Ham-Bao-ger

Bao. Steamed bread pockets filled with tasty loveliness. If you've never had one, then you're missing out on a Chinese delicacy that no once should miss out on. But if you're not up for a bean paste filling or don't have any char siu pork lying around, you can fill them with things you have on hand and are more comfortable with.

This is a great way to use up left overs as well.

The bao dough recipe comes from  Andrea Nguyen's wonderful book, Asian Dumplings. Pick it up. It's filled with some really wonderful stuff.

Step 1: The Dough

Into a bowl put this:

1.5 tsp yeast
3/4 cup water

Sit this aside to let it dissolve.

Into a food processor with a dough blade put these things:

12.5 oz all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 Tb sugar
2 Tb canola oil (or other flavorless oil)

Give this a spin to mix everything together. Then add the water all at once and spin it until it forms into a ball that pulls away from the sides of the bowl. You may need to add extra water, I put in an extra 2 tablespoons to get it to come together as a dough should.

Comments

[repguy2020]

Sounds like a great recipe! I'm going to have to try it some time... maybe with the chili dog variation.

[darus67]

Is that 12.5 oz of flour by volume or weight?

[dlewisa]

That's by weight. It'll be a great day when all baking recipes use weight rather than volume.

[darus67]

I agree.
Until then, however, it would be good to clarify that in the recipe.
Someone who measures out 12.5 oz by volume will be disappointed when the dough doesn't work.

[dlewisa]

Thanks. I thought it was inferred by the processor bowl sitting on a scale that reads 12 1/2.

[Sunkicked]

Looks great. The wife recently made a taco bake (from Cook's Illustrated. It's great, you should look it up) and this would be a fantastic way to reuse it!

[dlewisa]

Love Cook's Illustrated. I will do that, thank you.

[CementTruck]

That's a beautiful backsplash behind your stove in step 4. Did you do that yourself?

instructi'bao's good too. ;)

[dlewisa]

Yeah, I put those tiles in a long while back. It's pretty easy to do actually. All of the tile is mounted to a fiberglass mesh in 12"x12" tiles and the border at the bottom is done on the mesh too. Those tumbled slate tiles are pretty widely available at all the big box places. I'm getting ready to do a bar backsplash with 1"x2" subway style slate. Sweet.

Oh, and make sure you use a sealer after installation so you don't risk soaking up oil stains or anything. I like the high gloss, but they have satin and flat.