Vietnamese Bao Buns

Mood swings… troubling me a lot these days! Sometimes I feel like doing nothing but sleeping for long hours… and some days are just too energetic :P Yesterday was one such day for me… Was a bit tired in morning time but since afternoon, I was running here and there! And believe me, I cooked 2 dinners at the same time.

Well, let me be honest here… I was going to experiment with these steamed buns for the 1st time so there was a chance of disaster in the kitchen. And keeping that in mind, I thought to make a burrito bowl along, just to save a trip to any restaurant for a take-away ;) But I never knew both the things were going to be super-yummyyyyy… and yes yes, it really did! I couldn’t stop eating everything that I cooked, even when I was full :P

So here I’m with vietnamese steamed bao buns… Making process took a bit longer than I expected but the outcome was so soft, fluffy and delicious <3 And who can resist when you have a stuffing of Schezwan Paneer (will soon post the recipe) :P

Makes: 4 buns

INGREDIENTS:

2.5 cups Plain Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
2 tsp Active Dry Yeast
1 tbsp Sugar
Salt, to taste
2 tbsp Oil
3/4 to 1 cup Warm Water

STEPS TO FOLLOW:

1. Sieve plain flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.
2. Take active dry yeast and sugar in a small bowl and add warm water into it. Let it rest for 5-6 mins so it gets activated completely.
3. Mix oil into it and whisk quickly. Add this yeast mix to flour mix in 2-3 batches and keep folding the flour.
4. Knead a soft dough without overdoing it. It’ll take around 4-5 mins to get a sticky dough ready.
5. Grease your palms with oil and knead it for good 10 mins on a floured surface. Transfer it to a big bowl, cover with a damp cloth and put that in a warm place for proofing, which takes around an hour or 1.5 to get double in size.
6. Knock out the air pockets from dough and knead for a few mins. Divide it into 4 balls and again let it rest on bench for 30 mins.
7. Once they rise well, roll them out into a medium-thick disks and fold it into half (as shown in pic) and put a parchment paper in between to avoid sticking. Let it rest for another 30 mins.
8. Heat a steamer and place these buns inside. Steam for 10-12 mins and take them out.
9. Serve warm with your choice of stuffing.

SJ’s NOTE:

Will post the recipe of Schezwan Paneer soon. I’m so tempted to try mushrooms and pickled veggies too :)