Go to the Recipe: Soft, Airy Chinese Steamed Buns: Simplified
I've made mantou a few times, but wasn't 100% happy with my results. I'm going to have to try this - maybe even this weekend.
YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO NICK GAVIN!!!!!!
As a Chinese American in love with ChefSteps, you have no idea how happy this makes me.
We love that you love it!
Take a Bao CS!
I am heading to South Carolina in a few weeks to learn a few tricks to up my bbq game. Pulled Pork in Steam Buns will def be on t menu when I return.
If we wanted to make the Sriracha buns, would we add the sauce in at Step 2 or at some point in the kneading process?
Looks awesome! I love your guys' videos but not all of us have a dough hook and have to do all that hard work the old fashioned way. Could you put some tips in your instructions for those of us who have to hand knead doughs?
Can you replace some of the bread flour with whole wheat flour when making the loaf ?
Very good point, I will see what I can do!
I add it in step 4.
Absolutely perfect - love you guys!
No enzymes in the dough?
And ... wheres all the dipping sauce recipes? ;-)
When working on stainless steel surface - i neigther saw additional flour nor oil spray, but i assume that you have at least used som during the roling, or is the dough that greasy and hard by itself that it doesnt stick?
Corned beef steam buns happening on St. Patty's for SURE
Probably the buns will result less soft but...is it possible to replace the butter with something with lower fat?...can I leave it out?
I'd like that too, I had a couple of your dough recipes turn out quite sticky. I'm in Italy and use Typo-00 flour which is very fine and supposedly requires less water. But I also don't have a stand mixer - so I never know whether it's due to too little kneading (by hand) or too much liquid.
Not for the first time, I see how much we think alike.
When I saw the Sous Vide Pork Belly recipe, I thought. This must be brilliant in steamed buns.
I just did those last weekend, probably while you guys where preparing this recipe. https://plus.google.com/photos/102604845319663901187/album/6256466374015243457/6256466371695013522?authkey=COWliKCQy7KU9QE
Steamed bao buns from the bbc food site recipe. With crispy pickled vegetables from the same recipe with a sprinkle of horseradish to lift it up.
All with a delicious slice of super fragrant pork belly (cooked in all sorts of whacky spices, soy sauce, liquid smoke and at the end in white wine for a few hours)
I just need a bigger steamer for parties.
PS: I find a oval shape much better than round. I guess just roll them out from the center once cut and then fold.
What is the best way to reheat after they've been frozen?
Thanks for an amazing recipe. Does anyone know whether it's a good idea to make it with the whole wheat? After all it will be steamed so the whole wheat dough shouldn't be tough in this case.
Thanks
I have a question about the country loaf. You say as needed for all of the seeds/spices. Can you give some guidance on the ratios of each? I am dying to make that loaf tonight but I'm afraid having the wrong ratios would throw off the taste.
Another common way to eat mantou in China is to dip it into condensed milk! That's the way I grew up eating it at least.
Lads and ladies I got your solution:
- Start with dough that has 100% hydration with 90% of the liquid. For example, if a recipe calls for 500grams of liquid start with 450grams and equal amount (ie 450grams) of your dry mix. Leave the salt out of the dry mix though, it delays gluten formation.
-Autolyse for 30 mins.
- The mix the dough. At this stage it is really easy to mix with a big spoon/spatula for 10-15 minutes, it has the consistency of a pancake batter.
- Then add the rest of the liguid and dry mixture and salt and knead by hand for 2-3 minutes.
The 10-15 minute mixing stage of the 100% hydration mixture will develop enough gluten structure in your dough so you only need a couple of minutes for the rest of the dough. My grandfather was a baker in the days where they did not have mixing equipment and everything was done by hand, this was his method and got passed down to me for all my bread making.
In case you don't have dough hook equipment here is my method:
- Mix the dough. At this stage it is really easy to mix with a big spoon/spatula for 10-15 minutes, it has the consistency of a pancake batter.
- Then add the rest of the liguid and dry mixture and salt and knead by hand for 2-3 minutes. The 10-15 minute mixing stage of the 100% hydration mixture will develop enough gluten structure in your dough so you only need a couple of minutes for the rest of the dough.
going on the other extreme the Chang recipe calls for pork fat, which is my next attempt on those buns. The ones with butter turned out amazing, many thanks Chef Steps!
Ooooo genius!
steam it?
You guys have struck gold. This is the perfect combination or speaking and personality with some wonderful cooking shots.
What's the addition of the baking soda in the dough for? As a leavening agent it seems like there's nothing for it to react with.
Hi Jeff! I hope we caught you in time! Try 2.5 g chili flakes, 20 g fennel, 20 g sesame, 10 g black pepper and salt to taste.
Thanks for sharing!
Steaming to reheat is the best way Diane.
Is there an ideal 'room temperature' to make these? Just tried to and I think with snow on the ground the room temp is probably a bit too cold; the dough never quite came together to get that silky look (seemed too dry?)
Great insights!
Thank you all for this recipe! Tried making Chang's original recipe and was disappointed. Aiming to give this a shot tomorrow.
I noticed in the later pictures there appears to be parchment in the fold of the buns. Do you do this after they are steamed to prevent them from sticking or was this a different technique?
Super creative!
We think of room temp as about 72 F / 22 C. But hmmm I'm not sure why it would come out dry -- did you knead it on a wood surface?
Hi Sara. I'm experiencing the same problem. My room temp is about 67 F and the dough didn't make the ball as shown in the video. I'll proof this first ball and see how it goes from there. If still experiencing issues, I plan on pulling back on my flour. I'll let you know how it goes.
Ellen,
When you guys were making this, were you in a warmer, more humid climate? I'm in the Northeast where it's just snowed/temp. in 30's with low humidity. Above Sara and I are experiencing an issue with the dough. It isn't coming together on the dough hook, but rather leaving a fair amount of unincorporated flour at the bottom of the bowl.
After about 12-13 minutes I removed the dough from the hook and kneaded whatever unincorporated flour into the ball by hand, but there simply wasn't enough moisture. As stated above, I'm going to try to reduce dry/add liquid by pulling back on the flour a bit/adding more milk. Do you have any other thoughts? Thanks.
I just made them. I consider them a complete success. Family loved them.
I could do with less sugar though.
Now I have to try some other bun recipes, because I don't have anything to compare them to. They are basically unknown here in Germany.
Hmm, that's what the room temp is on my side, and I have a granite countertop. I think I'll double-check to see if my yeast was good, it was a brand new container but it couldn't hurt. I tried proofing it but it never got anywhere near doubling.
Sweet! Yeah let me know how that goes! If nothing else I'll try that sponge method Fusiform mentioned.
Thanks! I wonder what other sauces could work... time to experiment
This looks great to me. unfortunately i can't eat gluten. Is it possible to adapt the recipe to a glutenfree version of the steamy buns? You cant just change the flour to glutenfree flour. That wont work.
Would be nice, to get an answer.
Best Regards, Martin
The dough is quite flavorful, but the texture of the crumb, when prepared as a country loaf, is quite deceiving. It is much denser and far less tender than I would have expected of this technique. It also took a lot longer than one hour to proof and a lot longer than one hour to reach an internal temperature of 194f at 325 inside a dutch oven.
can i just swap lard for butter to make pork buns?
you can, but on doing some research, all the sources i've found recommend that there is little point to substituting butter with lard, as there is little to no flavor added by the lard. instead, you might try rendering some bacon fat and using that instead. Good luck! let us know how it turns out!
found this out there. might help. http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2011/12/gluten-free-bao-dough-recipe.html
I would guess that it is used to make the dough more alkaline in the same way that you'd use kansui in making ramen noodles to give it a chewier consistency.
It could also theoretically react with the acidity created by fermentation.
I'd be curious to know as well.
Hey thanks for the great recipe. It worked very well for me. I used my granite counter top to roll out the dough, and had no problems with sticking. Also, we used the steamer basket that came with our rice cooker to steam. I would definitely steam for 10 minutes, and a cartouche is recommended. Don't be intimidated by the fancy french word like I was. Alas, it's just a piece of parchment paper cut into a circle. ;o)
I have one suggestion, though: When you roll out the dough, roll it thinner than you expect. It puffs up quite a bit, and our first batch came out TOO puffy. We garnished with rotisserie chicken meat, zuccini, cucumber, garlic chives, fresh radishes, hoisin (a must, but salty be careful), and chili paste (another must). Can't wait to try with BBQ pork. Planning to try some round filled steamed pork buns: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner!
Thank you for the tip!!
I'd like to prepare them for an event and need to do as much in advance as possible. How can I break up the recipe into different parts. For example, can I put the cut taco dough in the fridge and steam up the next day?
I recommend making all of them in advance and reheat from frozen for a minimum of 5 minutes on a steamer.
Awesome! Thanks!!
Now I know Chefsteps is going to give us that recipe with what I'm guessing is a squid ink steamed bun with fried baby octopus and kewpie mayo, righhhhhhht??? They look so good at the end of the video!
thanks for the link. i found them too. but they dont look tasty / good.
Are you working at a higher elevation? Elevation and/or cold weather could be drying up your dough. I recommend adding more milk. I've made the ChefSteps bagel recipe at Tahoe (winter+elevation) and had to add a tbsp or two of liquid.
I noticed this too and was wondering the same thing.
Stay tuned, Paul!
Hi Melissa! Great catch! Chef Nick actually tried multiple methods (and we did two separate shoots!) but ultimately preferred using the nonstick spray over the parchment paper separation method. Thanks for checking!
Hi Nathan! Chef Nick actually tried multiple methods (and we did two separate shoots!) but ultimately preferred using the nonstick spray over the parchment paper separation method. Thanks for checking!
Hi James, we've noticed that a few community members have experienced this issue. We think of room temp as about 72 F / 22 C. But, if you notice this happening, we actually recommend stopping the mixer only a few minutes into the process, kneading in the particulates and then starting it again to finish up the mixing process. It's better to hand-knead and then re-start the process earlier. If the dough is still too dry, Chef Nick recommends not altering anything else in the recipe other than increasing the milk by a tiny amount.
Hi Maria! We haven't given this a try so we're not able to speak to it, but let us know how it goes if you experiment!
Hi Martin! Ah, we're not able to speak to this with certainty as we haven't tried any gluten free substitutions, but we think it could be worth experimenting with different types of gluten free flours! Please let us know how it goes if you try it!
I live right along sandy beaches, so pretty much as low as you can be. Good tip though!
Are the buns being frozen before being steamed or right after? Look forward d to trying this
Good question! Although soda will react with an acid to generate CO2, it will also react with plain water if it is heated to create sodium hydroxide and carbonic acid, the latter of which will break down to water and CO2. So the combination of baking soda and baking powder is more powerful than baking powder alone. The balance of acid vs base is important in taste, so the combination might taste better as well.
As Andrew mentions, it is an interesting question as to whether the soda will make the dough more alkaline, and analogous to "alkaline" Chinese noodles (and ramen), promote greater gluten formation. This might also account for the yellow color that some have complained about (which is characteristic of these types of noodles).
