making these buns. These are marvellously soft and gorgeously white and every bite satisfies you to a comforting level of deliciousness. The recipe calls for very less ingredients, which are easily available. It’s the technique/the process you have of master for making good baos at home. I have covered all the essential points in the recipe, which will help you get it right. A good bao is soft, fluffy, and almost pillowy as you bite into it. The stuffing can be altered as per your choice.
Servings: 10 people
Equipment
- 1 Steamer
- 2 Bowls
Ingredients
- 270 gm all purpose flour
- 1/4th tsp salt
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tbsp active dry yeast https://amzn.to/3O68PEU
- 2 tbsp olive oil https://amzn.to/3Hd216h
- 10 ml water
- 25 ml luke warm milk
Instructions
- In a bowl add the all-purpose flour, salt, sugar, and active dry yeast. Make sure that the yeast and salt are not sitting beside each other. Salt reduces the potential of yeast. So just keep them at a distance. Make a space in the centre and pour in oil, water and some milk. Start kneading and gradually add the rest of the milk, to knead further. Keep your judgments awake, to see if the dough requires more liquid.
- Transfer the briefly kneaded dough to your kitchen counter and start kneading further. This dough requires at least 15-20 minutes of kneading. As you knead, the dough will become less sticky, more pliable, and smooth.
- Once you achieve the smooth, elastic dough ball. Put it in a bowl which is brushed with some oil. Cover and keep in a warm place. Wait till the dough gets double in size. This will take around an hour.
- After an hour, take the dough out and briefly knead it to get a seamless dough ball. Sprinkle a little dry flour on the kitchen counter and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into a 1 cm thick disc.
- Use a cookie cutter or a sharp edge bowl to cut as many as possible smaller discs from it. Brush some oil on the top side of all the smaller discs, and fold them into half. As shown in the video. Roll out the leftover scraps of the dough and repeat the process of shaping them into baos.
- Gently press the folded ends of each bao with the rolling pin. Carefully place them all on cut pieces of parchment paper. Place all the shaped baos on a tray. Cover and keep them in a warm place. Let the shaped baos sit for another 20-30 minutes. Prepare your steamer and carefully place the baos on the steamer, lifting them with the help of parchment papers. Be gentle with them, making sure your fingers should not make any impressions on them.
- Steam for 12 minutes and take them out on a wire rack. Remove the wet piece of the parchment from the base and let them cool on the wire rack.Add the filling of your choice along with some greens in the centre and enjoy.