Baozi recipes...

[hzrt8w]

Is there something offensive about using paper as a liner for the bottom of these baozi's? Why go through using lettuce, and then oil the lettuce for making it non-stick?

[hzrt8w]

I'd love to see your pictures. I've never tried baked char siu, either - are they just prepared as normal and baked in the oven rather than steaming?

The baked char siu bao may be a Hong Kongers' creation? Combining the Chinese savory filling (traditionally using in steamed char siu bao) and the western/European/(English? Portugese?) bread making techniques.

The doughs are different though. I think if you are going to do a baked char siu bao you should use the western bread (baked) dough instead of the Chinese bread (steamed) dough.

[Dejah]

OK. I give up on posting the pictures, so I'll just put up the link to the album in imageGullet:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/gallery/album/13838/6880-baozi/

[sheetz]

The baked char siu bao may be a Hong Kongers' creation? Combining the Chinese savory filling (traditionally using in steamed char siu bao) and the western/European/(English? Portugese?) bread making techniques.

The doughs are different though. I think if you are going to do a baked char siu bao you should use the western bread (baked) dough instead of the Chinese bread (steamed) dough.

Yes, I'm sure baked char siu bao must be a HK invention. For cantonese style steamed buns use a sweet baking powder leavened dough. You may also use a yeast leavened dough, but it should still contain some baking powder in it or else the buns will not be fluffy after steaming. Yeast leavened doughs will typically not be as sweet as baking powder leavened ones.

If you want to try a baked version use the "65C Water Roux" dough I described in this thread:

Unfortunately, I haven't been doing much baking lately as I'm watching my weight.

Edited October 31, 2010 by sheetz (log)

[nakji]

Is there something offensive about using paper as a liner for the bottom of these baozi's? Why go through using lettuce, and then oil the lettuce for making it non-stick?

Not particularly. I just haven't been to the supermarket this week, and don't want to make a special trip to go get the paper. Sheer laziness.

[Dejah]

Please help me delete if this attempt doesn't work!

http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1286609993/gallery_13838_6880_7665.jpg

[Dejah]

Well, I may be beaten by imageGullet, but it can't beat my baozi

Thanks for being so patient, and I hope you were able to see the pleats, nakji. They're not all so perfect, and really, after steaming, the pleats are not so distinct. Besides, I've never seen anyone examin the pleats before they wolf them down!

[Ben Hong]

Gung hei fat choi.

I had to revive this thread on baozi simply because while making a batch of buns I made a very, very useful discovery. Instead of using waxed paper, lettuce(gaakk), tissue paper, etc. I used parchment paper as a substitute when I ran out of waxed paper. Eureka! No more peeling paper off the bottoms, parchment just doesn't stick.

[nakji]

新年快乐!

That's a genius discovery! Thanks for sharing. I may have to go make some dumplings just to try it out.

[Kouign Aman]

When you do, would you please photograph the steps of prepping the dough to fill, filling it, then pleating it shut?

Did you flatten the dough into a circle, then just lift up like a purse and pinch?

[nakji]

I was planning on making some more bao this afternoon. I'll see if I can capture all the dough stages for you.

[Big Joe the Pro]

The best recipe for steamed dumplings I have is from the book 'Serve the People' by Jen Liu-Liu (I think that's her name). The book is an account of her coming to China around the turn of the millenium and learning how to cook Chinese food. It's got a couple dozen recipes in it. It's a good book kind of in a Jan Wong (author of 'Red China Blues', my favorite book about China) style.

Ms. Jen also started a cooking school for foreigners here in Beijing (Black Sesame Kitchen) and is/was a contributor to the 'New York Times'.

If you're trying to replicate Chinese restaurant tastes, don't forget the Maggi Chicken Powder and a heck-of-a-lot of salt!

Hope that helps, Joe

[Pierogi]

I made baozi for the first time yesterday with leftover "semi-Asian-fusion-sorta-Thai-maybe" pork ribs I'd made over the weekend. I cooked down some finely chopped onion, and mixed in the shredded meat off of the ribs to let it warm up. The I put in a sauce of soy, sesame oil, cornstarch and dry Sherry. Let that thicken and reduce, and cool.

The dough was yeast, sugar, oil and water, then mix in flour and salt. Kneaded it in my KA, and let it rise for about an hour and a half. Rolled it out, filled it, and let it rise again for about 1/2 an hour.

The results....a solid B (with an "A" for effort). The filling tasted great. The dough tasted GREAT. The texture of the dough was spot on. I need to work on my rolling & shaping technique. I had waaaaayyy too much dough on the bottom of the baozi, and not enough on the top. I also didn't have a bamboo steamer, and tried to use one of those metal folding "petal" style steamers in a large saucepan. I didn't realize how much the buns would grow during steaming, so I ended up with pretty much one giant baozi. Neither of the recipes I was referencing was clear about if they were put in the steamer "nude" or if they went in with their little aluminum foil diapers (mental note, read the eG thread before attempting something new....), so I also had some serious stickage problems as well.

Although they sure weren't pretty after I pried them off the steamer and apart, I was still pretty proud of how they turned out. As I said, taste and texture was right there. And they really were pretty easy....I will absolutely make them again, *after* I buy a bamboo steamer insert for my wok.

[nakji]

Success, then. I've ended up with fused baozi before! Lesson learned for me - fortunately, I now have a double-layer steamer with plenty of room to spread. I'm trying Ben Hong's trick with parchment paper to deal with sticking.

[nakji]

I put up some step-by-step pictures of the pinch-and-pleat in my foodblog - but they're pretty lumpen looking.

[Dejah]

Erin: Did the bao mix you used in your blog have baking powder or did you add yeast?

[Ben Hong]

Someone else mentioned the fact there is a difference between the doughs of steamed baos and the baked ones, there is also a difference in the doughs that go into different style baos. The dai bao or big bao generally is a bigger bao than the tea house dimsum variety...heavier, with a lot more filling etc., and generally made with yeast, although I add baking powder too. And, the whole thing is not sweet but savoury. The fou-fou dimsum variety is made with cake flour and baking powder. In these both the filling and dough are decidedly sweet.

To eliminate the mis-shapened and pinched appearance of your baos, use enough fresh yeast (or baking powder), process and let rise twice, make baos and give them enough time to rise and get plump, eliminating the creases and pleats,

[nakji]

Thanks, guys. The dough had yeast in it, but I didn't give them a long enough second rise - only ten minutes. The recipe called for twenty. Ben, did you poke holes in your parchment paper too? Or did you just put it in in a sheet?

[Ben Hong]

Don't need no steenkin' holes, just 3" x 3" squares of parchment paper. Absolutely non-stick.

[Pierogi]

Success, then. I've ended up with fused baozi before! Lesson learned for me - fortunately, I now have a double-layer steamer with plenty of room to spread. I'm trying Ben Hong's trick with parchment paper to deal with sticking.

Absolute success, I'm actually quite proud of myself ! Lessons learned for sure, and the parchment sounds like way to go. Well, that, and a larger steamer !

[nakji]

Don't need no steenkin' holes, just 3" x 3" squares of parchment paper. Absolutely non-stick.

Squares. Of course. Noted.

[Big Joe the Pro]

Don't need no steenkin' holes, just 3" x 3" squares of parchment paper. Absolutely non-stick.

Squares. Of course. Noted.

They sell specially-sized paper (with holes!) to fit into the bamboo steamers for that purpose. They're not cheap but cutting parchment paper into squares sounds pretty tedious. There's a hotel supply place here in Beijing that sells them, you could probably find them somewhere in the provinces.

The hotel supply place's HQ is in Shanghai, this is their web site: http://www.heconline.com.cn/. There's not an English-speaker in the huge place and they come across as not particularly caring about foreigners or providing a decent service (or both) but they stock a lot of stuff of acceptable quality at reasonable prices.

Personally, I have one of those metal pot steamers and use cheesecloth. Our nanny washes the cheesecloth afterwards and reuses it. I would probably just buy the inserts (and have been tempted to many times but I know it would just rub her sense of frugalitarianism completely the wrong way).

Edited February 13, 2011 by Big Joe the Pro (log)

[Ben Hong]

Tedious?? Let geometry be your friend.

Cut 10 strips of 12"wide parchment paper 3" wide, stack the strips, double, cut, stack again, double and cut again. Presto ! 40 pieces of 3X3. Total time =3minutes. NOT EXPENSIVE!

[Big Joe the Pro]

Oh, I forgot to mention; there's a (rather expensive) series of cookbooks put out here in China called "Learn How to Cook Chinese Dishes" and they have a web site. The recipes of 75% of seven of the nine books in the series are online, including 'Rice and Flour Food' which is the one with the dumpling recipes.

This is the site: http://www.china.org.cn/english/food/26593.htm

I'm not vouching for the recipes, I have the books and some of the English definitely needs better editing, but it's worth taking a look and comparing to others in my opinion.

Edited February 13, 2011 by Big Joe the Pro (log)

[nakji]

Cool site! I like how the measurements for the baozi are in weights.

There are some recipes there I haven't seen before.