CHINESE BBQ PORK BUNS (BAKED CHA SIU BAO RECIPE)

Hello again everyone, and welcome back! Don't forget that we are having Chinese Food Buffet this weekend! Last night we started on our journey to make Chinese Pork Buns, something that I have been wanting to try for months. We have the normal Chinese restaurants where I live, but I haven't seem, or heard, of these before. The recipe that I finally decided to use is here. It is a very long recipe, but very well worth the effort to do them.

My journey actually began making the Cha Siu, you can find that blog here. The Cha Siu is actually pretty easy to make, even if you have to marinade it over night. The dough is a bit more time consuming to make.

The biggest difference that I am going to mention in this recipe is how long it says to Knead the dough. Do NOT knead the dough for twenty minutes. Once you mix the dough up you are going to take it out, put flour on your counter, and knead it there. Only knead it for about ten minutes, if you do it for twenty minutes then the bread is going to be so hard that you can't eat it. This seems to be one of the most often seen complaints that I found for the dough.

The second issue that that you are going to need to know about is how much dough you are going to use for each roll. Your first rolls are going to come out bigger, you want to keep the dough smaller than what you want to originally grab. Keep it small, press, and stretch the sides out a little, keep the middle thicker than the out sides. The picture here is actually taken from the site with the recipe, I couldn't take a picture myself and I wanted you to see what it needed to look like.

The more you get the rolls done you will get used to how much dough, and the amount of the sauce you are going to put in it. You only need 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of the meat sauce than per roll. You won't use all of the meat that you made, you will have extra, it's safe to eat right out of the bowel, or even on a sandwich! Doesn't it look amazing, it tastes just as amazing! Your first time doing this, unless you manage to get the dough all even, which I wasn't, you'll get between 10 and 16 rolls. I only got 11.

One more thing that I want you to know about, don't forget to change the heat it cooks. You start the oven preheat at 400 degrees, but remember to turn it down to 350 as soon as you put the rolls in. So you do not freak out when you take the rolls out of the oven and they look hard, they even feel hard when you thump them. Give them five minutes to cool off, the longer that they cool off the softer they will become. The Egg Wash gives it this beautiful golden brown, glossy look, and they are absolutely amazing! Enjoy them, they are well worth the time spent to make them! Let me know what you think! I hope that this is as amazing of an adventure for you as it was for me!

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CHINESE BBQ PORK BUNS (BAKED CHA SIU BAO RECIPE)

INGREDIENTS YOU'LL NEED:

FOR THE BUNS: 5 cups bread flour or all purpose flour, plus ⅓ cup ⅔ cup water 1⅓ cup milk, divided ⅓ cup sugar 1 teaspoon salt 4 teaspoons instant yeast 2 eggs 4 tablespoons melted butter eggwash (1 egg, beaten with a tablespoon of milk) 1 tablespoon sesame seeds (optional) FOR THE FILLING: 2 tablespoons oil ½ cup finely chopped shallots or red onion 2 tablespoons sugar 1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce 2 tablespoons oyster sauce 1 ½ tablespoon sesame oil 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce ¾ cup chicken stock 3 tablespoons flour 2 cups diced Chinese roast pork (cha siu)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a medium saucepan, mix ⅓ cup flour with ⅔ cup water and ⅓ cup milk until the flour is dissolved. Put the pan over medium heat and stir constantly until the mixture resembles a thick paste, about 3-5 minutes. Set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine 5 cups of flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Add the flour paste (tangzhong), 1 cup milk, 2 eggs, and melted butter. Stir together to form a soft dough, and knead (by hand or with the dough hook attachment of your mixer) for 10 minutes. Form the dough into a ball and place into a lightly greased bowl. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise for 1 hour.

3. While that’s happening, make the meat filling. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a wok over medium high heat. Add the onion and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and dark soy. Stir and cook until it starts to bubble up. Add the chicken stock and flour. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook, stirring, for a couple minutes until thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the roast pork. Set aside to cool.3. While that’s happening, make the meat filling. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a wok over medium high heat. Add the onion and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and dark soy. Stir and cook until it starts to bubble up. Add the chicken stock and flour. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook, stirring, for a couple minutes until thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the roast pork. Set aside to cool.

4. After it has risen, separate the dough into 16 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a small circle, where the center is slightly thicker than the edges. Fill each with meat filling, and crimp them closed, making sure they’re tightly sealed. Lay them out seam side down on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, and let rise for another hour. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (200 degrees C)

5. Brush with egg wash, sprinkle with sesame seeds (if using). Put them in the oven and immediately turn the oven down from 400 degrees (about 200 degrees C) to 350 degrees (about 175 degrees). Bake for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

PAIRS WELL WITH

Garlic Sauce