Pillow soft baked char siu buns with homemade char siu.
If you ever tasted Char Siu, you will love the well-balanced sweet and savory taste. Char Siu pork is important ingredient for many other recipes including Egg Foo Yong, steamed char siu bao and this is another popular baked version. I water roux method, which gives them a pillow soft texture even after reheating. But if you are in hurry and there is no water roux on hand, milk bread dough can also be used as a wrapper dough for this recipe.
Filling
- 2 cups leftover char siu dices
- 100ml water
- 1 tbsp. cornstarch
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp. hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp. sugar
Mix cornstarch with water and set aside for couple of minutes until well combined. In a small sauce pot, add starch water, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, light soy sauce, sugar and heat over slowest fire until there are big bubbles.This is our char siu starch which shoulder the responsibility of juicy filling.
Then mix the mixture with diced leftover char siu. That’s our filling. Cool down, covered and keep in fridge for 30 minutes
Water roux-Tangzhong starter
- 20g flour
- 100g water
In a small pan, mix flour with water and then keep stirring over slow fire until the mixture becomes thicker and thicker. And the lines of your spatula or egg whisk will not disappear directly. Remove from heat and cool down. Transfer the water roux (TangZhong Starter) mixture into a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge at least overnight (I usually use around 1 day).
Main Dough
- 195g (1+1/2 cup) bread flour
- 90g (3/4 cup)cake flour
- 6g (2 tsp.)instant yeast
- 30g (2 tbsp. )sugar(or reduce to 10g for a salty bun)
- 3g (1/2 tsp.)salt (or extra 3g for a salty bun)
- 1 middle size egg
- 80g (scant 1/4 cup) milk
- 45g (3 and 1/2 tbsp.)unsalted butter, softened under room temperature
Before making the main dough, move the water roux to room temperature to set reset for around 30 minutes.Add all the ingredients including milk, egg and tangzhong into a breadmaker or a large mixing bowl. Then add the sugar, salt, flour and yeast. Knead the dough for around 10 minutes at slow speed. And add “butter “and continue kneading for another 10 minutes at medium speed. Then set aside and wait for the first proofing. In winter days, we might need hours until the dough is 2 to 2.5 times in size.
Divide the dough into 12 to 14 equal portions and round each one.Take one portion out, press down to a round wrapper. Scoop around 1 tablespoon Char Siu pork filling to the center. Seal the bun completely and then turn it over. Repeat the process to assemble all the other buns.
Place the well assembled buns on a lined baking tray and now we are ready to the second proofing. In hot summer days, you can cover a plastic wrapper and let the dough rest in room temperature for 40 minutes to 1 hour until almost doubled in size. In cold winter days, place the baking tray in your oven with a larger bowl of boiling hot water beneath. This method creates a warm and moist environment, which can speed up the second proofing.
Close the oven and let the buns rest for around 30 minutes until they are all doubled in size.
Take them out and brushing egg wash and top with roasted white sesame seeds. Preheat the oven to 180 degreeC and bake for 18 to 20 minutes on the middle rack. Then take out and brush a thin layer of butter on surface, which creates a shinning and hardened surface.
Char Siu Bao-Baked Buns Recipe
Ingredients
For the filling
- 2 cups leftover char siu dices
- 100 ml water
- 1 tbsp. cornstarch
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp. hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp. sugar
Roux
- 20 g 2 tbsp. flour
- 100 g 100ml water
Main dough
- 195 g 1+1/2 cup bread flour
- 90 g 3/4 cupcake flour
- 6 g 2 tsp.instant yeast
- 30 g 2 tbsp. sugar(or reduce to 10g for a salty bun)
- 3 g 1/2 tsp.salt (or extra 3g for a salty bun)
- 1 middle size egg
- 80 g scant 1/4 cup milk
- 45 g 3 and 1/2 tbsp.unsalted butter, softened under room temperature
Egg wash and decorating
- 1 egg whisked + 1 tbsp. water
- 1 teaspoon roasted sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter
Instructions
Water roux
- In a small pan, mix flour with water and then keep stirring over slow fire until the mixture becomes thicker and thicker. And the lines of your spatula will not disappear directly. Remove from heat and cool down.
- Transfer the water roux (TangZhong Starter) mixture into a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge at least overnight (I usually use around 2 days).
Filling
- Mix cornstarch with water and set aside for couple of minutes until well combined.
- In a small sauce pot, add starch water, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, light soy sauce, sugar and heat over slowest fire until there are big bubbles. Then mix with the char siu dices.
- Cover the filling and place in fridge for 30 minutes.
Wrapper
- Before making the main dough, move the water roux to room temperature to set reset for around 30 minutes.Add all the ingredients including milk, egg and tangzhong into a breadmaker or a large mixing bowl. Then add the sugar, salt, flour and yeast. Knead the dough for around 10 minutes at slow speed. And add “butter “and continue kneading for another 10 minutes at medium speed. Then set aside and wait for the first proofing. In winter days, we might need hours until the dough is 2 to 2.5 times in size.
- Transfer the dough to a clean-floured operation board and then divide into 8 equal portions. If you plan to make smaller ones, you can choose 12 to 14 portions and round each one.
- Take one portion out, press down to a round wrapper. Scoop around 1 tablespoon Char Siu pork filling to the center. Seal the bun completely and then turn it over. Repeat the process to assemble all the other buns.
- Set aside for the second proofing until the buns are doubled in size again.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 degree C. Brush egg wash and top with white sesame seeds.
- Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until well golden brown colored.
- (optional) brushing some melt butter and serve after cooling down for several minutes.
Nutrition
Thank you so much for sharing your recipes. I used to live in Vancouver, BC, Canada where I had easy access to Chinese Curry Beef Buns. They look like the buns in the above pictures. I am hoping you have the recipe. Sadly, we don’t have any Chinese stores in my community so I try to make all my own sauces and sometimes finding sichuan peppers can be challenging. Our stores don’t stock a lot of the sauces and I don’t like to buy stuff online. So I’m trying to remember what they look like and I think your recipes look right. I will be trying them in the near future but I would be soooooo grateful if you could provide me with the recipe to the Chinese Curry Beef Bun recipe. Looking forward to your response. Thank you so much for your help.
Curry beef bun is a great suggestion. It is not hard to make one at home. Stay turned, I will bring it on the blog.
Elaine, did you ever post the Chinese Curry Beef Bun recipe? Thank you so much.
These look lovely, I may try them this weekend. Thanks for sharing!
Just to double check, the amount of pork reads as 60g for 12 large buns, is that correct?
Yes.
I noticed that we can put roux and flour ,etc into bread maker . Can we leave the bread maker to do the mixing and leave it there to rise up or prroof. Do we punch the air out after it double in size?
Thanks.
Not suggest to use plain flour anyway. You can leave the bread in the mixer for proofing. And yes, before shaping the buns, you need to punch the air out until it doubles in size.
This is my favorite dim sum. Super soft baked buns with pork as filling, perfect !
We are great Chinese food lovers! Your recipes are excellent and the photos are beautiful !
Could you tell me which camera do you use?
I am shooting with 6D with 50mm and 100mm lens.
Hi
If I’ll to use the roux on the same day instead of the next day. Wil it affect the texture of the bun
Tks.
As long as the roux is well rested (at least 4 hours), it should work fine.
Thank you for sharing your recipe! I have a question regarding the bread flour and cake flour. Does it have any other names? I’m not quite sure what to look for at the Asian markets. I love these buns and would like to try and make them.
Hi Anh,
Bread flour is also called high gluten flour “高粉” or “高筋面粉”. Cake flour is also called low gluten flour “低粉” or “低筋面粉”. I hope this explanation helps.
I tried out your recipe but found that the dough was too wet and hence it is impossible to work. Subsequently I had to add 50g flour to save it and it turned out OK.
Richard,
Different types of flour may have different water absorbing. It is just common to add flour if the dough is too wet.
I’ve made this recipe twice now and I absolutely love it. I don’t use a bread machine because I don’t have one but I found that it is just as effective using the dough hook of my KitchenAid stand mixer. I just love the feeling of this dough it is so easy to work with and I will be using it for other types of buns filled with other yummy things as well! I haven’t had to make any adjustments to the original recipe, they come out perfectly exactly as described.
Whoops ! I did make an adjustment I forgot, I do not have cake flour and I usually don’t keep it on hand because I don’t bake a lot of sweets; however, all purpose flour works just as well if you sift it very well and mix it with the bread flour. Otherwise as stated above, this recipe is wonderful!
Thanks Rachel.
Hi, this looks good. I would like to try this. But I’m a bit confused with the ingredient amounts. You have listed ’90 g 3/4 cupcake flour‘, is that either 90 grams or 3/4 cups? And then ‘6g 2 tsp.instant yeast’ is this 6 grams of yeast or 2 tsp yeast not 6 grams and 2 tsp? And then ‘80 g scant 1/4 cup milk’. Are the 2 measurements given for either conversions?
Thanks!
Yes, they are different measurement.