By Christos Kremmidas and Konstantinos Vassios
Our names are Christos Kremmidas and Konstantinos Vassios and we want to share with you a simple way to make perfect, fluffy bao-buns, a kind of bread with Chinese origin. This type of bread is difficult to make at home, due to the fact that in order to be cooked, it needs to be steamed. Despite this difficulty, Christos managed to find a clever solution which will be revealed later on.
To begin with, the ingredients needed to make 12 bao-buns are the following:
- 500 grams hard wheat flour
- 8 grams dry yeast
- 50 grams powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 150 grams cold water
- 100 grams full-fat cold milk
- 50 grams heavy cream (35%), frozen
- 50 grams sunflower oil for greasing + extra 2 tablespoons
- Water for the steam
These are the steps needed to make this fantastic bread:
- In the mixer bowl, combine the flour, yeast, powdered sugar, baking powder, and salt, and mix with a spoon.
- Add the water, milk, heavy cream, sunflower oil, and beat with the hook attachment at medium speed for 20 minutes.
- Transfer the dough to a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rise for 1-1 ½ hours until it doubles in size.
- Place the dough on a floured surface and roll it out with a rolling pin to a size of 30×40 cm. If it sticks, sprinkle with more flour.
- Cut into 10 cm circles using a cutter and transfer them to a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Cover with a towel and let them rise for 20 minutes.
- Now, it is time to reveal Christos’ solution! Because he knows that most people do not own a steamer specially made for bao buns, he decided to make his own and this is the way to do it yourselves. Inside a large pot, put three identical “balls” of aluminum foil and fill the pot with just 300ml of water. After that, place a plate on top of the balls of aluminum foil and let the water boil.
- When the water has boiled, oil the circles of dough, fold them in half and place them on the plate inside of the pot.
- After 15 minutes, the bao buns are ready to be enjoyed with some meat and vegetables.
We hope that you try our recipe and it works perfect for you as well!
