Omnivore’s Cookbook’s Char Siu Bao

Manageability – Medium Tedium

So, you’ve made it to the next level of the challenge. You’ve dominated Cafe Delites’ Chinese Barbecue Pork Belly (Char Siu), but now you’re like “wait, how am I going to eat this delicious tasty pork? With a spoon like a stupid damn fool? Of course not! Whatever will I do?!?” Well I’ve got the answer for you, friend. And it’s one word: Bao.

Omnivore’s Cookbook’s Char Siu Baos are a soft and sweet addition to the Char Siu, perfect for delivering that mouth watering pork belly into your… uh-… mouth. And this recipe is a great way to make them. A couple of notes on this recipe. First, the ingredients for the dough are a little funky. Yeast is weird, be sure to let the dough activate, and does shortening go bad? I hope not… Anyway. After the dough rises it is a little sticky, so just work it girl. Also, try as we might, we could not get these baos to look perfectly round. Just pinch, shape them as much as you can, and move on with your life.

Finally, you’ll see we added some little piggy faces to our baos. Take one of the dough balls after rising, mix with a few drops of pink gel coloring, and pull it apart to make the cheeks, ears, and cute little nose. Use a toothpick to make some nostrils, and finally for eyes you can use some sesame seeds. Stick them on using the flat end of a toothpick, so you aren’t just trying to use your fingers.

Are they adorable? Yes, they are adorable. Now, Bao before your Queen, my little piggies!!

Ingredients

Dough

• 125 g (1/2 cup) water , warm
• 7 g (1 packet / 2 teaspoons) yeast, which is weird
• 60 g (4 tablespoons) sugar
• 250 g (1 2/3 cup) low-gluten flour (or cake flour)
• 7 g (2 teaspoons) baking powder
• 7 g (1 1/2 teaspoons) shortening

Filling

• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 1/4 cup oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 cloves garlic , grated
• 1/8 teaspoon five spice powder
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups Char Siu (Chinese BBQ pork), chopped

Instructions

Prepare the dough

1. Add the water into a small bowl and warm to approximately 100-110°F (38°C), about 30 seconds in the microwave. The water should be warm, just a bit above body temperature. To check, pour the water all over your body and think about how you feel. Add the sugar and active dry yeast, stir to mix well. Let sit for 5 minutes so the yeast will activate.
2. While the yeast activates, add the cake flour and baking powder into your mixer bowl. Not mine.
3. Once the yeast is activated, you should see bubbles on the surface of the mixture. Pour it into the mixer bowl. Mix it with a spatula a few times, until the liquid is just absorbed by the dry ingredients.
4. Install the dough hook on your mixer. Oh yeah, you need a dough hook. Start at low speed, then gradually increase to speed setting to 6 out of 10. Knead for 10 minutes, until the dough is very smooth. Stop the mixer halfway through and scrape the dough from the sides of the bowl.
5. Add the shortening. Knead on level 6 for another 5 minutes. The dough should be soft, smooth, and easily lifted from the bowl without sticking to your hands.
6. Lightly grease a large bowl with butter or oil spray. Transfer the dough into the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest in a warm part of your room, until the size triples, about 2 hours.

Prepare the char siu filling

• Combine the hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, sugar, garlic, and five spice powder in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until boiling. Turn to medium-low heat and let simmer for 1 minute. Stir occasionally until everything is mixed. Once done, remove the pan from the stove and let the sauce cool for 3 to 5 minutes.
• While cooling the sauce, add the cornstarch and 1 tablespoon of water into a small bowl. Stir to mix until the cornstarch is fully dissolved. Pour the cornstarch into the sauce. Stir to mix well. Turn the heat back on, to medium-low. Bring the sauce to a gentle simmer and stir constantly, until thickened. You should be able to draw lines on the bottom of the pan easily.
• Transfer the sauce into a medium-sized bowl. Add the char siu meat. Stir to mix well.

Assemble and cook

1. Cut some parchment paper into 3” (7 cm) squares to hold the buns. You’ll need 16 squares.
2. Punch the air out of the dough. Transfer it onto a lightly oiled working surface. Knead a few times to make the dough into a round ball. Divide the dough into 16 even pieces by cutting it into 2 even strips, then further cutting each strip into 8 small pieces. Each piece of dough should weigh 27 grams. You know, how we all use grams? Use your hands to roll and shape the dough pieces into dough balls.
3. Wrap the buns one at a time. Flatten a dough ball using your palm. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough ball into a round disc that is thick in the middle and thin on the edges, about 2.5 to 3” (6 to 7 cm) in diameter. Carefully remove it from the surface and place it onto your palm.
4. Place about a heaping tablespoon of the char siu mixture onto the center of the wrapper (4-5 pieces). Wrap the bun by pinching two ends of the dough together, then pinching the other two ends together. Press the dough edges together so it forms a square bun with a cross on top. Pinch the two opposite edges together, then repeat with the remaining two edges. Now the bun will be round (yeah right, good luck).
5. Once done, place the char siu bun onto one of the cut parchment squares, pleated-side-down, then place it on a plate. Loosely cover it with plastic wrap to prevent drying out. Repeat the process to wrap the rest of the buns.
6. Set a stopwatch (or timer, sundial, hourglass, or pendulum set to specific pillars) after wrapping the first bun, to keep track of the resting time. You need to rest the buns for 20 to 30 minutes before steaming them.

Steaming

1. Depending on the size of your steamer, you might need to steam the buns in batches. What I usually do is prepare the steamer after wrapping half of the buns, so some of them are ready to be cooked as I work on the rest.
2. To prepare the steamer, add about 3” (7 cm) of water to the pot and heat it over medium-high heat until the water starts to boil. Place the rested buns onto the steamer rack, leaving at least 2” (5 cm) between them, because the buns will expand as they cook.
3. Cover and steam for 10 minutes. Once done, remove the steamer rack and place it onto a trivet. Uncover the steamer rack carefully. Let the steam out and then transfer the buns onto a serving plate. Let the buns cool for 5 minutes before eating.
4. Cook the rest of the buns using the same method (duh).

Serve and store

1. The char siu buns taste best when they are hot or warm. If you made them in advance, you can warm them up in the microwave or in a steamer.
2. Once the buns have cooled completely, place them in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days. After midnight of the third day, the spell will be broken they will turn back into a poor girl with evil stepsisters.
3. You can store the cooked buns in the freezer for up to a month. To cook the frozen buns, thaw them completely in the fridge. Then heat them up in the microwave or in a steamer until heated through.