easier than you think…
I love this fluffy dough in cha siu bao and Taiwanese gua bao, it’s like a wee cloud! To date, it’s the only bread I know how to make. And since the recipe is so easy to remember, I could probs make it in my sleep now! I just use scales to measure everything, zero-ing it between each item so there’s less washing up!
ingredients
wet
125g water
65g soy milk
30g vegetable oil
1 sachet active dry yeast
dry
340g strong flour (you can use bao flour or Hong Kong flour, but legit the only difference I’ve noticed is the bao turn out whiter, but the flour is more expensive and hard to find!)
55g caster sugar
1 generous pinch of salt
method
1. mix the wet ingredients together, and microwave them until warm (not hot!)
2. add the yeast and let it bloom for about 10 minutes
3. combine the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl, and mix in the wet ingredients. Knead for 5 whole minutes until smooth.
4. cover the bowl with clingfilm (and/or a tea towel) and let it prove in a non-draughty space (I use my wardrobe haha) until it doubles in size (around 45mins dependent on room temperature)
5. knock a bit of air out the dough, then let it prove a second time for a further 40 minutes
6. you can now shape the dough however you need before steaming it. Buns usually take around 15mins of heavy steaming to cook!
Leave a Reply