help with bao buns

I've made the bao recipe several times, and have had lukewarm results - always delicious, but I keep finding that my dough is far too dense & way lumpier than in the video, at the point when it comes out of the Kitchenaid to be prepped for proofing. Am I over- or under-kneading the dough at all? Been using the Kitchenaid with dough hook on 2 for the suggested time.

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FrankM_3301

What are the results like after you steam them?

Tess_Cavalieri_308018

when I made them with AP flour the results were good, the density of the raw dough made them tough to shape. My most recent iteration used bread flour as suggested (I had been using AP because I couldn't source bread flour), and I found that i couldn't even roll out to punch each bun.

wolfiegirl

While I've not yet had the fun of making the bao, I can tell you that bread flour has a higher protein content thus a better flour to use for gluten development. You might be having difficulty rolling out the buns because once you knead the dough it has to rest before you can easily handle it. Usually 10 minutes does the trick....form each ball of dough first. By the time each has been shaped, you start rolling out the first ball of dough that has had resting time. Should be much easier for you.

As for over-kneading the dough? Pretty hard to do in a KA home kitchen mixer. While you matched the suggested time in kneading, sometimes it takes a bit longer so you have to trust your eyeballs and your instincts to know when the dough is ready. The dough should be smooth and springy.

Keep practicing!

fisher23

They are very tender. The bread flour should make them lighter in texture. If you are only using 2 to knead, they may be under kneaded. Try 6 during the kneading, that is what I have done and I thought they came out great.

geemcwee

frozen from a china mkt - some things aren't worth the hassle IMHO

fisher23

If you can't roll them out they are most probably under proofed. When the dough is properly proofed it will be light and airy, but when you press on it it should slowly spring back where you pressed on it.