Steamed Pork Buns

猪肉包子

 

Preparation Time: 11⁄2 hours      Cooking Time: 20 minutes For the buns

 

Dough:

3 and 1/2 cups        All-purpose flour

1 and 1/2 Tsp          Active dry yeast

1 and 1/4 Tsp         Baking powder                  

1/2 and 1/4 cups    Warm water 

 

Pork filling:

11 Oz        Ground Pork

2 Stalks    Green onion (minced)

2 Slices    Ginger (minced)

1Tbsp       Sugar

75ml        Soy sauce

3Tbsp      Yellow rice wine

1Tbsp       Oyster sauce

1Tsp         Sesame oil

100ml      Water

 

Tools: wok, steamer basket, small rolling pin

 

Mix all the filling ingredients together until smooth.

 

Make the dough:

Mix the flour, yeast and baking powder into a big bowl with a chopstick or fork, pour in the warm water litter by litter, slowly mix it in a circular direction, until the dough begins to form a ball. If it looks too dry, adds more water, tablespoon by tablespoon until it forms a ragged clump. Continue to knead for few minutes, until the dough has no dry spots.

 

Place the dough in the bowl for first rising, cover with plastic wrap. Store the bowl in a warm, draft-free place until it doubles in size, approximately 45 minutes to 1hour.

After the double in size, punch the dough down, knead for 5 minutes, until the dough become smooth. Then rest for other 10 minutes. Divide in half, roll each half into a rectangular log. Using a pastry cutter, slice each log into 8 pieces. Roll a slice into a

ball, then shape it into a thin, flat disc (like a pancake). Try to keep the center of the disc thicker than the edges. (Once steamed, this keeps the bun from being too doughy on one side and too thin on the other.)Spoon a dollop of filling into the center of the disc. Pull the edges up around the filling and pinch together to form a bun. Continue this process with the rest of the dough until all of the buns are filled. Allow the buns to rest for 10 minutes.

 

To steam:

fill 2 cups cold water in the wok, prepare the steamer basket in the wok. Working in batches, position filled buns into the steamer, allowing room on all sides. (The cooked buns will be up to 50 percent larger.) Steam the buns for 15 minutes, then turn off the heat. Let sit for 5 minutes before removing the lid. serve immediately.

 

Ingredients Guide:

Yellow rice wine or Shaohsing rice cooking wine is a rich-flavored ingredient that is made from rice and is used both in drinking and cooking, though the rice wine used for cooking has a lower alcohol content. In cooking, rice wine is frequently used in sauces to add flavor and as the acidic ingredient in marinades.