Baked Char Siu Bao

Source: modified from Woks of Life

You can do this by hand but I just threw it in the bread maker and set it to the dough cycle. Turned out beautifully.

Ingredients

For the dough

• 1 C milk, slightly warmed (no more than 110F)
• 1 Tbs yeast
• 2/3 C heavy cream
• 1/3 C sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 60 g (1/2 cup) AP flour + 1 Tbs cornstarch
• 400g bread flour (4 cups)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt

For brushing on top (see recipe)

• Egg wash: 1 egg + 1 Tbs water, lightly beaten
• Sugar wash: 1 Tbs sugar, 1 Tbs hot water, stirred together until fully dissolved

For the filling

• 1 1/2 char siu roast pork, diced
• 1 recipe marinade, mixed

Directions:

• Lazy version**: put everything in the bread maker as per manufacturer’s directions and set to dough cycle. Come back in 2 hours to perfect dough.
• Slightly less lazy version**: Add warm milk and yeast to bowl of a stand mixer, allow to sit about 6-8 mins. Add heavy cream, egg, flour, salt, and mix until a smooth ball forms. Shape lightly, turn into an oiled bowl, and cover for 2 hours to double.
• While the dough rises Heat the marinade to a simmer. Mix a cornstarch slurry (about 1 tsp each cornstarch/water) and stir in. Cook until the marinade thickens, about 2-3 mins. Remove from heat and cool. Stir as much as you want into the diced pork.
• To use: Knead dough by hand about 5 minutes. Divide into 16 portions. Assemble buns, cover, and place in a warm place to rise again (1 hr). About 30 min before the end of rising time, preheat oven to 400F.
• Brush buns with egg wash and bake 22-25 mins. As soon as the buns go in, turn the oven down to 350F.
• When they come out, brush with sugar wash and serve. You can also transfer to a rack to cool completely, then wrap and freeze.

Notes

*The original recipe uses a combination of 1/2 C cake flour and 3 1/2 C bread flour. It suggests subbing cake flour for 1/2 C AP combined with 1 Tbs cornstarch.

** Lazy vs Slightly less lazy versions: Having made both, I conclude that the stand mixer version turns out a superior bao. The bread machine makes a decent dough but it doesn’t develop gluten as well as the KitchenAid. Also, that second punching before forming the buns is important. This dough has a real tendency to puff up and form bubbles so the yeast is well fed and very active, really punching down the dough does not hurt its rise at all.

For some reason, a batch I made rose enough to form big cavernous spaces. William’s, on the other hand, turned out perfectly. We think it may be that he punched his dough down a second time and I did not. He also filled his more than mine, but I’m not sure that would make any difference with the dough.