The Journey of the Holy Bao

[Soup]

Question, after you steam, do you fry to get the crispy crust on the bottom of the dumpling? I've started doing this. Adds another bit of texture.

Am still experimenting with the filling and seasoning for the filling. Like I said still working on exactly what I want. Fortunately, I have a family who will happy eat these.

[XiaoLing]

Question, after you steam, do you fry to get the crispy crust on the bottom of the dumpling?  I've started doing this.  Adds another bit of texture. 

Am still experimenting with the filling and seasoning for the filling.  Like I said still working on exactly what I want.  Fortunately, I have a family who will happy eat these.

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To get the cripy crust, you want to do what you would for potstickers.

You get a nice cast iron pan, drizzle oil all over the pan and then layer the baos, raw, very snuggly all around the surface of the pan. Then fill the pan with water covering the baos just slightly. Then cover the pan. wait until you start to hear a sizzle, then you can optionally put sesame seeds and scallions on top of the baos. Lift cover and then make sure all the surface areas has been equally crisped up. Then shovel them out and eat them!

[mesona]

To get the cripy crust, you want to do what you would for potstickers. 

You get a nice cast iron pan, drizzle oil all over the pan and then layer the baos, raw, very snuggly all around the surface of the pan.  Then fill the pan with water covering the baos just slightly.  Then cover the pan.  wait until you start to hear a sizzle, then you can optionally put sesame seeds and scallions on top of the baos.  Lift cover and then make sure all the surface areas has been equally crisped up.  Then shovel them out and eat them! 

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Hi XL and Soup - I'm not sure how this compares with XL's method but when I want to crispify things like gyoza/potstickers or baos, I have an additional first step - I'd first fry the crust to a crisp, before adding the water to steam (then the sizzle at the end is just to crispify it slightly again - I think the point of the initial fry is to add more colour?). The shovelling and eating step is the same.

This method also has the added advantage of spluttering oil all over the walls and floor of your kitchen for that shiny look.

Your method seems a lot easier - I'll try adding water straight off the bat next time.

BTW, I have no idea how to fold the dough so it has a little indentation in the middle like your baos (the way xiao long bao looks).

I think I saw a documentary on this once - it's like getting the correct number of pleats in har gau prawn dumplings; you'd have to dedicate your life to being a master baomaker with years and years of practice...

[XiaoLing]

Hi XL and Soup - I'm not sure how this compares with XL's method but when I want to crispify things like gyoza/potstickers or baos, I have an additional first step - I'd first fry the crust to a crisp, before adding the water to steam (then the sizzle at the end is just to crispify it slightly again - I think the point of the initial fry is to add more colour?).  The shovelling and eating step is the same.

This method also has the added advantage of spluttering oil all over the walls and floor of your kitchen for that shiny look. 

Your method seems a lot easier - I'll try adding water straight off the bat next time.

Mesona, the reason why I don't crips up the bottom first is because a lot of the time, if you do, you'll end up burning it towards the end. And you don't want to crisp it first especially if you are using frozen homemade dumplings.

After the water evaporates, the bottoms will automatically crisp up because of the oil on the bottom of the pan.

BTW, I have no idea how to fold the dough so it has a little indentation in the middle like your baos (the way xiao long bao looks).

I think I saw a documentary on this once - it's like getting the correct number of pleats in har gau prawn dumplings; you'd have to dedicate your life to being a master baomaker with years and years of practice...

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My mother's baos come out the way it looks in the restaurants. Her's look like professional baos. My dad and I tried to imitate her process since it was our first time and it wasn't very pretty as you can see from the pics above. But my Dad kept saying that practice makes perfect.

The way to get the indent is to just hold your thumb and forefinger on the side of the dough and keep pleating the dough into the thumb all the way around and as you go around gently twist the dough. As my Dad says, "Lift up the dough, DON'T stretch it!" I had holes in some of mine as I was over stretching it because I was greedy with the filling.

I also realized that my long finger nails has become a handicap to my baos. Kept poking holes on top of the baos too.

We plan on making more baos this coming weekend. So the question now is..."To cut or not to cut", my nails that is. Sigh...all for a pretty bao.