Char-Shui Bao Lesson #37

  

This is Mom.

One of our comfort foods growing up were char-sui baos.  Cold early mornings were quickly warmed by breaking open a hot pork-filled bun with the steamy aromas of sweet yeast dough and char-sui. 

Mom thinks that the least we can learn is to make char-shui baos.  She's made many hundreds of these steamed Chinese-style BBQ Pork filled buns for her children and grandchildren. Mom also makes her own char-shui but that's for another time. Like many traditional cooks, Mom doesn't follow a written recipe, so the baos are a little different every time.  It all starts with a slightly sweetened yeast dough.

    

After making the dough, place in a non-reactive bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot for 30-45 minutes.  After the yeast dough's first rise, tip dough onto a floured surface and knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic.  Roll it into a log and cut into pieces.

  

Hand roll each piece of dough into a sphere and flatten with the palm of your hand.  With a rolling pin, roll the dough in a circle, leaving the middle thicker than the edges.

If necessary, reshape and even out edges by hand.

Fill the center of the dough circle with filling, and with your thumb, push down the filling as you're pleating close the opening with your other hand.

Ensure that the opening is sealed well by sqeezing all of the dough together at the top.   Place the finished bao on individual pieces of waxed paper to prevent the baos from sticking to the steamer.

Steam on high heat for 15-20 minutes. Remove from steamer when done (dough springs back when indented with a finger). 

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