hello! Hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to foods from TV and film with a LONG overdue shot at the steamed “baozi” buns from the Pixar short film, “Bao.” For those following along with this series, we have now done MANY different forms of bao buns that come from Chinese cuisine, including our char siu baos, rou song baos, sweet custard baos, cocktail baos, the list goes on because…i’m on a personal mission to make every single one in existence. This however, will be the first steamed bun attempt on this channel for a fairly good reason, because steamed buns are deceptively tricky to get right. For those unfamilar, a baozi (or more colloquially, simply “bao”) is a yeasted dough filled with a savory ground pork filling, that’s then steamed to achieve its final rise. We’re gonna be using a few pantry sauces that primarily borrow from our “xian bing” stuffed pancake recipe to create our filling including some dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, and spicy bean paste.
By far the trickiest obstacle today though will be how to properly proof and steam our buns, because, if you don’t steam these things properly, their volume will completely collapse into a sad, deflated bun. womp. Finally just because this Domee Shi short is so perfectly animated, I also thought I’d use this as an opportunity to take a look at a couple VERY small but accurate details in the animation of this film that can actually be really informative in your own bao making. Hope you try it.
Yields 10
INGREDIENTS (filling)
4 cloves garlic
1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger
1lb ground pork
6oz baby bok choy
INGREDIENTS (marinade)
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
1 tbsp shaoxing wine
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp spicy bean paste
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp Chinese five spice
INGREDIENTS (dough)
4 cups AP flour
1 tbsp (1 packet) dry active yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp sesame oil
PREP
CRUSH and mince 4 cloves of garlic, set aside
MINCE ginger, set aside
DICE the baby bok choy, set aside
COMBINE ground pork with all marinade ingredients and let marinate for 30 minutes
COMBINE all dough ingredients except the AP flour and let proof for 10 minutes until bubbles form
GRADUALLY add AP flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl, and a cohesive dough ball forms
COVER in plastic wrap and proof in an oven with the oven light on for 2 hours
ON THE STOVE
HEAT a wok as hot as possible, then add 4 tbsp peanut oil and long yao
ADD the garlic and ginger and toss for 15 seconds until fragrant
ADD the ground pork and saute for 2 minutes, breaking up any remaining clumps of pork
ADD the bok choy and saute for 2 minutes, then remove and set aside
DIVIDE the dough into 10 equal pieces (2.5oz per bao)
ROLL the dough first into a coin shape with your hands, then roll the outer edges with a rolling pin, rotating a quarter turn after each roll
ADD 3 tbsp filling and fold the bao shut with pleats, then twist the bao shut in the direction of the pleats
ADD the baos to a steam basket lined with cabbage (or parchement paper) and steam over medium low heat for 15 minutes, then turn off the heat and let rest for 10 minutes
REMOVE from the stove and rest for an additional 5 minutes before opening the steam basket