Tangzong after-yeasted mantou

Based on my previous bao/mantou post, this video recipe by BaoBiZhen uses tangzhong and after-yeasted method to make mantou that are fluffy and soft yet have a shiny white skin. The whiteness is contributed by the lard, the moistness and bounce is a result of tangzhong and the after-yeasted method means that the gluten can develop before it's made to ferment so it stays soft for longer. There is only one fermentation so it's quicker to make.

Ingredients (makes 10 to 14)

100g flour

100g boiling water

400g flour

150g water

1 tbsp lard (or replace with corn oil)

5g yeast

1 tbsp water

Method

1. Make the tangzhong by combining the 100g each of flour and boiling water. Mix with chopsticks until no dry flour remains.

2. Once the is cool enough to handle, add the remaining 400g flour and another 150g water (room temp in summer or warm water in winter). Mix with chopsticks until a shaggy dough forms.

3. Add the lard. Knead till combined and then cover and allow to rest for 5 to 10 mins.

4. Knead for about 3 minutes and it's smooth. Mix 5g of yeast into 1 tbsp of water and then use a rubbing motion to knead into the dough. Takes about 3 minutes.

5. Once incorporated, roll the dough into a long log and cut into portions. Knead by folding and rolling (see the video) around 20 to 30 times per portion. Then roll into a ball before kneading it into a cylinder.

6. Place directly on parchment in the steaming basket. Either leave it to proof at room temp in summer, or over a wok of hot water in winter. (A trick - fill a bottle cap to the brim with leftover dough. Once the dough rises above the cap by about half the height of the cap, it's ready.

7. Place on the wok and switch on the heat. From the time the steam starts, steam on high heat: 18 mins (for 8 XL buns), 15 mins (for 10 L buns),  12 mins (for 12 M buns) and 10 mins (for 14 S buns). Once time's up, switch off the fire and allow to steam further for 3 minutes.

Thin crust pizza

I just discovered the last pizza dough recipe I used was 10 years ago and I haven't made pizza from scratch since! I decided to try this recipe by Kitchn which looked easy enough. The draw was using regular flour rather than bread flour and had minimal proofing. What you really want in terms of prep work on a weekday evening! I doubled the recipe to make 4 pizzas, so the dough can be made once and then eaten over 2 nights depending on the size of the eaters.

Ingredients (makes four 10 to 12 inch pizzas)

4C flour

1½C lukewarm water 

2 tsp yeast

2 pinches of salt

Ingredients for pizza (eg tomato paste, salami, ham, pineapple, olives, pizza, etc).

Around 1 tbsp oil

Chirizo and salami pizza

Method

1. Mix the flour with the water, yeast and salt.

2. Knead for 5 to 8 minutes. Ball up the dough, then cover and proof for around 10 to 15 minutes while prepping the pizza topping. At this point, I saved half the dough for the next night in the fridge and proofed the rest.

3. At this point, the recipe recommends putting an upturned pan in the oven preheated to 220 deg C, and place the pizza on top. Afraid of dropping the pizza when placing it on an upturned pan either putting in or taking it out of the oven, I didn't bother. However it would probably have helped to either do this or bake the pizza base blind to avoid the ingredients making the base soggy.

4. Stretch out the dough as thin as possible, using a rolling pin to help. If the dough keeps shrinking, leave to rest covered for a further 10 minutes. I roll it out as thin as I could then placed it on in the pizza pan. I then used my fingers to push it outwards to the pan's edges so it made a tiny lip at the pan's edge.

5. Brush on a thin layer of oil on the base. Spread on the tomato paste then place the toppings. Try not to stack toppings on top of each other. I did lay a thin layer of cheese on top on tomato paste before my other ingredients, then finished off with another thin layer of cheese on top of the toppings. For wet ingredients like olives and pineapple, it's best to drain as dry as possible and even use a paper towel to blot dry. 

6. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, checking frequently after the 8 minute mark. 

Feedback

- The dough is fine and easy enough to make. The issue perhaps is with the process. I removed the pizza from the oven once the cheese was nicely browned but just before it burnt, around 10 minutes. However because the pizza base wasn't pre-baked, 10 minutes only just cooked the dough but it was slightly soggy whereas the cheese has already melted almost to the point of burning. So especially after I used more soggy ingredients (olive and pineapples) on my second attempt, the base was more soggy compared to just chirizo, cheese and salami. I was afraid the oil from these meat products would make the pizza soggy but they didn't.

Hawaiian pizza

Tangzong dumpling-inspired tall mantou and bao

I tried 5 different bao recipes in 2025, probably my most prolific trial of bao methods. I shall exclude the 5 Black grain mantou attempt which is not directly comparable because cooked blended grain mixture was integrated into the bao dough itself rather than the filling. Otherwise it's a standard mix and one-proof receipt. I'm also excluding the Custard recipe which I didn't try but noted it down because of the filling, where oil is added in 3 stages like brioche. 

The next three are all hand kneading. There is the summer yeasted mantou which adds the yeast water in after the dough has been kneaded. It has a shorter proofing time due to summer and will apparently make taller beautiful buns. The last 2 trials are by the same blogger which focuses on the fillings. First is black sesame filling which has a milk bun with very short proofing time. The second focuses on the custard filling using the same method and a short proofing time.

This latest mantou recipe ZhenMaDaiWaJi uses the scalded flour method often used with making the stretchy skin associated with dumplings. Basically tangzhong. This is also hand kneading with minimal proofing time. This method is similar to Little Goose Food mantou recipe who also uses scalded flour. Goose explains that adding just boiled water introduces a fragrance to the scalded flour and cooks the gluten. However, Goose kneads the dough and rests it for 10 mins, then kneads to smooth surface. Then she separately kneads in yeasted water and knead for 2 mins to incorporate. This 'later yeasted method', she explains, results in a smoother skin.

Both videos describes a better method of making tall beautiful buns.

Ingredients (makes 14)

30g flour

250g just boiled water

500g flour

3g instant yeast

Method

1. Mix the 30g flour with just boiled water. 

2. Once dissolved, add in 500g flour. Use chopsticks to stir and make a claggy dough.

3. When the dough is warm to the touch (ie not scalingly hot still), prepare the yeast. Add the yeast to 1 tbsp of water and stir to dissolve. Add the yeast mixture to the dough and mix to form a claggy dough.

4. Knead on a benchtop until the skin is smooth. Better yet, let it relax for 10 minutes after kneading.

5. Without needing to proof, go ahead and form the balls. Roll and knead each and tuck into a ball so that it forms a smooth skin. Here's the main tip - form tall cylinders using the cupping action. (see the videos, Little Goose gives a better step-by-step tutorial. Form a ball first then put on the surface and roll between the palms to form tall cylinders.)

6. Place each on parchment. Put in a steamer, on top of a wok filled with warm water. Let it proof until 1.5x the size. The bao would have grown without flattening and expanding sideways. When you lightly indent the side with a finger, it will spring back out.

7. The water should have returned to room temp by now. Turn on the heat and steam for 15 mins counting from once the water boils. 

Pretty pleats and the inside is moist and even has 'gravy'!

If using filling, a very similar method by QiaoXieXXiaoYu with different proportions.

Bao ingredients

50g flour 

250g boiling water (slightly more if flour is too dry)

450g flour

3-5g instant yeast

Filling ingredients

500g minced pork

2 tbsp light soya sauce

1 tbsp dark soya sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp bullion powder

Pinch of salt

Dash of white pepper

30g lard, liquid

50g spring onion, chopped

100g infused water (ginger, spring onion infusion, sichuan peppercorn)

Method

1. Add the just off the boil water to the 50g flour and mix.

2. Add in the 450g flour and mix. Add in the yeast (she didn't let it cool down!). Knead for about 10 minutes (far from windowpane and smooth). Depressing the finger indentations into the dough doesn't cause the indentations to spring back up. Cover and proof until 2x the size, approx 70mins.

3. Meanwhile prepare the filling. Mix all the ingredients except the water. Mix the meat with chopsticks in one direction until sticky.

4. Add in the water a bit at a time and continue stirring in 1 direction.

5. Add in the liquid lard and chopped spring onions. Refrigerate.

6. The bao sld have proofed sufficiently. Knead to degas on the benchtop surface. The surface should be very smooth now and a depressed indentation springs back. 

7. Roll into a long log. Cut into chunks. Roll each chunk flat to degas then roll into a ball. (See the video).

8. Roll each wrapper flat with a chinese rolling pin. I used this method by Ah Cheen to make dumpling skins which involves applying pressure on alternating sides to automatically produce a very round-shaped dumpling skin. This only works if you don't need a skin with a slightly thicker centre and thin edges.

9. When adding filling, I used this very detailed bao wrapping method by LiFenFen to produce many uniform crimps. Cup to smoothen the surface and then roll between both palms to form a tall cylinder.

Documenting my attempts over the years (not exhaustive), where I nearly gave up around 2023-2024 and just didn't bother pleating anymore. I finally did it thanks to this video!

10. Place in a steamer on parchment. Place steamer over a wok with hot water to proof for 10 to 15 mins. Once a finger indentation springs back, it's time for steaming. (basically I just waited until I finished wrapping all the remaining bao).

11. Once the water has boiled, steam for 12 mins. Turn off the heat and allow to rest for further 3 minutes before opening the cover. Skin will be super elastic and bouncy (like dumpling skin).

Recipe feedback

- Definitely a keeper as far as ease of handling the dough, keeping the pleats distinct, and minimal proofing time required! As far as a hand kneading recipe goes, this is pretty close to prefect. Sure the bao isn't as bouncey and fluffy as with longer proofing but frankly, this is pretty close!

- Because the dough is more elastic than fluffy, it more closely resembles dumpling dough. This bao would make a great bao jian fried and steamed on the pan, with crispy bottom.

- Update: There's a recipe that combines both the scalded flour AND post-yeasted method. The scalded flour traps the moisture whereas adding the yeast afterwards is supposed to make the dough more easy to knead and thus produce a smoother (less dimplied) shinier skin.

HK custard steamed bao

I don't really know what the difference is between this recipe and the one which involves more ingredients such as 3 flours and salted butter that i used here but until I have time to try both (and i'm not really a fan of making custard from scratch), I thought I'd give this recipe a try. It is by the same blogger who gave me this highly successful black sesame bao that only needed one proofing, so I'm more keen to try this recipe. This recipe by LinXianShen again.

Being so easy to wrap, my shape is perfect!

Filling is a bit dry rather than the runny custard I was expecting

Custard 

Ingredients

4 egg yolks

150ml milk

30g corn starch

30g normal flour

1 tbsp sugar

30g oil or lard

Method

1. Pour ingredients into a non-stick saucepan or pot. Stir on a small fire. Stir until it comes together and is workable and can be folded, much like a dough. It should not stick to the pan.

2. Wrap with plastic wrap and it should touch the surface so the custard doesn't form a skin. Chill for at least 3 hours.

3. Divide into 10 portions and roll into balls.

Bao (makes 10)

Ingredients

400g flour (normal or bao flour)

5g sugar

4g yeast

200ml warm water

(Note: My flour package was 500g so I added in the extra 100g with 50g milk, which makes extra 2 kosong bao)

Method

1. Pour ingredients into a mixing bowl. With a pair of chopsticks, stir until the dough comes together into a claggy ball.

2. Knead until smooth, about 10 to 15 mins. Form a ball and tuck underneath to promote a smooth surface, 

3. Roll out into a rectangle, around ½ inch thick. Use a cutter to cut out circles of around 5cm diameter. [Alternatively, divide into 10 portions, roll into balls, then using the usual bao method to roll out a disc with thinner edges than at the centre.]

4. Wrap each custard ball in the disc and crimp together using bao wrapping technique. Turn it seam facing downwards. With palms, use a cupping motion to create a rounder ball.

5. Place each bao straight onto parchment into the steamer. Allow to proof for around 25 mins until the baos expand to about 1.5 times. Press a finger gently on the bao surface and the indentation should spring back.

6. Place the steamer on top of a wok of room temp water and turn up the flame to maximum. Steam for 15 minutes then turn off the fire and leave covered for 3 minutes. Serve immediately.

Recipe feedback

- Again another great recipe from LinXianShen! The filling is the BEST, so easy to wrap. However, it is very dry, but perhaps that is the cha chan ting type of custard bao.

- The dough isn't as pliable as the black sesame bao even though it's pretty much the same recipe but I still did about 13 to 14 minutes of kneading, this time in 29 deg weather compared to 23 deg weather. Maybe that makes all the difference. 

Summer yeasted Mantou (后酵母 method）

This mantou dough XiaoHong uses a different method with single proof by adding the yeast AFTER the dough has been kneaded. 

Ingredients

500g bao or regular flour

270g warm water

5g instant yeast + 5g water

Method

1. Mix the flour and water and knead until a dough forms. Cover and allow to rest for 15 minutes. The dough already comes out smooth.

2. In a small bowl, add 5g of instant yeast to 5g water. Mix until combined and bloomed.

3. Create a well in the dough and pour in. Slowly pull and fold from outside in and knead until combined for about 2 minutes.

4. Roll into a log and divide into around 10 pieces. Flatted and continue kneading and then form balls.

5. Place in a steamer lined with paper. Cover and allow to proof until 1.5 to 2x, until the dough springs back when gently depressed with a thumb.

6. With the steamer on top, turn on the flame to high and steam for 15 minutes. Turn off the fire and allow to rest for 3 minutes. The bao should be fluffy and moist.

Ingredients

250g just boiled water

500g bao or regular flour

3g yeast

Method (makes 6)

1. Into the hot water, grab a handful of flour and put into the water. Use chopsticks to stir into paste.

2. Add the remaining flour and stir with chopsticks. This will yield a claggy dough. Use hands to gather into a ball. The hot water will break the gluten structures to make the buns more soft and bouncy.

3. Cover to rest for 10 mins.

4. Once it's relaxed, knead for 10 to 15 minutes until the surface is smooth. 

5. Press it flat into a rectangle and make an indentation in the centre. Add the yeast into the centre. Add around 1 to 2 tbsp of water just to dissolve the yeast. Roll up the dough and knead until the yeast is well incorporated, around 5 minutes. Using this method, it's easy to form a dough with a smooth surface.

6. Roll into a log and divide into 6 pieces. Knead each piece to release the gas, and form a ball with your palm. Then, roll to form a tall cone.

7. Place directly into the steamer onto parchment. Cover and allow to rest until 1.5x or until a finger indentation on the surface springs back.

8. Start a wok with water on high. Only when the water is rapidly boiling, put the steamer on top and steam for 15 minutes. Turn off the flame and rest for 3 minutes.

Similarly Chui Jie uses this recipe for summer. This recipe has 5g yeast with 250g water and 500g flour. She kneads 3x for around 5 minutes each, but rests in between each kneading. The dough is easier to knead than 15 mins upfront. She says using this method of adding yeast later, all the buns rise at the same time to the same size. She also starts the steaming from cold water.

3-flour Custard bao redux

This blog is littered with bao disasters, including this custard creamed bao that went so wrong (dense, raw and ugly and collapsed, using single proofing) I never tried custard or creamed corn-fillings again. I had also tried a milk bao that used 2 flours (cake and plain) but needed 2 proofings of about an hr each. It was nothing to write home about but relatively easy to work with. There was also a char siu bao dough that used normal flour, wheat starch, vinegered water with baking power but despite all that work, it looked ugly. While easy to work with, it was too stretchy and tore easily, and instead of rising, it grew sideways and was too flat. 

This recipe by Ruyi attempts to remedy all these attempts which uses 3 flours, oil and baking powder in an attempt to create fluffy dim sum bao. The video is particularly helpful with how to wrap and shape so that the buns come out round and smooth. 

Ingredients

Custard filling

3 room temp egg yolks, try to remove as much white as possible

150ml milk

75g sugar

20g cake flour

50g salted butter (it must be salted or the butter will separate from the custard)

1. Whisk the egg yolks then add sugar and whisk till pale.

2. Add the cake flour and mix well then set aside.

3. Heat up the salted butter and milk on medium heat and stir once in a while until small bubbles form. Do not boil. Remove from the stove.

4. Quickly whisk the yolk mixture and slowly drizzling in half the scaled milk in a steady stream. Continue to whisk and pour back into the pot and back onto a medium heat.

5. Once the mixture starts to thicken, switch to low heat. Continue to whisk until lump and remove into a bowl. Cover with cling film right onto the custard to prevent it forming a skin.

6. Fridge for min 3 hrs or even overnight.

Alternatively just make instant custard filling

170ml milk

3 tbsp custard powder

2½ tbsp sugar

1. Combine the custard powder, milk and sugar in a pot. Bring to a boil but stirring constantly otherwise it will boil over.

2. Alternatively use a microwave at small increments at 50 to 80% power otherwise it boils over, been there done that! 1min 30s at 1000W.

3. Also keep in the cover and keep in the fridge for at least 3 hours or best overnight. 

Dough (makes 10)

160g superfine (9.5% protein)/HK/Bao flour (normal flour will yield a chewier dough)

40g cake flour

30g wheat starch

45g icing sugar

½ tsp baking powder

¾ tsp instant yeast

130ml room temp water

30ml veg oil

1. In a large bowl, add all the ingredients except the oil. Use a chopstick to ensure all the ingredients are combined.

2. Add the cooking oil in 3 batches and knead in until dough feels smooth, about 10 mins.

3. Divide the dough into 30 equal portions of around 43-44g each. Cover with damp towel and rest for 5 minutes.

4. Roll out one ball at a time with a thicker centre. Flatten to around 9.5 cm disc.

5. Divide the custard into 10 balls and roll each roughly into a ball.

6. In the centre of each dough disc, flatten the custard into the centre and cupping your hand, use a spoon to push the filing into the 'cup' formed by your hand. Pleat to seal and turn over onto the table. Using your sides of your palms, rotate to form a tall cylindrical shape rather than round ball. As it proofs, it will expand sideways and become the bao shape we want instead of a flattened mess.

7. Transfer to a lined steaming rack. Allow to proof until 1.5 to 2x. When depressed gently, the dough should spring back.

8. Place straight onto a steamer and turn on to high heat and steam for 15 minutes from room temp. Once done, turn off the fire and leave covered for another 10 minutes.

9, Best served warm but remove from the water to avoid getting soggy.

10. Keep in the fridge and steam for 10 minutes on high heat to reheat. Else store in the freezer and steam on high heat from frozen for 15 minutes. Custard sld be eaten when the bao is warm otherwise it is hard.

Black sesame bao with black sesame filling

I last tried a black sesame bao here with minimal kneading but both the dough and filling were too wet making it too hard to work with; and again here as a black sesame mantou that was also a very wet dough. This is a recipe with minimal kneading and proofing by LinXianShen.

Filling (makes 1 cereal bowl volume of filling)

100g roasted black sesame powder

15g glutinous rice flour

40g white sugar

20g lard

250g water

1. Put in a pot and on low fire, heat until it bubbles and turns into a sticky slurry (still quite liquidy). 

2. Put in the fridge to harden.

Bao dough (makes 10)

400g bao or regular flour

25g roasted black sesame powder

1 tbsp sugar

4g instant yeast

½ C of warm milk (use more or less as needed)

1. Combine with a chopstick until no more dry flour.

2. Roll into a dough. Knead for about 10 to 15 minutes until smooth.

3. Roll out into an oblong, about ½ inch thick. Use a 4 or 5" cutter to stamp out circles.

4. Using about 2 chinese tablespoons of cold filling, encase in the bao skin. Make into round buns and place in a steaming basket.

5. Cover and proof for 20 mins.

6. Turn on the flame to high (water from room temp) and steam for 13 mins. Turn off the fire and leave covered for 3 mins.

Recipe feedback

- Compared to the previous black sesame bao, this recipe is perfect! The filling amount is just enough and the dough is very workable. Shows that you don't need oil in the dough to make it pliable.

- Only issue is I forgot to roast and grind the sesame BEFORE making the filling (so I put it in the food processor after cooking), and also couldn't be bothered to grind the white sesame seeds (I ran out of black) for the dough. It turned out well because it gave the bao some crunch!

- I thought the lack of proofing time would make the bao hard but i was wrong! I really hand kneaded for 15 minutes with all my newfound arm power and then rested for maybe 10 mins while I prepared the steamer and washed up, before wrapping and forming the baos. Also, the bao only got 20 minutes at the end to proof, so I was worried cos they hardly seemed to have grown in size. Steaming at full heat really caused it to poof up so much that they all stuck together and to my steamer!

- Tip - really roll out the dough as large as possible (leaving the centre thicker) cos the filling is very liquid even after being in the fridge for 6 hours. The tip of cupping the palm to hold the dough and then 'applying' the filling onto the dough worked; then pleat, crimp and seal as per usual bao technique. Even though I then turned the seam over onto the parchment and the shape wasn't totally round, bao came out ok and didn't look too weird with the pleats underneath.

5 black grain mantou

From this FB recipe by MiaoVibe.

Ingredients (makes 12 four-inch wide)

50g black sesame seeds

20g black rice (I substituted with 20g raisins)

20g black beans

20g blackberries (I substituted with 20g frozen blueberries)

10g black goji (I used regular)

10g walnuts

400ml water

600g flour (I used bread flour)

5g instant yeast

1 tbsp white sugar

pinch of salt

1 tbsp lard or butter

Notice the size difference (the bottom 6) of the second batch that had 30 mins extra proofing (due to waiting for the first batch to steam) compared to the first batch

Method

1. Add the grains, walnuts and black fruits to a blender with 400g of water. Using the Soya milk mode, blend. Allow to cool down.

2. Pour the flour on a table. Create a well and add the yeast, sugar and salt (keep salt away from the yeast). Mix well.

3. Pour in the grain mixture. Use hands to knead till no flour is left. Use a scraper to gather the dough if it helps.

4. Place in a bowl and cover. Allow to proof for 1 hr until about it grows to about 1.5x.

5. Turn out of the bowl and deflate. Knead and the longer you do so, the softer the bun.

6. Flour the surface well. Form into a log and cut into equal sized pieces. Form a ball with each. Makes about 12 (approx 108 to 110g of dough each).

7. Place directly in the steamer and place over a wok of warm water to proof for 15 to 30 mins. 

8. Remove the steamer and turn on the fire till it starts boiling. Put the steamer back on the wok and steam on medium high for 30 minutes. Leave covered for 10 minutes after switching off the flame.

Recipe feedback

- Overall a very wet dough. I didn't use mixer and mixed by hand throughout.

- The second batch that had an extra 30 minutes of proofing while waiting for the first batch to steam came out so much fluffier! A definite must-do if time permits.

- So far, those recipes that I used bao flour here and here and here all using KA have been most successful. They have been easy to shape too but the issue is that their 'face' never comes out smooth and they always tend to flatten and crawl out sideways. 

- If only this recipe's dough wasn't so wet and difficult to work with, it would have been great for wrapping bao. Their 'faces' and shape came out smooth and round!

Hokkaido milk bread loaf

I am quite a fan of soft and fluffy breads such as milk bread and Tangzong. I have researched various versions including preferments comparison, milk bread comparison post and also Tangzong and cream comparison post. The condensed milk version was difficult to work with, the Korean version was fabulous but took 3 proves so very time-consuming, and sponge method (also very time-consuming) worked for speciality filling breads but failed for bread loaf perhaps due to either over-working or over-proofing.

I decided to try this recipe by Bear Naked Food as it only has 2 proves and uses a mix of cake and bread flour to achieve the soft pillowy texture. It is very similar to this more voluminous Chinese milk loaf recipe which uses both types of flours and heavy cream, but that method was more complicated and a little dry and denser without the oil. This recipe uses milk powder and whipping cream with total 300g of flours (yielding between 560 to 610g dough), it will fit nicely into my Pullman tin!

Ingredients

270g bread flour

30g cake flour

5g instant yeast

40g sugar

4g salt

15g milk powder

25g egg (save the rest of the egg for egg wash + 1tbsp milk)

140ml milk (additional if required)

75ml whipping cream

Method

1. Mix flours, sugar, salt and milk powder with balloon whisk in KA bowl. Add instant yeast and mix again.

2. Create a well and pour in the 25g egg, milk and whipping cream. Combine with wooden spatula until mixed. Cover with cling wrap to rest for 20 mins at room temp.

3. Turn on the KA at low until mixed in. Turn up to medium and mix for 10 to 15 mins. If it seems too dry, drizzle in more milk slowly. Keep scraping down so the dough doesn't climb up the hook.

4. When the dough is shiny and not tacky, as well as passes the window pane test, it's ready.

5. Invert out onto the bench top and slam it against the benchtop 10 times. Ball up and put back into the oiled KA bowl and cover. Allow to prove for 45 to 60 minutes until doubled in size.

6. When doubled, invert onto dusted benchtop. Divide and shape into 4 balls. Cover and rest for 5 mins. During this time, prepare the bread loaf tin by buttering inside.

7. With a rolling pin, poll into rectangular disc and turn over. Repeat so both sides are smooth.

8. Roll into a cigar shape and roll out. Repeat. (see video for method) for each of the dough balls.

9. Place into lightly greased bread tin.

10. Cover and allow to rise for 40 to 50 minutes in a warm place.

11. Mix leftover egg with 1 tbsp milk and gently egg wash the top. Be sparing so as the top doesn't burn and be careful not to deflate.

12. Bake at 170 deg C for 30 - 40 minutes until puffed up and golden brown; turning halfway. Tent the top if it's browning too quickly.

13. Once out of the oven, brush with whipping cream (optional).

14. After about 10 mins cooling in the tin, invert bread onto a cooling rack. Allow to fully cool before slicing.

14. Bread can be stored at room temp for up to 3 days. Otherwise, cling wrap and store in the fridge for up to a week.

Polo bun topping comparison recipes

Rotiboy style

Mexican mocha Brioche bun in KA (makes 6): xiaochuniang. Bread flour brioche. Topping 1tsp instant coffee dissolve in 20ml warm water. Cream 60g butter, 50g icing sugar and pinch salt. Add coffee in several batches. Add 30g beaten egg. Fold in 70g cake flour and 5g cocoa. Pipe on the topping. Note smooth and rough sides, roll ⅓ dough into a ball then wrap ⅔ dough over the ball. This keeps the ball tall rather than flattening out when proofing.

Coffee bun by hand (makes 6): Delicious day Bread flour brioche. Uses 36g or 3tbsp butter, 36g sugar, pinch salt, 28g/half egg, 4tbsp/42g bread flour, 2g instant coffee, 1tbsp/6g warm water. Pipe on.

Coffee toast with melty centre (makes 4 portions): Jun & Tonic. 8 slices sandwich bread, ½C/100g sugar, ½C/120g salted butter, 1 egg + 1egg (eggwash), 5g/1tbsp instant coffee, 1 tsp vanilla, 15ml/1tbsp hot water, 120g/1C flour, pinch salt. Eggwash the sides of 1 slices (near the crusts). Put the slices of butter (not included in the ½C) in the middle of bread. Lay other slice to cover. Mix the other ingredients with whisk and spready on top side. Bake 180deg C for 12 - 15 mins.

Coffee topping on ready-made bun with choc chip filling (makes 6): yoon noong: uses ready made bread and pipe on. Stuff choc chips in bread. Can't get topping recipe as text obscured.

Coffee bun by Kirbyyy (5 slices bread): 1 tbsp instant coffee + 1 tbsp hot water, 4-5 tbsp butter, 1 egg, ½C powdered sugar, ½C flour. Slice bread in half and butter (not included in ingredients). Cover the remaining half slice. Pipe on. Airfry 180 deg C for 10 mins.

Coffee topping on normal white bread slices (makes 2): Lenardy: 60g butter, 50g icing sugar, 1 egg, 2 tsp instant coffee powder mixed with ½ tsbp hot water and dissolved; 70g flour => pipe over 4 slices of bread

HK style

HK style by hand: Ali's kitchen Brioche Bread flour. Milk powder with plain flour to make cookie

HK polo bao in mixer (in cantonese) with butter inside: Anchor Sarah reel Brioche Bread flour. Need to keep the bun dough cold (below 28 deg C). Change from dough hook to scraper beater (because bowl is cold). Cookie dough topping has to be rolled out and pasted on top.

Soft milk bread using sponge method with bread flour (makes 9 buns) by Miki Food and she adds red bean filling topped up with what she calls souffle milk topping which is creaming sugar and butter but no flour added. Unfortunately the recipe is very brief and method isn't very clearly articulated so doesn't say to pipe on the topping or to roll it out (which is very difficult!)

Minimal kneading Black sesame bao

Ugly sesame bao. Nearly all had burst!

Black sesame filling: https://www.facebook.com/reel/472716605688076

For Tangyuang and Bao fillings which are more flowy (compared to mooncake).

Ingredients

160g roasted black sesame powder

80g glut rice flour

150g sugar

180g water

80g pork lard (would usually be hardened)

Method

1. Mix the black sesame powder, flour and sugar well and set aside. 

2. To the water, add the pork lard. Bring to a simmer until the hardened pork lard melts.

3. Pour the liquid lard into the powders. Mix well.

4. Place in the fridge for several hours until it is less runny and roll/portion into desired filling portions. 

Recipe feedback - the filling is VERY flowy, making it difficult to wrap. It might be easier to freeze it for a few hours. There was lots of filling left if this bao recipe is used.

Bao skin https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=saved&v=1631050780771945

Needs 500 to 600g of filling. Makes 12 to 13.

Makes a very wet dough but requires very little handling. Original video uses partially cooked fatty pork filling. (half cooked pork mince mixed with uncooked pork mince so that the filling is not one whole lump)

Ingredients

300g flour (for starter) + 100g 

3g instant dry yeast

1 tsp sugar

20g pork lard

230g warm water

Method

1. Combine ingredients. Use a chopstick to combine by stirring in one direction only. The dough has a high moisture content so no need to knead the dough. 

2. Once all the dough has come together and there are no more dry spots, form a ball (with the chopsticks) and cover with clingfilm. Allow to prove until it has doubled in size.

3. Uncover and use chopsticks to stir in one direction to dispel the gas. Pour in a small chinese rice bowl (around 100g) of flour. Use a spatula to mix, scraping down the sides of the bowl. 

4. Scrape the dough into an oblong shape and lift out onto a work surface.

5. Form a long rectangular shape gently with your hands. Using a dough cutter, cut into 2 finger wide strips.

6. No need to roll out. Use palms to flatten into a ball and use fingers to flatten the dough into a disc. (If the dough still feels too sticky to the touch, dust hands with flour). Should make about 2 to 3 inch wide bao.

7. Wrap the filling, about 2 tsp full. Ensure to seal well. 

8. Place wrapped baos into a steamer rack on top of a wok. Do not switch on the flame yet. Allow to prove the second time until the baos are visually larger. (a trick: put a ball of leftover dough in a bowl of water in the same steaming rack. When the ball floats, all have proved sufficiently).

9. Once sufficient proved, turn on the flame to high, and steam for 15 minutes (from boiling). Turn off the flame and leave it to rest for 2 minutes before removing the cover.

Recipe feedback: The skin was very soft and difficult to work with due to the high moisture content. It was impossible to seal properly and shape. 

- Further, the filling was so flowy so it kept spilling onto the seam. Once the filing fouled the wrapper, it was impossible to seal to encase the filling, not to mention it mucked up the pristine look of the wrapper.

Milk bread with filling (sponge method)

From the comparison recipes, decided to try HappyGoKathy (video and write up) based on her sausage octopus buns. This recipe was highly recommended by Yanna. According to the blogger, the bread keeps moist even after a few days. The recipe uses fridge-cold yeast sponge which works best in summer when other breads can end up over-proofing in the heat.

Sponge

210g bread flour

135ml water, finger warm, around 35 deg C

Instant yeast 3g

1. The night before, combine the ingredients.

2. Knead for 5 minutes then store in a covered container overnight for at least 15-17 hrs.

Main dough

Ingredients

90g bread flour

12g milk powder

25g sugar

60-65ml milk

5g salt

25g butter, room temp and cubed.

Method

1. Put the dry ingredients with torn up sponge into the mixer. Add half the milk. Mix for 2 minutes on Speed 1 until mixed.

2. Add more milk slowly and continue to mix on Speed 2.

3. Once bowl is dry from milk (dough is formed), add salt. Mix for 2 minutes at Speed 2. 

4. Once incorporated, bowl is clean. Turn up to Speed 4 and mix for 8-10 mins. Check dough is elastic when finger poked through windowpane leaves ragged edges. (She encourages putting the bowl before mixing in the fridge to keep it cold!)

5. Add butter several cubes at a time at low speed and mix at Speed 2 briefly each time until butter is mixed in, around 2 mins total. When adding butter, the dough may break up again so use spatula to incorporate and scrape.

6. Once all mixed in, turn up speed for 5-8 mins until finger poked into windowpane leaves smooth edges. Dough is smooth and shiny, elastic and should not be sticky.

7. Form a ball. Dough should not be more than 26-27 degrees C otherwise the bread is coarse if exceeds 28 deg C. Cover and sprinkle the surface of the dough with water. Proof for 30 - 45 mins. When done, insert finger into the dough and the hole may spring back a bit shouldn't totally close up. If it doesn't spring back at all, it's over-proofed!

8. Beat down the air bubbles and cut 8 portions of 65g each (or depending on filling). Form balls. If dough becomes too taut to roll out with rolling pin, rest under damp tea towel for 15 to 20 mins to relax before continuing to shape dough for filling. 

9. Watch the rest of the video if using sausage otherwise use own filling. Dough should be really elastic and easy to seal seams.

10. After shaping bread, cover and allow to ferment for approx 1 hr.

11. Egg wash just a thin layer and sprinkle with sesame seeds if using and then bake at bottom rack at 180 deg C for 15 - 18 mins.

Recipe feedback

- It works! Quite happy that I've never gotten such 'Asian-like' bread before - soft and what anpan should taste like. The dough was elastic and a dream to work with when it came to crimping. 

- I followed my instincts rather than following the timings for mixing given in the recipe because she used a different beater to KA. I based my intuition based on feel and look developed from experience.

- I've also learnt the magic ratio of filling to dough: about 1: 1 is ideal.

Preferment milk bread comparison recipes

 I have tried so many methods to make red bean bread from tangzong method with bread flour which for some reason turned crusty, tangzong method with bread and cake flour which came out super dry, to Japanese An-Pan with bread and cake flours which was still dry altho fluffy, and also An-Pan with plain flour which came out super dense although fluffy. I also tried making buns from bread flour and condensed milk which were sweetish and great for sweet fillings were a difficult to shape and not very fluffy.  My pan is L21*W12.5*11Hcm (aka 1.5 jin pan which fits 580g dough).

I am trying preferment (Poolish, Biga, Spong-dough methods) - see Jack for an explanation.

After the last failure with sponge method milk loaf, I decided to investigate sponge and gelatinsed dough recipes to try if using filling

1. Taiwanese style HappygoKathy (video and written recipe) octopus sausage buns recommended by YC - overnight preferment has yeast and needs kneading before leaving in fridge. 210g + water and yeast knaded for 5 minutes then storied in fridge for 15-17 hrs. Next day, tear up sponge and add 90g bread flour with milk powder, milk and butter. Prove 30 - 34 mins. Makes eight 65g dough balls. Shape and prove 1 hr. Bake 180 deg C for 15 -18 mins. (Tried here)

2. Kat Kwa's Jap milk bread (video): 500g bread flour in KA, 1hr proof, 3 dough balls in 1 pullman tin, 45 min proof, baked 190 deg C for 40 mins

3. Kat Kwa's earl grey milk bread (video): 100g bread flour with yeast for sponge, 48 hrs rest, scaled milk, 500g bread flour in KA with sponge, prove 45 mins, 2 pullman loaf, prove 45 mins

4. Kat Kwa's 2-styles sausage buns (video): 210g bread flour with yeast beat in KA, proof 2 hrs; 70g bread + 60g plain flour with yeast then beat in KA with proofed dough, condensed milk and egg. Proof 30 mins. Cut into 12. Form traditional coil sausage and also 'grapes-look' sausage with cheese. Proof 45 mins. Bake 180 deg C for 15 mins.

5. Kat Kwa's slitted red bean buns (video): Same method as above and same flour amounts:

6. Kat Kwa's Hokkaido-style milk bread (video): Called gelatinsed dough method, this is overnight preferment with no yeast and needs kneading before leaving in fridge. 100g bread flour + 80g boiling water kneaded for 5 mins and stored overnight in fridge. Next day, tear up gelatinsed dough and add to 400g bread flour with yeast, milk, egg, whipping cream, butter in KA. Prove 50 mins. Create 6 balls and put into 2 Pullmans. Prove 45 mins. Bake 180 deg C for 30 mins.

7. FlavourQuest using taro filling (video) recommended by Isabel - also gelatinsed dough method but slightly different. 200g bread flour with milk and sugar. Knead then overnight in fridge. Next day, already windowpane. Make a well in the dough and add yeast and milk and butter and knead in. Very hard and messy to knead in. If using KA, have to tear up the gelatinsed dough.

Shokupan milk bread (Sponge method)

After my success with using the sponge method to make bao buns, I decided to try this recipe for milk shokupan bread by WTT (video).

Update: This recipe turned out to be a FAIL possibly because I over-kneaded with KA. I read the recipe's commenters and I wasn't the only one based on her mixer's beating timings so I'm not keen to try again.

Ingredients (makes 587g dough)

Sponge

170g bread flour

200g water

23g honey

¼ tsp yeast

Method: Combine ingredients for sponge in a stand mixer and stir on Speed 2 for 2 minutes. Cover and leave in a warm place for 1 - 4 hours. If leaving longer, keep in the fridge for up to 24 hours and no longer.

Bread dough

Ingredients

160g bread flour

½ tsp yeast

20g dry milk powder (produces softer bread than liquid milk but if using liquid, replace all the water in the sponge with liquid milk instead and scald the milk ie simmer at 80 deg C to remove protease enzyme. This enzyme breaks down bread gluten and results in less rise. Let liquid milk completely cool first or it will kill the yeast)

5g salt

25g honey

50g unsalted butter, softened and cubed

Egg wash: 1 large egg + 1 tsp water

1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)

Method

1. Combine ingredients in KA except for butter. Stir at Speed 2 for 1 minute then increase to Speed 4 for 5 minutes. The dough should still be a bit sticky.

2. Add the butter slowly in 3 or 4 increments and beat for about 2 minutes in between. Finally, beat until the dough is shiny and smooth although may still be sticky. Continue to beat for another 7 -10 minutes until windowpane stage. This was very tough on the KA, I kept taking it out to scrape because the dough ball stuck stubbornly together. Once all the butter had been worked in and the bowl was clean, I took it out and hand kneaded for 20 mins and it still didn't reach windowpane.)

3. Gather into a ball and oil a bowl and put it in. Cover. Allow to prove until double it size, about 45-60 mins.

4. Deflate the dough and divide into 3 balls. The bread is very soft so it will collapse as one big loaf. Cover and allow to rest for 10 mins to relax the gluten.

5. Shape the dough accordingly (whether for filling or to fit a shokupan). Cover and prove for another hour until 90% full in the shokupan. 

6. Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Prepare the egg wash. Brush eggwash thinly and sprinkle sesame seeds if using. 

7. Bake in the middle of the oven for 40 mins. Bread may need tenting halfway if it gets too brown. Internal temperature of the bread (right in the centre of the loaf) at 35-40 mins should be 88 deg C. If not, continue baking 3-5 mins and check again. Temp needs to be checked because bread is so soft and airy so needs to be completely cooked otherwise it will collapse under the weight of the crust.

8. For shokupan, drop the tin on the counter to shock it and prevent shrinkage. Brush with melted butter if preferred. Let sit in the pan for 5 mins. Remove bread from pan and lie loaf sideways on a cooling rack for 15 mins. Totally remove bread and leave it to cool completely on the rack (about 2 hrs). Do not attempt to slice bread until completely cool or bread may collapse or turn gummy!

Recipe feedback

- This is a really long recipe even in summer because of the sponge dough development and then two provings, and then the bread takes another 40 minutes to bake. That's almost 7 hours (including preferment; even longer in winter) of inactive time. It will help reduce half the time if the preferment is done overnight.

- This bread isn't great for filling. The seams are hard to close as the dough seemed very dry right from the moment the main dough went into the KA - there is no liquid to bind other than the honey, I was almost tempted to add water because there were spots of dry flour. The Sponge isn't very wet either (when I used milk). Even if I had used water + milk powder separately in the sponge and main dough as the recipe wrote, it's hard to see how the bread would end up being moist.

- First attempt: not sure what happened but didn't rise. Was it the salt I accidentally added in the sponge?

- After some research, I think I have overkneaded because this is what happens - it became difficult to knead (stiff) and bakes as dense and hard because it can't rise. I had found it very difficult to knead in KA (dough kept balling and refused to be kneaded) cos I thought it was too little water. So after 20 mins in KA when it was already smooth and not tacky, I still took it out to knead by hand for 10 mins cos I could never achieve windowpane stage. 

- Different to over proofing which tight squat with gummy crumb as mine actually had a soft crumb. Overproofed dough can be saved by just punching out and proofing again. There is no way to save over-kneaded dough. Can try letting the dough relax/proof for double the amount of time but it doesn't always work.

- How to correctly proof dough by Perfect Loaf. Underproofed would suddenly 'over spring' with massive rise, dough ruptures, large hole pockets with dense spots. Properly proofed dough has even crumb and even dispersion of holes. Overproofed dough has no oven spring, squat, dense with tiny holes. Overproofed is better than under cos at least the dough will be delicious (taste). Make foccasia or crotons.

Sideway view when sitting on side to cool

Top of loaf when sitting on side to cool

View of loaf from side. No rise

Top view of loaf

Condensed milk buns with filling

Since this milk bread receipe comparison, I've experimented with different milk bread methods that used cream but no oil and had 2 proves or had oil but needed 3 proves.

Decided to try Omnivore's Cookbook that uses condensed milk and only 2 proves. However, instead of making dinner rolls as her recipe describes or my usual Pullman tin, I'm making bread with filling.

Ingredients for condensed milk bread - 650g dough makes 9 dinner rolls or 12 buns

300g (2½ C) bread flour

140ml (½ C) milk

7g (2½ tsp) instant yeast 

30g (2½ tbsp) sugar

80g (¼ C) condensed milk

4 tbsp butter,  melted

1 egg

Filling of choice - 780g: I made my own coffee mung bean using Kitchen 101 but with 300g dried beans

Method

1. Activate yeast: warm milk to about 38 deg C in microwave. Add pinch of sugar and yeast. Sit for 20 minutes to activate.

2. Add flour, milk, rest of sugar, condensed milk, butter, egg to mixer. Mix together first with spatula. Add yeast and mix. Cover and rest for 20 mins.

3. Using KA, start low and then increase to 8 out of 10 (! - this is against the instructions in the instruction manual which recommends no more than speed 2 or 4!). Knead for 10 to 12 minutes until dough is smooth. Scape if necessary. Stop when you reach window-pane stage. Dough should be wet and slightly sticky but should not stick to your hands.

4. Grease a bowl and put in dough shaped in a ball. Cover with let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, approx 1 hr.

5. Meanwhile, if using filling, divide filling up into 12 balls. Cover with cling film and set aside.

6a. If making dinner rolls, divide dough into 9 and use a 9 x 9" (23 x 23cm) lined baking pan. Each dough ball weighs 68-70g. Cover with plastic wrap and prove until doubled in size, approx 35 mins.

b. If adding filling, divide up dough into 12 balls. Fill with filling and close. Form a ball and place on lined baking tray. Allow to prove until doubled in size, approx 35 mins.

7. Eggwash with thin layer of milk, just the tops of the buns.

8. Bake at 175 deg C for 15mins (with good temperature control but I will stop at 10 mins to rotate trays) or until golden brown. For dinner rolls, internal temp should be 88 deg C.

9. Let bread rest for 5 mins then transfer to cooling rack.

10. To reheat, warm in microwave for about 10 (no filling) to 20 (with filling) seconds. If freezing, keep in ziplock bag for up to a month. Reheat at 175 deg C without first thawing for 10 mins.

Recipe feedback

- Dough is really soft and moist but is difficult to shape. Although very elastic, it refuses to 'stick' when crimping the seam to close. On one hand, any pleats made will be very obvious but on the other hand, any imperfections are also obvious. Perhaps being more sparing with coating the bowl and dough ball with oil during the first proof might help.

After proofing: Imperfections, slits that won't seal! Bumps, dings and lumps on the surface

- Because of the high sugar content in the bun, it browns easily so milk wash is ok, not egg wash.

- How do I prevent the 'cavern' in the bun ie the filling sinks and leaves a huge gap in the roof of the bun? This time, I was super generous with the filling, in effect, putting in more filling by weight than the weight of the dough. Yet there was still a huge cavern. I think it has to do with wrapping style i.e., using the bao wrapping method tends to pull too much dough over the top to crimp and seal (and even then, it's hard to do with this dough). Maybe I have to use the mooncake wrapping method which slowly works the dough over the filling but this dough isn't sticky enough to seal close. 

- In sum, this recipe would be good for plain buns or with sweet filling.

Updated: This recipe by Savour Easy uses normal flour, room-temp butter and hand kneading instead of bread flour, melted butter, and KA. Otherwise, the portions and proportions are very similar. I may give it a try next time when I want a milky sweet bread to contain my filling as hopefully the bread will be more malleable and amenable to shaping due to the inclusion of room temp butter rather than melted butter. It also suggests tenting the bread in the last 10 mins to prevent burning.

Spring onion Flower buns

This 花卷 is a northern Chinese bun used in place of noodles and rice, unlike southern Chinese cuisine. There are several ways of rolling the bun but the ingredients and method are pretty similar. However, I've not had good experience with the standard 包 method so I prefer to use the revolutionary recipe I've found except the pleats may not come out so nicely.

Here are several video recipes I've found with bun rolling techniques and also standard recipes. 

1. Deliholic: Three different ways of cutting or rolling the buns

2. Revy loves big apple: cautions that adding soda to spring onion can ensure the colour stays green but the powder stains the bun yellow.

: cautions against buns that aren't well-rested won't roll into nice flowers but will tear.

: Combine then rest 10 minutes while preparing the scallions, knead 5 minutes and rest 10 minutes, roll into buns then rest until buns have proved to twice their size (no time given), steam 15 minutes.

3. Magic ingredients: Most comprehensive video

: says that no special flour or yeast

: Combine then knead 10 minutes or rest 15 minute before kneading if the bun is too 'tight'. Rest 1.5 hours and prepare scallions. Pan fry the onions with salt and cool. After proving, knead for 3 minutes before rolling into buns. This 3-minute kneading can be omitted but will result in smoother buns. However, this will cause the buns to tighten up again, which will require 15 minutes resting before forming the buns. If the buns prove too hard to form into the flower shape, rest 5 minutes. Prove 1 hour. Steam 15 minutes but let steam escape 5 minutes.

4. Cook with Bin

: nothing really special about this except the use of salt and pepper or other taste to the bun and fold 4 times rather than 3.

: highlights that you know the buns have proofed correctly when they feel light rather than dense

Ingredients (makes 12 to 14)

Followed this recipe but increased to 500g of flour in total

Starter

250g bao flour

2 tsp yeast

1 tbsp sugar

200ml warm water

1. Mix sugar with water until dissolved.

2. Add bao flour and mix. Sticky batter. Cover and allow to rise for 2.5 hours in a warm place.

Filling

1 spring onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp oil

2 tsp sesame seeds (optional)

salt and pepper to taste (or 5 spice powder)

When the starter is proofing, chop up 1 spring onion finely. Add a pinch of baking soda and fry in 2 tbsp oil until just fragrant. Add optional 2 tsp sesame seeds. Set aside to cool.

Main bao

250g bao flour

3 tbsp sugar

2.5 tsp baking powder

3 to 4 tbsp of water (just enough to bring dough together)

1 tbsp + 2 tsp lard or veg oil

¼ tsp salt

1. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and combine.

2. To the starter, add the lard and water. Combine. It will be very sticky and wet.

3. Add the dry mixture and mix well. Beat (if using KA) until it cleans the side of the bowl. If using hand, mix in the bowl until the bowl comes clean. Transfer onto flour surface and knead for 10 minutes. Shape into a ball. Allow to rest, covered, for 10 minutes before shaping if the dough is too taut.

4. Roll out the dough until about 1cm thick and rectangular. Layer on the spring onion oil. Less is more! Sprinkle on salt and pepper. Fold on the long edge 3-4 times (width of each fold should be length of index finger) and pat down after each fold.

5. Cut strips, about 2cm wide alternated with 1.5cm wide. Lay the thinner strip on top of the thicker strip. Pull both ends then twist around a chopstick twice (watch the video). Lay the rosette down on the table and hold it between third and fourth fingers,  pin down the seams and carefully withdraw the chopstick.

6. Let the buns rest in a covered steamer for 10 minutes. You know they're ready when you pick them up and they feel light rather than dense. Heat up the water from cold with the buns on top. Once the water starts to boil, steam for 10 to 12 minutes.

7. Turn off the fire and open a side slit to let the steam escape. After 5 minutes of resting, serve.

Recipe feedback

- Less really is more with the filling. Following one blogger, I chopped up the spring onions as much as I could. Also, following another blogger, I tried to spread a very thin layer of oil but still was too enthusiastic. This meant the bun was very hard to twist (because it was oily and going everywhere) and form into a nice tight rosette. However it kept the 'petals' fairly separate and pretty.

- It's important to salt the bun either in the mixture or in the bun itself.

Traditional char siu bao (Sponge method)

I saw this video by Kat Kwa and got really excited. I have been attempted bao-making since 2015 (my very first attempt) and it's never been really successful. With the earlier recipes, I focused on getting the technique and ingredients (e.g., adding milk or wheat flour) correct. However, as long as I continued to use flour (or even cake flour), it always failed. The skin was tough and chewy, or very dense. 

The first breakthrough came when I changed to pao flour where the texture was fluffy, and I had even more success when I changed to KA to beat and also used the bao packet's own recipe. However while I got a satisfactory bao (not char siu bao) texture, the issue was that shape was wrong as the buns were always too flat. Some recipes have suggested that this spread may happen because the dough has been over-proved or because the filling was too wet.

For char siu bao, the main issues were getting the right pillowly texture and to get it to split open on top and 'smile'. Desperate, I even tried to compare the different recipes and methods. For char siu baos, the main 'trick' seemed to be using shortening (or lard) as opposed to oil and a little bit of baking powder. I even saw one blogger cut across the top of the bao to get it to 'smile' but that's definitely the wrong approach.

The main difference from Kat Kwa's recipe is that she not only uses shortening and baking powder, her proofing is all upfront rather than along the way. She only allows short resting periods to let the dough relax once she starts working with it. In terms of looks, she still closes it tight using the traditional bao wrapping technique rather than tries to get it to split open and 'smile' like what dim sum restaurants do. In fact, she even crimps the bao skin very tightly closed to ensure no leakage.

I decided to try her recipe but augmented to pork because I don't have char siu on hand (400g mince pork, 1 egg, salt and pepper, 1 tbsp corn starch, 1 tbsp potato starch, 1 chopped spring onion). More importantly, I wanted to focus on the getting the correct texture and shape first.

Ingredients (makes 12) and methods

Yeast dough

150g bao flour

1 tsp yeast

½ tsp sugar

125 ml warm water

1. Mix sugar with water until dissolved. 

2. Add the bao flour and mix. Batter will be very sticky. Cover and allow to proof for 2 hours in a warm place.

Filling and sauce

350g char siu, diced

3 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

1 spring onion, chopped

3 shallots, flattened

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp dark soya sauce

1 tbsp light soya sauce

3 tbsp sugar

¼ tsp pepper

1 tbsp tapioca starch

1 tbsp corn starch

125 ml water

Method

1. Prepare everything by chopping, toasting, etc. Fry aromatics in a little oil.

2. Pour in the ingredients for the sauce. 

3. Once the sauce gets sticky, add the cubed char siu. Fold in. The whole mixture will be very gloupy and sticky.

Bao dough

40g (2 ½ tbsp) sugar

150g bao flour

1 tsp baking powder

3 tbsp water

1 tbsp lard or veg shortening or cooking oil

1. Once the yeast dough has finished proofing, add the sugar and mix well until dissolved.

2. Add the lard and 3 tbsp of water. Combine well. It will be difficult to do at first but persist. It will be very sticky and wet at this stage.

3. Finally, add the flour and baking powder. The dough will start off claggy but continue to beat. The dough will start to stretch and 'clean' the side of the bowl. At the end you will have a clean bowl.

4. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and no longer sticky. Cover and rest for 10 minutes.

5. Roll out into a rectangle, then fold. Roll out again and then roll up into a log (see video). Cut into 12 equal pieces and cover under a damp cloth.

6. With each piece, gently tug and tuck until a smooth ball forms. (see video) Cover with damp cloth.

7. Take out one at a time to work on. Using a round rolling pin, rotate the dough as you flatten the edges, leaving the centre unrolled (and thicker than the edges). Roll out all the dough in a similar manner and cover with cloth.

8. Taking one out to work on, flatten the edges between the thumb and index. Cup one hand and drape the dough on top. Fill the centre with approx 1 chinese soup tbsp of balled up filling, and then gently press the filling down into the cupped hand (watch video). 

9. Pleat to close the bun and ensure tightly sealed. (watch video). After each bao has been filled, place into a bamboo steamer. Once all the steamer has been filled, cover and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

10. Meanwhile, bring a wok of water to a rolling boil. After resting the buns, steam on high heat for 12 to 15 minutes.

11. At the end of the cooking time, switch off the flame and open the lid to leave it slightly ajar for the steam to escape.

12. Remove from steamer and serve. For the uneaten ones, allow to air dry (so bottoms don't get soggy).

Feedback: This recipe is a success!

- I used lard but the porky smell was very obvious when working the dough. After steaming, there was also a strong porky smell but it was hard to say if it came from the bun or the meat.

- The texture is soft and fluffy! However, the pleats didn't stay because the dough is very stretchy. I decided to change my usual wrapping style to momo style and that seemed to produce more pronounced pleats.

- I took the time to roll the dough ball to make the skin smooth before flattening and filling, and it shows. The skin looks less dimpled and rippled than normal.

- I kept the filling very dry and balled it up and the bao didn't spread and flatten! It helped that all the proofing was done at the beginning so it becomes harder to over-proof.

Chinese Milk bread

Unlike the recipe for Korean milk bread that had 3 proves and used butter, this recipe has 2 proves and doesn't use any oil but instead uses cream. The problem I've found with recipes that don't have oil is that the dough is usually very sticky and hard to manipulate. I had to add quite a bit extra flour (2 tbsp) so that it would stop sticking to my mixer bowl. I don't know how this dough handles although it is much softer than the dough with bread. 

From Woks of Life

Ingredients (makes 2 loaves)

160ml heavy cream (⅔ C), room temp

1 C milk (250ml), room temp

1 egg, room temp

75g sugar (⅓ C)

½ C cake flour (70g)

3½ C bread flour (500g)

1 tbsp instant yeast (7g)

1 egg whisked with 1 tsp water for egg wash

Syrup (if using, 2 tsp sugar + 2 tsp hot water)

Method

1. Using the Stir function (speed 1) on the KA, add in the following order: heavy cream, egg, sugar, , salt, cake flour. Stir. Add yeast. Stir. Alternate with bread flour and milk and stir. Add just enough milk for the mixture to come together without any dry spots.

2. At this point, the dough is very sticky. Turn up to speed 2 and eventually speed 4 until it reaches window pane stage, approx 15 minutes. Stop periodically to scrape down.

3. Ball it up, oil the bowl and put the dough into the oiled bowl. Cover with cling film and tea towel and set aside to prove for 45 mins to 1 hour until it doubles in size.

4. Meanwhile, oil the pans (I used the small Pullman and the large loaf tin, or use 9" round tin). 

5. Punch down the dough and shape as you wish (i.e., either loaf or buns). Add whatever filling you wish (e.g., cinnamon sugar, sausage, etc)

6. Return to the pans and prove for 1 hour. It should have expanded by about 0.5 times. Brush with egg wash.

7. Position in the middle rack and bake at 175 deg C for 23 to 25 minutes until the top is golden brown.

8. Remove onto wire rack and brush with simple syrup if using.

9. Carve the bread only when completely cool. If possible, best if left overnight and carved the next day.

Needs a bit more de-gassing to get rid of the air bubbles on the surface!

Recipe feedback: The bread is indeed very soft and bouncy! Feels a lot like the HK bread you get in Asian bakeries. But feels a bit denser compared to the recipe with oil and definitely less moist.