Chinese baking?

[bloosquirrel]

maybe this forum shoud be renamed chinese cooking?

there is little if any "baking" in chinese food

let me know if I am wrong tho

[stephenc]

chinese people bake bread and cake.

they just don't do it at home.

[liuzhou]

chinese people bake bread and cake.

They do and, as you say,not at home.

That said, most Chinese 'bread' is steamed rather than baked. Again, not at home. I don't know anyone who has an oven at home.

[sheetz]

Some of us living in countries where home ovens are more common do in fact share our baked goods on this forum. Here are a few of mine:

Curried Beef Pastries

http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/11739287...3934_397648.jpg

Winter Melon Cakes (Wife Cakes)

http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/11694110...3934_847575.jpg

Pineapple Buns

http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/11651294..._3934_84233.jpg

Egg Custard Tarts

http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/11645823..._3934_44441.jpg

Mooncakes

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/7236/1000559yt1.jpg

Edited December 2, 2008 by sheetz (log)

[hzrt8w]

The egg tart, pineapple bao and curry puff pastries are from Western influence back to the colonial days - with local adaptations, such as using savory fillings (e.g. BBQ pork shreds, curry minced beef) mixed with European style pastry crusts.

The more traditional Chinese bakery items would be moon cakes and crackers/biscuits or sort (e.g. coconut shreds, winter melon filling, red bean paste filling, etc..). Note that Cantonese BBQ items such as char siu and roast chicken are done in clay ovens. In any case... not practical to do at home as we typically have a wok but not oven.

[annachan]

Ovens just haven't been standard in home kitchens in China. In Hong Kong, the size of kitchens are often tiny and there is just no space for it. We did have one in our kitchen, but it was an electric oven plugged into the wall and it was about the size of a toaster oven. It really wasn't good for baking....