Making Steamed Buns (Baozi)

Yesterday, while the rain poured down, I decided to make a batch of Chinese steamed buns, or Baozi. Our favourite variety are filled with sweet red bean paste. The buns are like fluffy white clouds with a gooey sweet centre.

The first step is making the dough. The dough is a simple mix of flour, water, yeast, sugar, and salt.

After leaving the dough to rise, you add baking powder to it before shaping the buns.

The dough is rolled out into small circles. You put some filling in the centre (in this case, some red bean paste I picked up from our local Asian supermarket), and then fold the edges together to seal the filling inside the dough. Twisting a piece of dough off the top of the bun makes sure it is well sealed.

The buns are placed on squares of baking paper and left the rise again before steaming them. The baking paper stops the buns from sticking to the steamer.

We keep our left over buns in the freezer and reheat them in the microwave as we want them.

You can find the recipe I used here.