How To Make Baozi

If you've ever been in any Chinatown anywhere in the world, your curiosity might have been piqued by the sight of snowy white buns being kept warm in steamers. Baozi, or steamed bun, is one of the staples of Chinese cuisine, served by street vendors and enjoyed anytime of day. It is a popular breakfast dish in China.

The Origination
According to China Daily, Zhuge Liang (181-234), a military strategist from the Three Kingdoms period (220-280), is credited with inventing the baozi. He and his troops were on an expedition to south China when his army caught a plague. Zhuge made a bun shaped like a human head from flour, pork and beef. The bun, called mantou (flour head) was offered as a sacrifice to the gods and was later given to the soldiers to cure their illness.

The name stuck in parts of southern China. In Shanghai, steamed bread, either with or without filling, is still called mantou. In northern China, though, people call the bun baozi, as bao means wrapping.
The thought of steamed bread -- for in essence, this is what baozi is – might not seem appetizing to the Western palate. But it really is worth a try. There are as many types of baozi as there are fillings, and only the imagination can limit what you can put inside these buns.

How to make baozi
Ingredients
DOUGH
1 ½ cups warm water
3 tsp dry yeast
2 Tbsp white sugar
4 cups white bread flour
½ tsp salt
½ tsp sesame oil
FILLINGS
There are the classic fillings of pork and beef, of course. Marinate some pork, with fat, if you can get it, in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, ground black pepper, cooking wine, salt, ginger powder or fresh grated ginger, chopped green onion, sesame oil. How many each seasoning you should put in depends on your taste. You can adjust. You may add some cold water to make the fillings softer.

You could also try using oriental meatballs with salted eggs, duck meat, shredded chicken or even just vegetables,or red bean paste for filling. In Cantonese cuisine, there is cha siu baau, a steamed bun filled with barbecued pork.
Making a dough
1. Stir the yeast and 1 tablespoon of sugar into 1 cup of the warm water. Let stand for 15 minutes. Skip this step if your yeast does not need proofing (it will say so on the packet)
2. Sift the flour and sugar together.
3. If you pre-mixed the yeast, add to the flour and the rest of the sugar in a mixing bowl.
4. If you didn't pre-mix the yeast, mix flour, salt if desired, and the sugar, then mix in yeast in a mixing bowl.   Add 1 cup of the water in a steady stream, mixing constantly.
5. Mix together. The dough will begin to form a ragged clump. If the dough does not stick together, add a small amount more water.
6. Knead dough for 5-10 minutes. The dough will stiffen, and should spring back slowly when indented with a finger. The surface should be smooth and slightly shiny.
7. Coat the bottom of a large bowl with the sesame oil to give a thin film, and place the dough in the bowl. Roll over so it is coated with the oil.
8. Allow dough to rise and double in volume in a warm place for 1-1½ hours, or in a cool place like a fridge for 2-3 hours. A slow rise in a cool place will produce a finer texture.
9. Punch dough down. If you wish at this point, you can allow it to rise and double again, in a warm or cool place, and punch down again. A double rise also results in a finer, more tender texture.
10. Form into a large pancake shape.
11. Divide the dough into two long rolls, and cut each into 6 pieces.
12. Roll each piece of dough into a ball. If you are making plain baozi, go straight to Step 19 now. If making filled baozi, then flatten each ball into a 6-inch disc.
13. Shape the disc so that it is significantly thicker in the centre than at the edges.
14. Position one hand as if you were holding a normal drinking glass, and place a disc of dough over the top.
15. Using two fingers, push the centre of the disc down by about 1 inch.
16. Place 1 dessert spoon of filling into the well you just made in the dough.
17. Still holding your hand in position, use your other hand to fold the edges of the dough together, in a sort of pleated fashion.
18. Pinch edges together and twist (so that you twist a small portion at the top right off) to close the baozi.
19. Place baozi on cabbage leaves or directly in the steamer, 3 inches to a side.
20. Allow to rise in warm place 1 hour. The dough should end up springy to the touch.

 Cooking
1. Place buns in a steamer. Try to position so they do not touch one another. It will almost certainly require several batches to steam all the buns, unless you have lots of steamers, or a very big one. You can put them seam up (opening flower effect) or seam down (smooth, round top).
2. Steam buns over gently boiling water for 20 minutes.
3. After this time, remove the pan and steamer from heat, but don't remove the steamer from the pan, or lift the lid of the steamer. By allowing the steam to subside gradually like this, you prevent the dough from collapsing on contact with the cold air.
4. After a few minutes, carefully lift the lid and remove the bun gently from the steamer.
5. When cool enough to handle, remove parchment paper from bottom of buns. Serve warm.
 /Originally written by Geni Raitisoja, adapted by Qing, thanks for the photo contributors