Bao Buns

A fluffy steamed dough served with braised pork belly, pickled vegetables and crushed peanuts. 

Ingredients

Bao Bun Dough:

• 600g plain flour

• 350ml full fat milk

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• 7g yeast

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

Pork Belly:

• 1.5kg pork belly, cut into strips

• 4 tablespoons soy sauce

• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce

• 1 tablespoon honey

• 1 teaspoon hot sauce

• 1 tablespoon hoisin

• 3 tablespoons rice wine or rice vinegar

• 25g sugar

Garnishes/toppings:

• 1/2 cucumber

• 1 medium carrot

• 500ml white wine vinegar

• Pinch of peppercorns

• Pinch of coriander seeds

• Peanuts

• Fresh coriander

• Sesame seeds

Directions

Dough and prep:

1. Mix together the dough ingredients and knead by hand until it is formed together. Cover and let rest for up to an hour

2. Knead again for about 5 minutes, and check that there has been sufficient gluten development by doing the window pane test. If it is has not developed enough, cover and leave for another hour, and knead again. Repeat until sufficiently developed, then cover until about an hour before cooking.

3. Remove the skin from the carrot, then continue peeling until it has been cut into thin shreds. Do the same with a cucumber, but stop peeling once you hit the watery/seed centre. Discard the carrot skin only, and place all the shreds in a bowl or jar. Fill bowl/jar with vinegar until carrot and cucumber is submerged and add the peppercorns and coriander seeds. Cover bowl/jar.

Pork Belly:

4. Heat some oil in a dutch oven. Pat the pork belly dry and season with salt and any spices of choice. Sear the pork belly strips until browned, then remove from the heat.

5. Wait until the pot cools down slightly and add soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, honey, hot sauce, vinegar/wine and hoisin. Mix together until a sauce has formed over low heat.

6. Add back the pork belly strips and then add enough water so the pork is just submerged. Place the lid on the pot and cook over low heat for about an hour.

7. At the end of the hour, they should be soft but not completely falling apart. Remove from the pot, and you can continue to thicken the sauce until desired consistency if preferred.

8. Just before assembly, sear the strips in a frying pan one last time, then toss in the thickened sauce and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top to finish.

Steaming the buns:

9. Divide the risen dough into approx. 70g pieces and form into balls. Cover the balls and leave to rest for up to an hour.

10. Cut the same amount of square parchment paper pieces (~10cm x 10cm).

11. To form into a bao bun, flatten a dough ball into a circular disk, then fold in half like a taco. Oil a piece of the square parchment paper and place in your bamboo steamer. Place the folded dough piece on top.

12. Fill a frying pan with about an inch of water, and bring to the boil. Fit as many bao buns as you can in one layer of the bamboo steamer, then cover and place in the boiling water. Make sure the water in the pan is not in direct contact with the buns, but that there is enough water in the pan to not dry out during the 10 minute steam.

13. Steam for 10 minutes, then remove from heat but keep the lid on the steamers. Leave to rest for another 4 minutes, then remove the lid and peel off the parchment paper. Cook the rest of the bao buns, topping up the water in the frying pan if needed.

Assembly:

14. Place a fried and sauced piece of pork belly into the bun and top with coriander leaves, some of the pickled cucumber/carrots and some crushed peanuts.

Alternatively:

15. You can instead turn this dough into burger buns by forming into 125g balls and steaming for 8 minutes. Then apply an egg wash and some poppy seeds and place in the oven for another 8 minutes or until browned. Can also alternatively serve with fried katsu chicken.