Dim Sum Recipe #2: Honeyed Pork Buns (Baked Char Siu Bao)

Char siu bao are to the Chinese tea lunch what egg and watercress sandwiches are to an English afternoon tea.  These barbecued pork buns are the quintessential Cantonese tea snack, and no excursion to yum cha is complete without them.  The most traditional char siu bao are steamed, but for my second blog post on dim sum I’m going to share with you the slightly westernized, baked version of this delicious treat.

Rising…

Making these buns is a two-step process.  First, you make the filling and then you make the bun dough.  To make things simpler, you might want to prepare the meat filling a day before you plan on baking the buns.  The second part of the recipe is making the bun dough, where a water roux (also called a tangzhong) is used to add extra moisture and softness to the lightly sweetened dough.  This dough recipe works equally well in both a stand mixer with a dough hook or a bread machine.

Honey-shellacked for extra softness.

With the use of some brown cupcake liners (that remind me of Sprinkles Cupcakes) and a tart/cupcake pan, I was able to make a rounder, taller bun, almost brioche-like in appearance.  You can certainly use a standard cookie sheet or pan, but you will get slightly shorter bun that is a bit more spread out.  For special parties, try using different patterned or colored cupcake liners for a modern and fresh look for your char siu baos.  The buns I’ve made here are topped off with some black sesame seeds and chopped chives, which are also mixed into the filling for a fresh pop of green color and fanciness.

Honey BBQ Char Siu Pork Buns

Makes 16- 3″ buns.

Ingredients:

{Bun Dough}

1 cup bread flour

2 cups + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp Bird’s Custard Powder

2 Tbsp nonfat dry milk

1 Tbsp instant yeast (I use SAF instant)

1/4 cup white sugar

1 tsp salt

5 Tbsp butter at room temp

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup whole milk

bench flour and oil for proofing bowl

{Water Roux}

1/2 cup water

2 Tbsp bread flour

{Filling}

2 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil

1 small yellow or brown onion, finely chopped

2 Tbsp rice wine or sherry

3/4 pound roasted Chinese barbecued pork, diced into 1/4″ cubes

6 Tbsp water

4 tsp oyster sauce

4 tsp low sodium soy sauce

1 Tbsp hoisin sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

2 Tbsp sugar

5 tsp cornstarch

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1- 3/4 oz. package of fresh chives, chopped

{Garnishes}

1 egg, mixed with 1 tsp water

1 Tbsp honey, mixed with 1 tsp hot water

2 Tbsp black sesame seeds

2 Tbsp chopped chives (reserved)

Equipment:

Stand mixer with dough hook attachment or bread machine

rolling pin or scale

2- 12 hole muffin or tart pans, or 1 muffin/tart pan and 1 regular baking sheet

cupcake cases/liners

pastry brush

Directions:

1.)  Make the Pork Filling.  Put a large skillet on medium-high heat.  Add the oil to the pan and then add chopped white onions.  Cook onions until softened and lightly carmelized, about 5-7 minutes.  Pour in the sherry or rice wine and let it cook out.  Lower the heat to medium and add in the diced pork.  Cook this mixture for an extra 2 minutes.  Meanwhile, mix all the rest of the ingredients (except chives) in a small bowl to create a slurry.  Add the slurry to the pork and onion mixture, wait for it to come to a boil, and cook the filling until it becomes dark brown and translucent.  Turn off the heat and transfer the filling to a medium bowl.  Cover the filling and set it aside to cool to room temperature.  When filling has completely cooled, mix in all but 2 Tbsp of the chopped chives.  The remaining 2 Tbsp of chives are used later to garnish the buns.

2.)  Make the Water Roux.  Place a 1/2 cup of cold water into a small saucepan and add the 2 Tbsp of bread flour.  Mix well until the mixture resembles homogenized milk, then turn on stove top to medium heat.  Cook the roux until it thickens up and has the consistency of yogurt, making sure to keep the mixture a pure white color by not overcooking.  The mixture should not exceed 150 degrees F.  Place the mixture into a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap, making contact with the top surface of the roux (to prevent a skin from forming).  You should end up with a 1/2 cup of roux, ready to use when it has cooled back down to room temperature.

3.)  Make the Dough.  Using the bowl of a stand mixer, place all the wet dough ingredients (including the roux) into the mixing bowl.  Place the bowl in the stand mixer with a dough hook attachment and start to mix on low speed.  Add the yeast, sugar, milk powder, custard powder, and salt first.  Then add the bread and all-purpose flours gradually, a cup at a time, scraping down the insides of the mixing bowl periodically.  Increase the speed to low-medium and continue to mix until the shaggy mass becomes a soft, tacky ball of dough.  Knead the dough for 8 minutes.  Transfer the tacky ball of dough to an oiled bowl to proof, lightly coating all sides of the dough with some of the same oil.  Cover the bowl lightly with plastic wrap.  Let the dough proof in a warm, draft free place for 30-40 minutes or until the mass has doubled in volume.

4.)  Portion Out the Dough.  After the dough has doubled in volume, punch it down and transfer it to a work surface lightly dusted with bench flour.  Give the dough a few light kneadings, then portion dough out into 16 equal pieces (see below).

5.)  Make the Buns.  Roll out each of the 16 dough pieces into a roughly 4″ round or square, making sure to keep the thickness of the dough even throughout in each piece.  Fill each flattened piece with 1 1/2 Tbsp of meat filling.  Gather the edges to pinch and seal, then flip the bun over so that the smooth side faces up.  Place buns into cupcake cases and transfer to a 12 hole muffin or tart pan, then cover loosely with plastic wrap.  Let the buns rise for 30-40 minutes, or long enough for them to have doubled in puffiness.  Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

6.)  Finish and Bake.  After the second rising, brush the tops of the buns with egg wash, then sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Bake in oven for about 15 minutes, or until buns turn a light golden brown.  Remove from oven, transfer to a cooling rack to sit for a few minutes, then give the buns a generous brushing of thinned honey.  Sprinkle with fresh chives and serve!

*** Tip:  Store leftover buns in fridge for up to 5 days.  When you are ready to eat them, reheat the buns in microwave for 15-20 seconds or until warm and soft again.

Step-By-Step:

Key ingredients for soft, sweet buns: water roux (a.k.a. tangzhong) and Bird’s Custard Powder

Chop, chop, chop.  Chives, char siu pork, and onion.

For my char siu, I took the healthier and easier way out by using a store-bought brand of char siu sauce (Lee Kum Kee brand) to marinade a very lean pork tenderloin and then baked it off.  The char siu you find in a Chinese restaurant will most certainly be a fattier cut of pork.

First proofing: wait for dough to double in bulk.  It was cold on this day so I put another bowl of warm water underneath the bowl with the dough…worked like a charm!

After the 1st proof, section the dough into 16 equal pieces.

I sectioned out my dough by rolling it out into a 16″ x 6″ rectangle and then cut it into 16 equal pieces with a knife. Another option is to roll the dough into a long log and cut.  You can also use a kitchen scale to weigh, which would be the most exact way to get equal peices.

Mix in chopped chives after the filling has cooled

Start at bottom of this picture and work up.  Flip “pinched” & sealed” bottoms over to reveal a smooth bun top and place finished bun in a cupcake liner.

Egg wash and sesame seeds after 2nd proofing.

Warm out of the oven, with some Chinese jasmine tea for sipping.

Warm out of the oven, with some Chinese jasmine tea for sipping.

Dim Sum Recipe #1:  Siu Mai Dumplings

Dim Sum Recipe #3:  Ha Gao Dumplings

Dim Sum Recipe #4:  Egg Custard Tarts (Dan Tat)

Dim Sum Recipe #5:  Pork & Chive Potstickers

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Lokness

I love char siu bao, especially the sweet baked ones. I usually get this when I go to yum cha. Your baos look incredible! I would love to make them one day!

Reply
bonnieeng

Thank you so much Lokness! I hope you do try them, it’s neat making your own dim sum at home, some extra work but totally worth it. =)

Reply
Mary

Hi. Can i use same flour as steam buns or the flour is different for baked ones?

Reply
bonnieeng

Hi Mary, it depends on the recipe you are using for the steamed buns. It is likely not bread flour based, since steamed buns are generally more tender and have less gluten in the flour. Bread flour has a more gluten, resulting in a more chewy texture. So it’s basically better to stick with the bread flour for this recipe…hope this helps! =)

Reply
luck888

Just made these buns yesterday. Absolutely terrific. I grew up eating char siu bao and your filling is the closest I’ve ever made to the buns from the Chinese bakery as I remember from my childhood. Most of the BBQ buns here in Vancouver these days either skimp on filling or process the meat into a textureless mess. Thank you so much!

Reply
Bonnie Eng

Hi there! I’m so happy to hear that they worked out for you! I totally agree with you, the beauty of making them at home is that you can be generous with the filling and know exactly what’s going in it! I’m actually working on another bun recipe today (if all goes well, I’ll post on it tomorrow) for coconut buns, using the same bun dough from this recipe. Thanks so much for dropping me a line…totally made my day! 🙂

Reply
JazzBruce

Hi Miss Eng. I just spent several hours searching for and comparing numerous recipes for Cha Siu Bao. I decided that your’s was probably the best of all. I then attempted to print the recipe portion of your post or, as a last resort, the entire 27 page full post. I was unable to get any info to show up on my printed pages. Can you please help this poor boy progress toward Bao doneness?

Reply
<< PREVIOUS POST NEXT POST >>