I always leave the rest of the char siu to the char siu buns. I like to make my own char siu at home with homemade char siu sauce. After every time I make char siu sauce, I make char siu buns the next day. The remaining char siu is a wonderful ingredient for many dishes, including scrambled eggs with eggs, char siu fried rice and char siu buns. We have two versions of char siu buns, one is steamed and the other is char siu. Two methods of preparing dough will be introduced in this steamed char siu bun recipe. This version is a simplified version with a high success rate.
Sandwich buns are different in northern and southern China. Plastic wrap packaging in northern China is sturdy, elastic, fluffy and doesn't have much flavor. However, the wrapping paper in South China, especially the char siu bun of Cantonese cuisine, the char siu bun is soft, fragile and sweet. If you've ever visited a real dim sum hall, you probably know what I'm talking about right now. However, without the help of "stink powder" (ammonium bicarbonate can produce a lot of bubbles in a short period of time), the dim sum char siu bun will not be able to replicate at home. However, we have another way to go, and that is to use ordinary char siu bun dough.
We start with the filling, as you need to refrigerate it for a while for ease of processing. To start using this simple char siu bun, make your own char siu the day before and then cut the cooled char siu into small cubes. Mix the cornstarch with water and let stand for a few minutes until well mixed. In a small soup pot, add starchy water, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, light soy sauce, sugar and heat on minimum heat until large bubbles appear. This is our char siu starch, which carries the responsibility of juicy filling.
Mix the mixture with char siu diced. Cool down, cover and leave in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Now, let's process the dough and compare it to the normal dough. This time I use a larger amount of yeast and use a one-time fermentation process, which can greatly shorten the time. I recommend using sugar-tolerant yeast because we use a lot of sugar in the dough.
【Ingredients】
2 cups remaining char siu diced
100 ml water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp seafood sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
300 g general flour + more flour for dust removal
40 g sugar
2 teaspoons sugar-resistant instant yeast
160 g warm water or 180 ml to 185 ml warm milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, corn oil or other oil without a strong flavor
A pinch of salt
【Description】
Mix the cornstarch with water and let stand for a few minutes until well mixed. In a small hot pot, add starchy water, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, light soy sauce, sugar, and heat over the slowest heat until large bubbles appear. Then mix with char siu diced. Cover the filling and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
In a vertical blender, add all the dough ingredients and knead at a slow pace for 7-9 minutes. Then cover and rest for 10 to 15 minutes.
Knead the dough slightly for another 2 minutes until the dough is very smooth. It is first molded into long wooden strips, then the dough is divided into 12 equal parts. Re-knead the dough until the surface is smooth.
Each packing dough into round packs about 10 cm in diameter with thinner edges. Fill the center with 1 tablespoon and seal the seal head completely. To repeat all of them, place the bun on baking paper and place in the steamer. Close the lid and rest for another 20 minutes at room temperature of about 28 degrees Celsius to 30 degrees Celsius. On cold water days, heat the water in the pot for a few minutes until it gets hot but not boiling, then place the steamer on warm water and rest for 15 to 20 minutes.
Turn on heat, steam for another 20 minutes, turn off the heat, let stand for 5 minutes, and then enjoy. If the bread is cool, re-steam. There is no change in taste.