Those hot, pillowy, soft buns filled with meat or chicken make the perfect appetizer. But what do you do if you don’t want to store a bulky wooden steamer?
Often, when an item shows up on a restaurant menu, it doesn’t take long for it to be adopted by home cooks. Lamb Riblets, Corn Riblets, Turkey-Wrapped Dates, this Feta Eggplant Carpaccio and Tuna Carpaccio are some of the items we first tried in a restaurant and then duplicated so we could share them with you. For more restaurant-inspired recipes, see our Kosher Kopycat series.
If there’s one plus about adopting restaurant dishes for the home cook, it’s that we really try to make them more practical so that it works, not just for our tables, but for our lives.
And when it comes to these Bao Buns, it meant being able to make them ahead and freeze (no, we don’t have sous chefs in our kitchens steaming them fresh for our guests) or being able to make them without investing in more bulky kitchen equipment.
Could we accomplish both? Yes! Let’s find out how.
The dough for Bao Buns actually comes together really quickly because they traditionally incorporate both yeast and baking powder–which means they rise quickly.
Let the dough rise for just 20 minutes or so before forming the buns. After kneading it well, form the dough into a log and cut into 12 evenly sized pieces.
Roll the pieces into balls and keep them covered while you work.
Flatten each ball into an oval shape. You can use a rolling pin to help.
Brush the top side of each oval with sesame oil,
Fold the ovals in half. Once all the buns are shaped, cover and let rise for 30 minutes, until they puff up a bit.
You can either use a traditional bamboo steamer, or a round disposable pan. You need to use a pan that matches the width of your pot. If using a disposable pan, make 12-15 slits in the bottom of the pan.
If you are making buns in bulk, you can prepare multiple pans like this and let the buns rise directly in the pans (you can also do this if you are using a bamboo steamer with multiple trays). Or, simply prepare multiple pieces of parchment as shown below and swap out the parchment with buns for each batch.
Make slits in the piece of parchment paper you use to line the pan. This is easiest to do if you fold the parchment in half twice and cut some slits. Be sure to cut a slit in the center of the paper.
Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the pan/steamer and the parchment-lining. Add buns to the pan (about 5 at a time).
Cover and let steam for 12-15 minutes, until buns are cooked and look like little pillows.
You see here they’re about halfway cooked.
Now you can see they are nice and puffy and ready. At this point, you can freeze the buns to warm and use later, or you can go ahead and fill them! To see how we’ve filled these Bao Buns, see our Smoked Brisket Bao Buns here.
Once the buns are ready, if you will be freezing place a piece of parchment paper in the opening of the bao buns so that they don’t stick closed and are easy to fill once thawed.
You can freeze these directly in the disposable steamer. To rewarm, place the pan directly on top of a pot of boiling water. This is the ideal way to rewarm so that they’re just as good as freshly steamed buns!
Note: We heard that some make Bao Buns using Rhodes dough. We tested it a few times and found that results are not consistent so we can’t recommend the shortcut at this time!
Bao Buns Without a Steamer
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp instant yeast
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp oil
- ¾ cup warm water
- sesame oil, for brushing
Instructions
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine all ingredients. Knead for 3-4 minutes, until the dough is well-combined and very smooth. Be patient!
- You may need to add a little more flour or water – as needed.
- Shape the dough into a log. Let rest 20 minutes. Cut into 12 evenly sized pieces and roll into balls. Then, flatten each ball into an oval shape (you can use a rolling pin). Brush the top side of each oval with sesame oil, and fold them in half.
- Once all the buns are shaped, cover and let rise for 30 minutes, until they puff up a bit.
- Now the buns are ready to be steamed. You can either use a traditional wooden steamer, or a round disposable pan. You need to use a pan that matches the width of your pot.
- Make 12 slits in the bottom of your disposable pan. Make additional slits in a piece of parchment paper that you line it with (this is easiest to do if you fold the piece of parchment paper in half twice, then use a scissor to cut a few slits).
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the pan and the parchment lining. Add buns to the pan (about 6 at a time) and cover. Let steam for 12-15 minutes, until buns are cooked and look like little pillows.
- At this point, you can freeze the buns to warm and use later, or you can go ahead and fill them. If freezing, place a piece of parchment paper in the opening of each bao bun so that they don't stick closed and are easy to fill once thawed.
- To warm the Bao Buns, you can simply place them in the oven for 5 minutes. If they are frozen, place them in a covered pan and rewarm for 10-20 minutes (depending on how frozen/thawed they are and your oven temperature).
Notes
If there’s water in the pot — and slits in the pan and slits in the parchment — doesn’t the boiling water come up into the pan and the dough is sitting in water??? Wouldn’t the pan have to somehow sit ABOVE the waterline in order to steam instead of just cooking? Like on a rack or something?
What am I not understanding?
The pan is the same width as the pot – sitting above the water.