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Portion size: Recipe will create 12 Pao (steamed buns)
Prep and Cooking time: 160 minutes (including kneading and proofing time)
Tools required:
Bowl
Scale
Cling film
Cloth
Steamer
12 Cupcake paper or oil paper
Frying pan or a wok
Knife
Ingredients:
Dough
300 gr all purpose plain flour
190 ml milk (from fridge)
40 gr tapioca flour
100 gr icing sugar
7 gr dried yeast
8 gr baking powder
1 tbsp of oil (plus 1/2 tbsp to oil the work surfaces and hand for kneading). You can use any oil that doesn’t have strong taste or smell
Filling
1 chicken breast
2 garlic
1 red onion (medium)
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp of white pepper
1/2 tbsp of light soy sauce
1/2 tbsp of sugar
1/2 tsp of oil ( you may need another 1/2 tsp if you are not using non-stick pan)
3 tbsp of hot water
How to make it?
Filling
Tips: I suggest to do this after step 2 or 3 rather than at the start of the cooking/ prep time, whilst proofing the dough. But there is no harm to do it at the beginning if you want to.
1. Mince the chicken meat or chopped them into small pieces (they will need to go inside the pao (buns)
2. Mince garlic and red onions
3. Add 1/2 tsp of oil in the pan, when it’s hot add the onion and garlic into the pan. Cook them until it’s soft then add the chicken.
4. Seasoned it with soy sauce, white pepper, salt and sugar. When it’s cooked add hot water into the mix. Then let it cool before adding them to the buns.
Dough
1. Add 225 gr of plain flour (the rest of the flour will be added later) to a bowl and mix it with yeast and milk. Leave it in the bowl covered with cloth for 10 minutes.
2. Now its time to knead it. The mixture will be wet, so don’t worry about it. Knead it for around 10 minutes (until the mixture feels elastic). Put it back in the bowl and cover with damp cloth for at least 30 minutes.
Tips: To help with the knead put some oil (around 1/2 tbsp) over the work services, rub it out by hand to cover the area – this will also result in some oil on your hand, which would help stop the dough from sticking to your hand.
2. Add the rest of the plain flour (around 75 gr), tapioca flour, icing sugar and baking powder to the bowl. And mix it to the dough by hand. It may feel that there are too much dry ingredients added to the dough, but don’t worry keep on mixing it by hand. When the dough mixture feels less wet, scoop it out of the bowl with the remaining dry ingredients left in the bowl and knead them on the work surfaces until all the flour, sugar and baking powder mixed in the dough.
3. Now time to add 1 tbsp of olive oil into the dough. Knead the dough until all the oil mix together (around 10 minutes). Put it back in the bowl for at least 25 minutes (cover it with cling film). Now make your filling
4. Scoop the dough out of the bowl, and divide it into 12 dough balls. Cover them with cling film and let it rest for another 10 minutes.
5. After they rest, grab each dough balls and flatten it in the palm of your hand. And add the filling into the centre of the dough. Gather the sides of the flatten dough balls to the middle to wrap the filling. Then turn the dough balls upside down (the smooth side at the top and put the dough balls into the cupcake paper. When all the dough balls are filled, let them rest for another 30 minutes.
6. Arrange the dough balls into the steamer, making sure there are enough space for the dough to raise in the steamer. Cook for 15-20 minutes until it feels firm and bouncy when touched.
7. Serve them hot. If you like you can also serve it with chilli sauce 🙂
PS: The colour of your Pao (steamed buns) would depend on the colour of your flour and oil that you use. So it may not look white (like chalk), so don’t worry if it looks slightly yellow-ish in colour.
—– That’s it, now time to enjoy the food
Every time I eat Bakpao, I remember when my parents used to reward (read: bribe) me with these, for good behaviour. In Indonesia there are different fillings that you can choose from; chicken, beef, beans.