Char Siu Bao (BBQ Pork Buns)

I always have leftover char siu as a char siu lover. I love to make my own char siu at home with a homemade char siu sauce. Each time after making  a large batch of char siu sauce, I will make char siu bao in the next day. Leftover char siu is a fabulous ingredients for lots of dishes including egg foo young,  char siu fried rice and this char siu bao. We have two versions of char siu bao (Chinese BBQ Pork buns), one is steamed and the other one is baked(叉烧餐包).  Elaine will introduce two ways of preparing the dough in this steamed char siu bao recipe. This version is the simplified version with higher success rate.

Filled steamed buns (Baozi) are different in Northern and Southern China. Bao wrappers in Northern China is strong, elastic  fluffy and without too much flavors. However the wrappers in  Southern China especially in Guangdong cuisine, are pillow soft, frail and sweet. If you ever visited a real dim sum hall, you may known what I am talking now. But the dim sum style char siu bao cannot be re-produced at home without the help of “臭粉”, ammonium bicarbonate that can help to produce a large amount of bubbles in a short time. But we have another way to go, using a common steamed buns dough.

Follow the steps and make the pillow soft and juicy char siu bao with common all purpose flours and other easy to find ingredients.

We begin with the filling as you need to fridge them for a while so it becomes easy to handle. To start with this easy char siu bao, make your own char siu firstly in the previously day and then cut the cooled char siu into small dices.

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.

Mix the mixture with char siu dices. Cool down, covered and keep in fridge for 30 minutes.

Now, let’s deal with the dough, comparing with common dough. I use a larger batch of yeast this time and employ a one time fermentation process, which can greatly shorten the time. I recommend using sugar tolerant yeast since we use quite a lot of sugar in the dough.

Wrapper

• 300g all purpose flour + more for dusting
• 40g sugar
• 2 tsp. sugar tolerant instant yeast
• 160ml warm water (or 180ml to 185ml warm milk), the best temperature for liquid is around 35 degree C.
• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil (corn oil)
• a tiny pinch of salt

Cook’s note for wrappers

1. If you read the ingredients for the dough and comparing with other Chinese steamed buns, this dough for char siu bao contains more liquid content (water and oil) and a larger amount of sugar. The final dough should be quite soft but not sticky when well kneaded.
2. I use a one time proofing method for the wrapper, which greatly save the time and make the buns more fluffy and less chewy. You can resort to a traditional Chinese pork bun method of two proofing method (二发法).  By the way, the yeast is also increased so the buns can be well proofed within a short time. It is quite important to control the temperature and fresh fresh yeast if using one proofing method.
3. In summer, you can use room temperature water, but warm water is quite necessary to activate the yeast in winter.

Steps

In a stand mixer, place all of the dough ingredients in and then knead for 7-9 minutes at slow speed. Then cover and rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Knead the dough until smooth.

Now divide the dough into 12 equal portions.  Re-knead each one until smooth and then roll the wrapper dough into round wrappers around 10 cm in diameter with thin edges. If you need more instruction about how to assemble the buns, check this video. Assemble all of those buns.

I am using a  Chinese Bamboo Steamer Set to steam most of  my steamed buns and I highly recommend using one you love pillow-soft buns the same as me. They can provide a better vapor condition with some extra freshness of Bamboo.

Cover the lid and now we begin the one time fermentation process.

• In hot summer, cover the lid and let the buns stay for  20 to 30 minutes until the buns are bigger and softer.
• In cool days,  heat the water in a pot for several minutes until warm but not boiling. Place the steamer over the pot and wait for another 20 to 30 minutes. The buns can expand very fast with warm temperature and higher air humidity.When the buns are well proofed, they becomes slightly bigger and softer (around 1/3 bigger). And if you pork a small hole, it will not recover or recover at a very low speed.

Re-start the fire and steam the buns for 15 minutes. Turn off fire and stand for another 5 minutes before enjoying. Now we have the pillow soft char siu bao with a homemaking friendly dough.

Chinese BBQ Pork Buns

Homemade soft and yummy steamed Chinese BBQ Pork Buns.

4.92 from 12 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: staple

Cuisine: Chinese

Keyword: BBQ Pork, buns

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Servings: 12 Making 12 buns

Calories: 247kcal

Author: Elaine

Ingredients

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

Wrapper

• 300 g all purpose flour + more for dusting
• 40 g sugar
• 2 tsp. sugar tolerant instant yeast
• 160 g warm water ,or 180ml to 185ml warm milk
• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil ,corn oil or other oil without strong flavor
• a tiny pinch of salt

Instructions

Make the 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.

Make the wrapper

• In a stand mixer, place all of the dough ingredients in and then knead for 7-9 minutes at slow speed. Then cover and rest for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Slightly re-knead the dough for another 2 minutes until the smooth becomes very smooth. Shape into long log first and then divide the dough into 12 equal portions. Re-knead each wrapper dough until the surface becomes smooth.
• Roll each of the wrapper dough into a round wrapper around 10 cm in diameter with thin edges. Scoop around 1 tablespoon of filling in the center and seal the buns completely. Repeat to finish all of the buns.
• Place the buns on baking papers and then place in steamer. Cover the lid and rest for another 20 minutes at a room temperature around 28 degree C to 30 degree C. In cold water days, heat water in a pot for several minutes until warm but not boiling and then place the steamer on the warm water, rest for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Start the fire and steam the buns for another 20 minutes, turn off fire and stand for 5 minutes before enjoying.
• Re-steam the buns if they are cooled. No changes for the taste.

Notes

The Nutrition Facts is based on each single char siu bun.

Nutrition

Calories: 247kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 124mg | Potassium: 34mg | Sugar: 4g | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 1.2mg