After making noodles and ravioli from scratch last week, I really thought I had reached my peak. Where do you go from silky, bouncy hand made noodles slathered in a homemade chilli oil? Bao Buns! Silky, soft pillows ready for whatever filling your heart desires. If you made it through the noodle recipe, I am pleased to tell you this time, we only have 8 minutes of kneading and a little rolling.

The key to this is ensuring you have a delicious textured filling and plenty of sauce!

BAO BUN RECIPE 

The recipe I followed was this one which was recommended by a friend of mine. It is a fairly simple recipe with clear step by step instructions.

His recipe goes as follows:

What you’ll need
-350g plain flour
-30g sugar
-5g dry yeast
-1tsp salt
-2tsp baking powder
-2tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil
-100ml cold milk/plant milk of choice
-100ml boiling water
4″ cutter makes 11 bao

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Method:
1. Mix your boiling water with the cold milk and all of the sugar, allow to dissolve and then add your yeast. Mixing the refrigerator cold milk and boiling water gets you the perfect temperature for the yeast. Allow to bloom for 5 minutes.
2. Mix your flour, salt and sieve in your baking powder.
3. Combine together and add the oil. Your dough should have a very very slight stick and should not be dry.
4. Knead for 8 minutes by hand or standing mixer on a medium-low speed.
5. Cover your dough and rest for 3 minutes without touching it.
6. Now, after resting, form into a dough ball and cover with a damp towel – allow to rise for 2 hours (or cold rise in a fridge overnight if you want breakfast bao, just make sure to bring it to room temperature before rolling out)
7. After rising, roll out the dough until it’s about 5mm thickness
8. Cut into circles, I used a 4″ cutter and got 11 buns out of this recipe
9. Lightly grease the surface of each circle and gently bend half way to form a semi circle
10. OPTIONAL (but worth it) – cover your folded bao buns and allow them to prove for another 30 minutes. This makes them puff up and I highly recommend this step.
11. Steam for 10 minutes, I had my steamer over a pan of boiling water on high heat. You can use a normal steamer, just place some grease proof paper at the base and allow an inch between each bao bun for them to rise

BREADCRUMBED PRAWNS OR MUSHROOMS 

This is an adapted version from my mum. My mum would always make her own breadcrumbs, and while it sounds extra, it is actually really quick, especially if you have run out.

1. To make your breadcrumbs, take a slice and a half of bread, blitz it in a chopper and there you go! fresh breadcrumbs.
2. If you want them to have an extra crunch then toast the bread beforehand or pop them in the oven to dry out
3. I was also raised to season EVERYTHING, including breadcrumbs and it really makes a difference, so drop in some salt, pepper and paprika.
4. Take your prawns and de-shell and de-vein them, for your mushrooms cut them into chunky slices.
5. Marinate with seasonings of your choice, I used a dash of soy sauce, pepper, paprika, a dash of ground cumin powder, chilli flakes, garlic, ginger and oil
6. Mix part flour, cornflour, salt, paprika and sparkling water (you can youse normal water, sparkling just gives more of a crunch)
7. Dip your prawn or mushroom in the flour paste, then in the breadcrumbs and you’re ready to fry!

Sauce

Mix mayonnaise with some chilli sauce, I used Maggi chilli sauce, you could use siracha.

Assemble your bao bun with the prawns or mushroom, top with your chilli mayo, some fresh coriander and I also added some fried onions!