Wednesday, September 27, 2006

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.

17 comments:

Gattina Cheung said...

Angie, then you sure is a beautiful virgin... *cough*, I mean your bao :D On the steamer, any filling for those on the left? Look very good though. I never have green bean paste, my favorite is custard with salty egg yolk *hint hint... hehee*

Edith said...

I love bao too! Somehow, those avail in the dim sum rest is so good.

^cherie said...

Looks good!

Baos have always been on my list as well after seeing it on Zu's blog but i don't think i'd be making it till next year.. lol.

My to-do-list is simply too long! :P

Rene said...

Hi Angie,

I was just about to send you a msg that I saw there is a food blogging event for World Bread Day and I thought that you might be interested. I don't feel qualified enough to make a submission, lest people might be misled to think S'porean eat such lousy bread?? *lol* I knew I didn't come to the wrong person when I saw your bao post!

Details here: http://kochtopf.twoday.net/stories/2711089/

Unknown said...

Gattina, you very naughty hor? ;p The ones on the left are plain ones, I wanted to make them into ‘man-tou’, ended up with ‘shi-tou’(rock), LOL. Hmm, custard with egg yolk, ‘nai-huang’ bao right?

Edith, I think those in restaurants uses a starter dough, which gives them a better flavour. And they keep ‘re-generating’ this starter, much like the ‘master sauce’ in braised ducks.

^cherie, next year is only 3 months away, not too long :p. We all have super long to-do lists don’t we? :)

Rene, there’s a World Bread Day? I didn’t know that. Let me check out the link, thanks a million!

chubbymum-mom said...

Wow, your bao is so yummy... Feel like making it myself... would you mind sharing the recipe with me...

Gracio said...

my my! I want some angie!! :)

Unknown said...

chubbymum-mom,
Thanks. Actually Zurynee has posted this recipe on her blog, it's the same one I use, from Lena. You can check it out below:

http://quickneasytreats.blogspot.com/2006/08/vegetable-curry-pau.html

As for the filling, you could use what you prefer, sweet or savoury. Happy steaming :)

Grace, this round too paisei to offer you the baos coz not up to standard. Let me practice more 1st okie?

D said...

The pau dough is similar to just mantou dough? I actually eating the pau "skin" more than the filling and want to make some plain paus.

Little Corner of Mine said...

Wah looks good, very white!

SeaDragon said...

The texture looks very good, especially the chicken close-up one, I want to eat some now :)

Unknown said...

D, this recipe is actually for char siew pau, I ran out of fiiling so made into mantou. Because this batch turned out dense, I can't tell if it can be used for mantou. Let me search for a mantou recipe for you.

Thanks Ching!

SD, thanks for your kind words :)Need to practice more coz the texture not quite there yet.

Anonymous said...

looks so nice and fluffy!!

Sammy said...

Oh man, im a sucker for baos n buns! don't worry, i'm sure they taste nice! as do they look :)

Unknown said...

Diddy, YD, thanks for your words of encouragement :)

Eva said...

Your Baos is looks very good and the skin so smooth, you do very well!!!

Unknown said...

Thanks Eva :)