Pork Buns – (Cha Siu Bao)

 

Mixture

• In a bowl, I mixed together 1 TBS grated ginger, 1 TBS oyster sauce, 1 TBS hoisin sauce, 1 TBS dark soy sauce, 2 TBS sugar, and 1/2 cup water and set aside.
• I set a wok over high heat, then added 1 TBS peanut oil, letting the oil get very hot, then added 1 cup of finely chopped onion and stir-fried until soft, but not letting the onion turn brown.
• I then added 2 lbs of roast pork that had been diced very small and stir-fried for 30 seconds, then poured in the marinade mixture and let everything come to a boil.
• I slowly added 1 TBS of cornstarch that I had previously mixed with 1 TBS water and stirred it in with the pork, cooking and stirring until thick.
• Once the mixture was thickened, I added 1 TsP sesame oil, stirred for 20 seconds just to incorporate the oil and then removed everything from the heat and set aside. The mixture needs to be cool when filling the dough.

For the Dough:

• I dissolved 1 package of dried yeast with 1 TBS sugar in 1/4 cup warm water, I let this sit for about 5 minutes letting it foam, then after 5 minutes I mixed it around and added 3/4 cup warm heavy cream, a beaten egg and 2 TBS vegetable oil. I set that all aside while I mixed the dry ingredients. In a large bowl I sifted 3-1/2 cups of flour with the remaining 2 TBS of sugar and a pinch of salt, then added the yeast mixture and with my hands I mixed the dough until it was slightly tacky adding more flour if needed. When the dough pulled away from the sides of the bowl I turned it out onto a floured countertop and began kneading.
• I kneaded the dough for 10 minutes, taking a few breaks in between to let the dough rest so that it was easier to handle and giving my arm a rest as its quite a work out. . After ten minutes the dough was a lot smoother and I placed it in a large bowl that had been coated with vegetable oil, turned it a few times to coat, then covered it with plastic wrap and a dish towel and set it aside to rest for 3 hours. I put it in the airing cupbaord as its nice and warm in there.
• After three hours the dough had doubled in size.
• I punched it down, let it rest for about 2 minutes then turned it out onto a lightly floured surface

Finishing off:

At this point, I began to work the dough into a flat shape, then sprinkled 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder over the top surface.

I gathered the sides of the dough and sort of pinched them together to keep the baking powder from spilling out and then began to knead it into the dough to incorporate it really well, about 5 minutes.

I divided the dough into 20 equal-ish balls (some were bigger than others but that’s okay) and set them aside in the oiled bowl from earlier, then covered them with a damp dish towel while I worked with each piece of dough individually. I then rolled out into flat discs.

I placed 2 heaping tablespoons of filling in the center of each disc,

then did the best I could to stretch/pinch/close the dough over the filling

I placed each finished blob onto a little sheet of wax paper and then set that onto a cookie sheet and covered it with a damp towel while I made the other yummy treats

Once I had all the buns made, I covered them with the dish towel and let them proof for 1 hour. When I lifted the towels an hour later I noticed that the buns had risen again.

I made an egg wash that consisted of 2 egg yolks, 4 tablespoons of cold water and a teaspoon of sugar and using a pastry brush I brushed it very gently onto the buns.

I placed the buns in a pre-heated 350 degree oven and let them bake for 20 minutes, give or take a few minutes. When I removed the buns from the oven they had turned a nice brown and the kitchen smelled incredible! I left them to cool on wire racks

The finished product is delicous, sort of sweet, sort of savory, well worth the effort.