Banh Bao Recipes

TRADITIONAL BANH BAO RECIPE (VIETNAMESE STEAMED PORK BUNS)

Steps:

• Prepare your parchment paper pieces. Cut parchment paper into 16 5x5 inch pieces. Set aside.
• Make the dough. Add flour and baking powder to a bowl and mix. Set aside
• Heat the milk until warm (100-110 degrees F). Add yeast and mix. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes until it foams. Add the vegetable oil and sugar and stir until combined.
• Add the wet ingredients to a large mixing bowl and add in your dry ingredients from step 1. Combine with your hands. Once all the ingredients come together, dump the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. Add more flour if the dough seems too wet. The dough has been kneaded enough if you poke the dough, and it slowly springs back at you. Once done, transfer it to an oiled bowl and cover with a towel. Let it rise in a warm place for an hour.
• While the dough is rising, prepare your other ingredients. Boil your eggs and cut into 4 pieces. Slice your Chinese sausages. Set aside.
• Make the pork filling. To make your pork filling, combine ground pork, wood ear mushrooms, minced yellow onion, fish sauce, oyster sauce, salt, pepper, and sugar. Mix until just combined. Divide the pork filling into 16 equal, round pieces and set aside.
• Once the dough is finished proofing, divide it into 16 equal pieces. Roll out each piece into a thin circle that is 4-4.5 inches in diameter. The outer edges should be thinner than the center. Make sure the center is not too thin.
• Add 1 piece of pork filling, 1 piece of Chinese sausage, and 1 egg piece to the center of the filling. Envelop the filling with the outer edges of the dough. Fold and crimp the dough until it completely covers the filling. Examples in pictures above. Place each bao on a piece of parchment paper.
• Prepare your steamer pot. Bring water to a simmer and add a dash of rice wine vinegar. Make sure to sustain a consistent simmer throughout this process.
• Steam the banh baos for 15-17 minutes. Make sure there is at least 1 inch of space between each bao since they will expand.

BANH BAO (VIETNAMESE STEAMED PORK BUNS)

Steps:

• Combine the flour, yeast and sugar in a bowl then pour in the water and milk. Mix it in until incorporated then let it rest for 3 hours so the yeast has time to activate.Note: Depending on where you live, you may need to let it rest for another 1-2 hours. The warmer the climate, the quicker the yeast will activate.
• Pour the remaining flour, self-raising flour, sugar, lemon juice, egg white and oil into the activated mixtue and knead it until a smooth dough forms.
• Let the dough rest in a bowl for 30 minutes with a cloth or glad wrap over the top.
• Meanwhile, combine the pork mince and pork paste along with the pepper, chicken bouillon powder, salt, sugar, oyster sayce and fish sauce.Tip: Use a pestal and mortor to mash the ingredients together which helps to give it a smoother consistency.
• Mix in the wood ear mushroom, water chestnuts, shallots, fried onions and spring onions.
• Roll about 1/4 US cup of the pork mixture into a ball, flatten it in your palm and place a quail egg in the center.
• Wrap the mixture around the quail egg and roll it to form a sphere then push a sliced Chinese sausage on the surface.
• Leave it to sit on a plate as you roll the rest of the mince. Depending on each ball size, you'll get roughly 6 balls.
• Cut 15 cm x 15 cm (6″ x 6″) squares out of baking paper.
• Divide the Banh Bao dough into equal segments and roll them into balls. Cover using a cloth as you work on each to avoid drying.
• Flatten each ball into a circle approximately 20 cm (8″) wide using a rolling pin or a smooth cup.
• Place a meatball in the center of the flattened dough.
• Bring the top and bottom parts of the Banh Bao dough in and pinch to stick together over the meatball.
• Repeat the same steps with the left and right sides of the rolled dough.
• Where the openings are for each corner, push the tips in to form a heart shape. You'll end up with four hearts.
• Pinch each heart's tips to close the openings.
• Hold one pinched tip and pull it to the center, pinching it with the dough in the middle to allow it to stick. Repeat with all pinched tips.
• Give the center one final pinch to seal all the dough.
• Place the wrapped bun on a baking square.
• Set up your steamer to a boil and steam the baos for 30 minutes or until the meatball is cooked.Note: Alternatively, steam the meatballs before wrapping and steam the whole bao for 10 minutes or until the Banh Bao dough is cooked.
• Serve fresh as is or with a drizzle of Sirarcha!

BANH BAO

Steps:

• Mix pork, shallots, fish sauce, oyster sauce, and soy sauce together in a large bowl. Let mixture marinate in the refrigerator, about 30 minutes.
• Combine self-rising flour, milk, and sugar in another large bowl; knead until dough is smooth and no longer sticky. Cover dough with cheesecloth; let rest, about 5 minutes.
• Divide dough into 18 balls. Roll out each ball into a circle with a rolling pin on a floured work surface. Place a spoonful of the pork mixture in the center; top with 2 sausage slices and an egg quarter. Gather the edges of each circle together like a coin purse; twist and pinch to seal the bun.
• Cut waxed paper into eighteen 2-inch squares. Place each bun on a waxed paper square. Arrange 1 inch apart in a steamer; cover with lid.
• Steam buns until puffed up, about 30 minutes.

STEAMED BAO BUNS

Steps:

• Measure all of the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric stand-mixer (if using).
• Measure the warm water and oil into a measuring jug. The water needs to be a bit more than lukewarm to help activate the yeast, but it shouldn't be boiling hot.
• Using the dough hook on medium speed, mixing the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients. Depending on the type of flour which you have used, you might need more or less liquid that than stated in the recipe.
• Once you have a sticky dough, continue kneading the dough on medium speed until it becomes soft and smooth to touch. This should take about 10 minutes using the stand-mixer on medium speed, or about 5 minutes by hand.
• Once the dough is soft and smooth, I recommend kneading it by hand for a few more minutes on the kitchen benchtop.
• Place the ball of dough back into the (clean) mixing bowl.
• Cover the bowl with some cling film or a re-usable bowl cover.
• Place the bowl somewhere warm for about 60 to 90 minutes for the dough to rise and double in size.
• Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it back and knead it by hand for about 5 minutes to release any air bubbles in the dough.
• Then roll out the dough until it is about 1 cm in height.
• Use your hands to rub some oil onto the surface of the dough.
• Use an 8 cm (3 inch) cookie cutter to cut out rounds from the dough.
• Re-roll the dough as needed.
• Place these rounds onto a small sheet of baking paper - I like to use plain white cupcake wrappers which I flatten with a rolling pin.
• Fold over each round and then use a rolling pin to gently flatten the dough to form the bun shape.
• Place all of the shaped buns onto a large tray, cover with a tea towel, and place in a warm place for about 30 minutes for the buns to rise again. After this time, the bao buns should have puffed up slightly.
• Meanwhile, prepare the steamer on the stove (see Kitchen Notes below).
• Steam the buns in batches for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they are puffy and soft, and cooked all the way through.
• Serve the buns immediately.

VIETNAMESE STEAMED BUNS (BANH BAO)

Steps:

• Submerge mushroom in hot water until softened. Take them out, dry and finely juliene. Reserve water.
• Heat some oil in a skillet, put in onions and let it sweat for a while. Stir in the rest of filling except boiled eggs and BBQ pork. Season with fish sauce and pepper to taste.
• Add sugar to milk to dissolve. Add flour one cup at a time, after each time kneed the dough before adding the next cup. Put dough into a large mixing bowl, put a damp cheese cloth over to prevent drying out.
• Cut a handful of dough (size to your choice), roll out thin (use bread roller or the smaller dumpling roller). Add a spoonful of filling, 1 piece of egg, BBQ pork. Seal dough tight around filling and put on a cut-out piece of parchment paper. Steam buns for about 15 minutes. These buns freeze pretty well as well, if you want to make a big batch at a time.

VIETNAMESE STEAMED BUNS (BANH BAO)

Steps:

• Mix flour, milk, and sugar together in a bowl. Cover and allow to rise, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• Punch dough down and separate into 20 equal-sized bun shapes.
• Place a steamer insert into a saucepan and fill with water to just below the bottom of the steamer. Bring water to a boil. Add buns, cover, and steam until tender, about 15 minutes.