Custard Buns-Liu Sha Bao

A foolproof method can be used to make silky, milky, and slightly salty custard buns. Changing the filling can be quite funny and interesting if you are good at making steamed buns.

This salty, creamy custard filling is one of the most popular Chinese steamed buns. It is similar to Nai Huang, which is also called custard filling.

Salty Duck Yolk

One of the magic ingredients for this one is the salty duck yolk. It might not be a duck, but it might also be a chicken yolk. After being fermented with salt, the salted yolk can turn into something magic. You can break it into small pickles and let it combine with all the other ingredients. I have shared a basic homemade version here. You can try to make it at home or purchase from the Asian Store.

It is one of the most popular filling in Chinese pastry and mooncake. And I also love to add it into braised dishes or stir frying. It can create a lovely golden sand (金沙 in Chinese) style and bring unique flavors.

You may wonder about the taste of duck yolk. It has a powerful aroma and a lovely melt-in-your-mouth texture that is totally different from the fresh yolk. When combined with milky ingredients, it can be so good.

Cook’s Note

I find the fermentation of this liu shao bao takes longer than other Chinese steamed buns or red bean buns because we need to freeze the filling. The lower temperature of the filling will affect the fermentation. I will recommend proofing the assembled buns under a stable temperature for a longer time. So we can wait for the filling to weak up.

Custard Powder

When you read the ingredient list, you may find an unfamiliar one- custard powder. I always love to use in egg based custard to boost the yellow color and also add some flavors. So you can skip it if you don’t want to buy some.

Step by Step Instructions

Make the custard filling

• Spray the salted egg yolks with spirit wine and let bake in an oven set to 170 degrees for 8-10 minutes. In Chinese cooking, we love to use our hard spirit to remove any raw taste. Then, mash and sift the salted egg yolks. You can find it is super fluffy at this stage. It can be super comforting for me, but you need to push hard to finish this step.

• Melt the butter with hot water in a bowl. Then add granulated sugar, milk powder, custard powder, and whipping cream (you can also use half and half or milk) and stir evenly.
• Then add the sifted salted egg yolk, and stir evenly again. Place it in a pot filled with boiling water and stir it to melt it until there are no particles.
• Sift it and freeze it for 30 minutes to an hour until it becomes a slightly hard solid.
• Finally, divide it into 12 portions of about 25g and shape it into balls. Remember to store the balls again in freezer because we will still need to make the dough.

Wrapper dough

• Add yeast, sugar, vegetable cooking oil, and milk to the flour, knead until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.
• Cover the dough with a large bowl. Rest for around 10 minutes.

Assemble

• Now transfer the dough to a lightly floured board. Knead it again until achieve a smooth Then roll into a long log; cut the log into 12 equal portions.
• Take out one flour portion, compact it slightly, and roll it out into a round crust of 8 to 10 centimeters in diameter. Try your best to make the edges thinner than the center. You can use a rotating rolling method or slightly press the edges with your fingers.
• Place a filling portion on a round wrapper and seal completely. Then flip the bun and shape it into a perfect round bun. Repeat the process to finish all the bread.

Steam the buns

Rest the buns covered and wait for around 2 hours to 4 hours (depending on the room temperature). In summer, when the room temperature is around 28 degree C.

Set up your steamer and place the buns in. Steam for 8 minutes is enough after the water is boiled.