Steamed bao buns (包子), a complete guide
Tasty filling with fluffy wrapper, homemade bao buns are super comforting! This guide offers tips and tricks to ensure a fail-proof experience.
- Prep time
- 30 min
- Cook time
- 20 min
- Yield
- 12 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
- 300 g all-purpose flour (or cake flour, see note 1)
- 1 tsp dried yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp cooking oil (see note 2)
- 140 ml lukewarm water (see note 3)
- 150 g minced pork
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp oyster sauce
- 1 pinch ground Sichuan pepper (or Chinese five-spice powder)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp water (or unsalted stock)
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 150 g carrot (grated)
- 1 small onion (finely chopped)
- 2 tbsp coriander (finely chopped)
Instructions
- 1
Mix flour, yeast, sugar and oil in a bowl. Pour in water little by little while mixing.
- 2
Combine and knead with your hands until a very smooth dough forms (see note 4).
- 3
Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size (It will take between 40 minutes to 1.5 hours depending on the room temperature).
- 4
Put pork, soy sauce, oyster sauce, salt and Sichuan pepper/Chinese five-spice in a mixing bowl.
- 5
Swirl constantly while gradually adding water/stock until no more liquid can be seen.
- 6
Brief stir fry grated carrot and onion in oil until softened. Add to the pork along with chopped coriander.
- 7
Knead the dough until it goes back to its original size.
- 8
Divide it into 12 equal portions. Roll each piece into a disk-like wrapper.
- 9
Place some filling in the middle of a wrapper then fold into a bao shape.
- 10
Leave all the assembled buns to rest for another 15 minutes or so.
- 11
Place the buns (with parchment paper underneath each one) in the steamer basket (see note 5). Leave 2cm space between the buns and the side of the steamer.
- 12
Start cooking with cold water over a high heat. Turn the heat down to medium-low when the water starts boiling.
- 13
Cook for 15-18 minutes.
- 14
Serve them warm, on their own or with some dipping sauce (find inspirations in my post Six dumpling sauces).
- 15
You can freeze cooked buns. Leave to defrost in the fridge then steam for 8 minutes to warm up, or steam for 15 minutes without defrosting.