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Steamed pork buns (aka char siu bao) are a classic dim sum dish, a must order item at the restaurant. Pork is roasted or barbecued, wrapped in white dough and then steamed.
Steamed pork buns are one of the “Guangdong Big Three,” along with shrimp dumplings and siu mai, a true staple of the original Cantonese dim sum tradition. If you want to be a true dim sum chef, this would be one of the dishes to master, from the sweet white dough to the savory filling.
There’s a tendency when making these buns to roll the dough too thinly. You want the dough to be tapered slightly from thick to thin, as you move away from the center of the dough circle before adding the filling. If the center of the bun is too thin, it will tear on the bottom while steaming.
Can you share any expert tips from your experience making steamed pork buns? Want to ask a question before you try making it yourself? I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below!
Steamed Pork Buns Recipe
Makes: 8 | Prep Time: 90 Minutes | Cook Time: 15 Minutes
Adapted From: Jun-blog
Ingredients
Yeast Dough:
1 1/2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
3/4 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 cups flour
Filling:
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons canola oil
salt and ground white pepper to taste
2 scallions, chopped white and green parts
1/2 pound char siu, diced
1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine
1 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
Directions
1. Combine sugar, salt, white, pepper, soy sauce, oyster sauce and water in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the scallions and cook, stirring constantly, for about a minute. Add the char siu and stir well. Add the soy sauce and oyster sauce mixture and cook, stirring frequently, for about 2 minutes, until the pork is heated through.
3. Add the Shaoxing rice wine to the dissolved cornstarch. Add the wine and cornstarch mixture to the warm pork and cook, stirring constantly, for another minute until the mixture has come together into a mass that you can mound. Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool at room temperature before using.
4. Put the yeast in a small bowl, add the water and set aside for 1 minute to soften. Whisk in the oil to blend and dissolve the yeast. Set aside.
5. Combine sugar, baking powder and flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the yeast mixture. Slowly stir with a wooden spoon, moving from the center toward the rim, to work in all the flour. Keep stirring as a ragged but soft dough forms. Then use your fingers to gather and pat the dough together into a ball. Transfer to a clean work surface and knead for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and slightly elastic.
6. Place the dough in a large bowl that has been lightly oiled. Cover with plastic wrap and put it in a warm, draft-free place to rise for 45 minutes until the dough has nearly doubled.
7. Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour. Cut the dough in half and roll into a foot-long log. Cut the log into eight pieces.
8. Roll each piece into a ball and flatten gently into a small disc. Using a small rolling pin roll the edges and only the edges. There should be a small bulge at the center of the dough.
9. Place a tablespoon of the char siu filling in the center of the dough. Wrap the filling by pressing and pulling the edges of the dough. Gather the edges and twist the top to fully cover the filling.
10. Place each bun on a square of wax paper before steaming. Steam the buns in a bamboo steamer for 15 minutes, being careful to leave 1-2 inches between each.
Learn more about Steamed Pork Buns from these Experts
Watch Jessica Gavin make delicious Steamed Pork Buns (VIDEO)
Rasa Malaysia shares a Malaysian spin on Steamed Pork Buns
A real find: the heavenly Steamed Pork Buns from Momof*cku in New York
HT: Photo by Alpha via Wikimedia Commons.
More From Dim Sum Central
FAQs
Any rush of cool air could potentially make the buns collapse. If you're making fluffy yeasted buns, let the buns sit covered in the steamer for an extra 5 minutes after the heat has been turned off. This resting time is crucial. If you open the lid too quickly, the cool air from outside might deflate the buns.
What is the difference between steamed bun and bao bun? ›
Bao Buns (pronounced “bow”), but also known as a 'steamed buns' or 'baozi' 包子, are a delicious, warm, fluffy treat of stuffing wrapped inside a sweet, white dough. Made with a mix of flour, yeast, sugar, baking powder, milk and oil, the bao is a tad sweeter than its closely related cousin, the dumpling.
Is dim sum the same as pork buns? ›
Examples of Dim Sum classics are BBQ Pork buns, Siu Mai and Custard buns. Dim Sim is the name of a Chinese-inspired snack that is shaped like a Siu Mai – i.e. a cylinder of meat and vegetable filling, partially wrapped in a pastry.
Why add baking powder to bao buns? ›
Baking powder.
This recipe uses baking powder to help the buns rise quickly, meaning you can skip the first rise of the dough and shape the bao right after mixing and kneading.
How do you make buns more airy? ›
Simply put, you have to control the temperature of the bread. Allowing ample time for your bread dough to rise and the yeast to form will create the holes in the bread that give it a lighter texture. Letting your dough get puffy and grow before it goes into the oven is critical.
What is the best flour for bao? ›
Any brand of all-purpose flour, which has a moderate level of gluten, will do to make the bao, but you have options: For the brightest-looking buns, use bleached all-purpose flour. For deeper flavor and a tad more chew, choose unbleached flour. Either way, weigh the flour for the best results.
What is the difference between pork buns and pork bao? ›
Pork buns are traditionally baked or pan-fried, resulting in a slightly firmer outer layer. Because the buns are baked, they are drier and, therefore, are less sticky to pick up with your fingers. Bao is unmistakably steamed, which imparts its characteristic soft and airy texture.
What is a steamed pork bun called? ›
These buns are a grab-and-go street food in China. Use a multi-tray bamboo steamer can cook all the buns at one time. To make them up to two months ahead, fill the dough, and freeze unsteamed buns on a tray in the freezer before placing them in a freezer-safe zip-top plastic bag.
Are bao buns Chinese or Japanese? ›
Bao or Baozi are said to have been invented in China during the 3rd century by a military strategist called Zhuge Liang [181-234]. They were first named Mantou but over time they began to be referred to as baozi or bao meaning to wrap in Mandarin.
What ethnicity is pork buns? ›
A gua bao, also known as a pork belly bun, bao, or bao bun, is a type of lotus leaf bun originating from Fujianese cuisine in China. It is also a popular snack in Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, and Nagasaki Chinatown in Japan.
Bao flour is normally made by stirring together all-purpose flour, instant yeast, baking powder, canola oil, sugar and water. However, in this recipe, I use biscuit dough as a short-cut and it comes out so fantastic!
What are Tianjin style steamed pork buns? ›
The dough is cut and formed into balls that are filled with a mixture of ground pork, pork fat, soy sauce, sesame oil, scallions, ginger, salt, and cold water. The pork has water slowly added to it so that it plumps up the meat and creates a savory broth as the buns steam.
Why add vinegar to bao? ›
In order to get white bao, many Chinese American cooks use low-gluten (low-protein), bleached cake flour for their bao dough; cake flour is milled from soft wheat and has 8 to 10% gluten/protein. To make up for the flour's lack of gluten a touch of vinegar is added to result in more chewy dough.
Why did my steamed buns turn brown? ›
Some parts of the buns have brown and yellow spots after steaming and the texture is chewy. This is a very common issue for steamed buns and it's usually caused by a sudden increase and/or decrease in pressure while steaming. To avoid it, you should: Slowly heat up the bun dough in the steamer.
Why aren t my bao buns fluffy? ›
If you're looking for the fluffiest buns, use cake flour which is low in gluten. Bread flour, which is high in gluten, is acceptable but it results in a chewier texture. You can replace ⅕ of the bread flour with cornstarch to lower its gluten level.
Why aren't my buns light and fluffy? ›
If your dinner rolls aren't fluffy it could be because of one of two reasons. Either, you added too much flour or you possibly used all bread flour. Alternately, not giving your dinner rolls enough time to proof and get puffy before baking could yield dense rolls.
Why do my buns come out dense? ›
There may be several reasons for a dense, cake like texture in bread. It may indicate the kneading wasn't enough for the gluten to develop properly, or the dough was proved for too short a time or the dough may have been too dry. It is also worth checking the flour you used.
What is the trick to fluffy bread? ›
Potato Flakes or Potato Water
Starch helps the dough by trapping the gas from the yeast in the dough and makes the bubbles stronger. This helps the bread to rise and be lighter and fluffier.
Why are my bao buns dense? ›
Just replace 1/3 of the flour in the recipe below with wholemeal (wholewheat) bread flour. They'll be a little bit denser/ chewier but still delicious. I wouldn't recommend doing 50% or 100% wholemeal flour as it'll make the buns too dense and they won't be fluffy.
