Virgin Attempt

Baos, or chinese steamed buns, have been on my 'to do' list for a long time. I love baos, soft, fluffy and filled with either savory meats like chicken or char siew, or bursting with sweet paste like lotus seed or red bean paste. Actually I'm also not sure why I waited so long to make my own baos, I guess it's because I know it's difficult for me to achieve the same texture as those bought from my favourite bao stall.

Whatever it is, here is my first try at bao making, or rather two tries. I made use of a pretty straight forward recipe shared by a member in KC. The green bean paste-filled bao on the right, is from the first lot, which turned out hard and dense, simply because I forgot to half the amount of flour in the second dough, even though I was only making half recipe. Silly me!

So when making the second batch, I double checked the ingredient amounts twice. It turned out the dough was very soft, making it difficult to wrap the filling, which is chicken char siew. This time, the baos turned out soft and with a little chew as well. Most importantly, they did not turn rock hard after sitting for a few hours. Although it's still far from the texture I had hoped for, I think it's a good start for more bao making.