As French we rarely have a meal without bread. Whether it is a baguette, a wholemeal loaf, a wrap, we need to have some. It’s been a long time now that I am doing my own bread at home, I need to remember to put the recipe here actually!
I wanted to try something new for a while, so when I made steamed vegetables I thought “why not trying to cook the bread dough that way as well?”.
These plain, round shaped, buns are the perfect addition to any dish. You can dip it in a sauce or stuff it. At home, we ate them with sticky tofu during the meal, and with margarine and jam for the desert. The first batch was gone within a day, so I can’t tell you for sure how long they would last…
Bao Buns
Servings 12 buns
Calories 122kcal
Equipment
- Stand mixer
- Damp cotton cloths (kitchen tea towel)
- Steamer basket or food steamer
Ingredients
- 200 ml soy milk
- 1 tsp dried yeast
- 1 tbsp golden caster sugar
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 300 g plain flour
- 60 g corn flour
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
Prepare the dough
- Add all the ingredients (in the order listed above) in the bowl of the mixer.Start kneading using the dough hook on low speed and slowly increase to medium-high speed. Knead for 5 minutes, the dough should be soft and smooth.
- Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel and place it in a warm place to rest and rise for 90 minutes.
Prepare the buns
- Once the dough is ready, place it on a floured surface and knead by hand to release the air bubbles for 1 or 2 minutes.
- Roll the dough and cut 12 slices.
- Take one slice and roll it in your hands to shape a ball.
- Place each ball on a small piece of parchment paper.
Steam the Bao Buns
- Place the balls on a food steamer with the parchment paper leaving a bit of space between them. Steam for 20 minutes.
- Once done, leave them in the basket for 5 minutes to allow them to slowly cool down. Then they can be placed on a cooling rack without the parchment paper.
- They can be served immediately or frozen when totally cooled down.
Re-heat after Frozen
- Leave to defrost in the counter top for a couple of hours or on the fridge over night. Steam for 5 minutes. They are as good as freshly prepared.