Baozi recipes...

[Big Joe the Pro]

Happy to hear you like it. The books are ok but, like I said, they're not cheap (RMB 80 each*) and the English isn't completely polished (although it's a pretty good job). The water measurements in the soup book seem way off (3/4 of a cup of water for a soup with no stock or any other liquid?!?) and the Guo Ta Dou Fu (tofu coated with egg) recipe drives me spare, for example. I had to have my wife go thru that one and translate the Chinese (and am doing my own, better, easier and tasier one now anyway).

The books seem to contain recipes that they think foreigners would like. There's a not a lot of heat and one (perhaps several) of them even requires an oven.

* = If memory serves there are only fifty recipes in each book, one side of the page is a photo (which isn't always an exact rendition of the recipe) the other side the recipe in Chinese and English. The descriptions at the bottom of the recipe are usually funny. 'The dish is shiny and delicious' for example. They're printed on laminated paper which is nice (and is surely one reason for the high cost), I can put them next to the stove and stir-fry away and just wipe them off with a towel when I'm done.

Oh, since I'm going on about the subject I might as well add that the 'Family Banquet' book doesn't seem to have any new recipes, they're all contained within the other eight books of the series. Also, some of the books mention a tenth book about how to do carving but I've never seen it for sale. Perhaps the English was too convoluted? A pity as I bought a box of carving tools (US $5) but have no idea as to how to use them. Would probably just wind up cutting myself, I'm pretty good about that!

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

[annachan]

I would definitely go with parchment as well. I tried making some plain steamed buns last week. Used wax paper as per the recipe and the buns stuck to the paper a little. I used a different recipe for the second batch and used parchment and it did not stick at all. For baozi, not sticking is important as I just hate it when the paper sticks and pulls the bottom off. Parchment can go in the freezer without a problem.

Will probably get my hands on making some baozi once I finish the plain buns. Those 40 buns are taking up space in my small freezer at the moment.

[Dejah]

I made 50 of these last week and tried to document the process:

http://www.hillmanweb.com/soos/food/baos.html

I use cupcake liners and they work better than wax paper. There is a little dough left on the paper but never enough to break the seal and make the bao leak.

I am lazy; I don't want to cut parchment

[TheTInCook]

I make mine like sheng jian bao. Don't have to deal with cutting paper squares or muffin liners that way.

[helenjp]

I don't know if this is quite proper, but here is a Japanese lazy panfried baozi recipe...the idea is obviously to imitate the fluffy type of dough. The texture is different but it does make for a quick, tasty snack.

Dough (supposed to make 6 small dumplings)

150-160 g flour

2 t baking powder

2 T sugar

0.5 t salt

80 ml milk

1 T Chinese sesame oil (i.e. toasted sesame oil, not the middle eastern kind)

Mix wet into dry ingredients. Knead quite well, allow to rest covered 15 minutes.

Filling (whatever you like, this isn't what I actually used)

150 g ground pork

1 dividing onion, chopped finely

2 dried shiitake or Chinee black mushrooms, soaked and minced finely (reserve water if you want)

3 T finely minced bamboo shoot

1 t each of grated fresh ginger, oyster sauce, sugar

2 t soy sauce (I think that's too much...I tend to use a splash of nam pla, a pinch of salt, and maybe 1/2 t soy sauce, with or without oyster sauce. Miso or other Chinese seasoning pastes are also possible)

1 T sake or other rice wine

Mix altogether very thoroughly with hands until pasty.

Divide dough into 6, pat out on your hand (between layers of wrap if you like), dump a teaspoonful of filling in the middle and close up the baozi as usual.

When all the baozi are ready, heat a fryingpan to medium-hot, pour in a little oil, line up the baozi leaving plenty of space, pour over 150 ml hot water (top up the shiitake liquid with hot water if you like) and put the lid on. Steam 3 minutes.

Turn heat down, steam a further 5-6 minutes and then remove lid. Turn heat up for just 10 seconds to crisp up the bottoms, and serve.

[TheTInCook]

Here's the formula I've been using for baozi. It makes a more northern style dough. Definitely not cakey. I think the addition of the baking powder lets me underproof the dough a little after forming the bao so the pleats look better after cooking.

100 Bread Flour

2 Yeast

2 Oil/Fat

2 Sugar

1 Salt

1 Baking Powder

60 Water

Mixing method: Straight Dough

http://thetincook.blogspot.com/2011/05/chicken-and-blackmushroom-baozi.html with pic from my first attempt.

[Dejah]

We can be generous with the filling whereas restaurant's will try to fill you up with dough.

[liuzhou]

What units are the ingredients in?

[TheTInCook]

What units are the ingredients in?

It's bakers percentages.