Hi .... I'm Jenny
This video is 5th in a series on how to
use different dough to make different kinds of foods
For this video, I'mg going to make "Bao Zi"
or Vegetable Steamed Buns
Good steam buns has lot of stuffing
A soft fluffy and sweet exterior bun
We'll need to use risen dough for the bun
There are 5 different recipes for buns
#1: Baking Powder
#2: Added additional 1TSP oil and 2g of salt
#3 is simpler w/o oil, salt, or baking powder
#4: is the simplest
#5: Uses bread flour instead of all purpose
Let's make #1
Add 28C water to 10g sugar
Add baking soda
Add instant yeast to flour and mix evenly
Add the sugar/baking soda water to the flour mix
Knead to a clump and cover with cloth
and rest 10 minutes to let the glutin form
Knead for 10 minutes after resting for best results
Keanding for less time will have less glutin
and dough will not rise as well
To save energy, you can buy a dough mixer
Use low speed to mix the flour for 2 minutes
then medium speed for 2 minutes
To knead evenly, do it like I'm showing above
If you are right handed you can rotate clockwise
Left handed counter clockwise
Both hands is the best :)
Knead into a ball and cover to let it rise
It will take 1-2 hours
For other types of recipe, it's the same method
but just with different ingredients mixed in
Now for the vegetable stuffings
I use seasonal vegetables because they taste the best
Here I'm using baby Bok Choy
best during beginning of winter
Wash it thoroughly
You can also add in frozen Shepherd's purse
Popular in Shanghai area
Paired with 300g of Mushroom (king trumpet shown)
A little bit of ginger
First shred the mushroom
You can use any type of mushroom
but shred or chop into small bits
Sautee in 40g of oil (I use Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
Sautee about 10 min on medium heat
to force the water out and preserve the flavor
This is why you don't wash mushroom much
Actually, you are suppose to sautee the ginger first and
then add in the mushroom but forgot in this video :P
After 10 minutes, most of the water has evaported
turn the heat to low
Add 12g of salt
15g Oyster sauce
15g sugar
Adding a lot of salt to the mushroom is good
as adding it to Bok Choy will dehyrdate it
Sautee for another 5 min
it's ready ... put it aside and let it cool
Add the bok choy to boiling water
Strain away the water and cool with cold water quickly
to avoid overcooking
After straining, dice
It's easier to dice the shepard's purse when frozen
Then defrost and squeeze away the water
It's important to have the ingredients as dry as possible
by squeezing out the water to avoid soggy Bao
Let's take a moment to talk about the dough used for Bao Zi
The "Risen Dough" a little bit like making bread
The yeast wil create CO2 gas which is
trapped by the glutin structure
Making the dough rise and full of tiny holes
making it fluffy after steaming
Back to Bok Choy.
You need to cook it first or it won't taste good
After boiling, there is still a lot of water left
Be sure to squeeze most of it out and leave a bit of moisture
To preserve the remaining moister, don't add salt
or the rest of the moisture will escape
Add 400g of oil (I used EVOO)
mix evenly
mix in the mushrooms (remove the ginger)
A secret weapon I use
to lock in moisture in the filling
is Dry Wheat Glutin
It will absorbe any water that escapes
Northern like to use dried vermicelli noodles instead
Southerners also like to use Dry Tofu Skin
Filling is now done. Time to wrap
I'm cutting 4 different shapes of parchment paper
So I can tell which type of dough was used
and show you the difference
1.5h later, let's see if we can tell the difference
between the 4 types of dough
#5: Feels most solid
#2: is the most soft and fluffy
Let's make different buns with them
and see if we can taste the difference
We need to press the dough to release excess air
Don't worry about letting too much air out
We will have a 2nd rise
Which usually creates finer holes in the dough
and more evenly distributed
Also it will be easier to wrap without air
Layout some dry flour
Knead the dough into a long log
We'll make large buns so use 50g of dough
for each bun
If each piece is the same size, then the buns
will cook at the same speed and be the same size
Flatten the pieces into a pancake
Press evenly to squeeze out any air left
Roll the dough thinner on the sides and thicker in the middle
or the buns will break at the bottom
another reason could be letting it sit for too long
Add about same weight in fillings (50g)
The more experienced you are, the more you can fit in
Cup the dough and wrap like this
Folder gently while rotating the dough
Don't need to lift
There different ways to close the bun
Take a look at 2 different methods
Method #2
A well closed bun stands up to hanging it
Now let's let it sit for 2nd rise
Let it rise for 30 min - 1 hour
Because I made 4 different kind of dough
and took longer. Some sat for 20mins and some for 1h
so they rose to different sizes :P
Best to let it rise for at least 30 min - 1 hour
For this size buns
steam for 15 min
After 15m, turn off the heat and wait 5 min
The 4 different doughs all look successful
Let's do a taste test (not in order)
#4 (sugar only): It sat the longest for 1 hour
So the outer skin is tougher
but opening it is still soft and fluffy
#5 (Bread Flour): Easiest to break open
But has more glutin so more chewy
I preferred #4 so far.
#2 (salt+oil): This was the easiest to wrap
compare to 2 previous
But the dough's texture is a bit dense
so not my favorite
I think this is more suited to smaller buns
or buns that have juices inside
#1 (baking powder)
Baking powder makes dough rise quickly
but it's an artifical ingredient
It was also easy to wrap
It create very white and soft buns
Finally a summary
Since aside from ingredients, everything was the same
the end result was all the buns were fairly similar
The one I didn't like was Bread Flour(#5).
The one I like the most was #1 with baking powder and #3 simplest
But since baking powder is a chemcial ingredient
I prefer #3 (simplest) as my favorite
If you like this video, please like & subscribe