It’s the final countdown! Only 10 recipes left in the book! This is recipe 152 of 161.

Bao is a type of yeast-leavened filled bun from various Chinese cuisines. There are many variations in fillings and cooking methods, though the buns are most often steamed. These have a pork filling and are absolutely delicious.

Step by step recipe below and list of ingredients at the end of the post!

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The filling can be done a day ahead of making the buns, or while the dough is resting.

Trim the boneless pork shoulder of any tough sinew (but leave the fat on) and cut into cubes.

Make a marinade by combining the minced garlic, minced ginger, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sugar, salt and black pepper together.

Pour the marinade over the cubed pork in a large bowl. Mix, cover and marinate for 30 minutes.

Set a large, heavy pot over a high heat and add the canola oil. Once hot, add the drained pork pieces (lift them out with a slotted spoon) and brown well all over, about 5–6 minutes. Add the marinade, then enough water to just cover the pork.

Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour, uncovered, until the pork is very tender and the liquid has reduced by two-thirds.

Remove the pork from the pot and allow to cool slightly before dicing finely into 1 cm pieces.

Mix the cornflour and water together, then pour into the sauce and stir until thickened.

Fold the diced pork back into the thickened braising liquid. Remove from the heat, allow to cool, then refrigerate until completely cold.

To make the dough: in a large mixing bowl combine the milk, sugar and yeast. Set aside for 15 minutes to allow the yeast to activate – it will form bubbles and become slightly frothy when ready.

Sift the flour, cornflour and salt together into a separate bowl.

Cut the pork fat into the dry ingredients until there are only small pieces of it through the dry mixture (instead of pork fat I used butter).

Combine the dry mixture with the milk/yeast liquid and half the water. Mix with your hands until it forms a single mass of dough. Add the remaining water as required, until the dough is workable and smooth (but not too sticky). If it gets too sticky, add a bit more flour.

Once the dough is kneaded and smooth, place in a bowl and cover it with a cloth. Place in a warm spot and let it rest for 2–3 hours or until tripled in volume. In the meantime, take some baking or greaseproof paper and cut out about 30 square pieces (10cm x 10 cm).

Once risen, tip the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for a couple of minutes until completely smooth. This ensures you don’t get too many large air bubbles in the finished dough. Form the dough into golf-ball-sized pieces (or a bit bigger than the size of a golf ball).

Flatten out to about ¾-cm-thick ‘pancakes’. Place a heaped tablespoon of filling in the centre.

Fold in the edges and pinch together tightly to seal.

Place the balls, seam-side down, in the centre of your paper squares. Set on a baking tray while the rest of the buns are prepared. Place the tray back in a warm spot, covered with a towel, to rise again for 1 hour.

Set up your steamer. Fill the bottom of the steamer with 2–3 cm of water. Place the buns in steamer baskets, leaving 1–2 cm of space between them so there’s room for the buns to expand. Steam the buns on a rapid boil for 15–17 minutes until the bread is light, fluffy and shiny on the surface. Serve hot!

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Baos (Chinese Steamed Pork Buns)

From The Great New Zealand Baking Book, copyright © Anthony Hoy Fong

Makes: 30-40 | Prep time: 5 ½ hours | Skill level: 2 (moderate)

Ingredients

Pork filling

• 1 kg boneless pork shoulder, cubed
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 cm piece ginger, peeled and minced
• 3 tbsp hoisin sauce
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 3 tbsp cornflour
• 2 tbsp water

Dough

• 400 ml milk, warmed
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 5 tsp active dry yeast
• 1,150 g high-grade flour, plus extra for kneading
• 220 g cornflour
• 1½ tsp salt
• ¼ cup (35 g) pork fat or lard (you can skim and reserve clean pork fat from when you cook pork)
• up to 200 ml warm water, as needed

Method

Filling: this can be done a day ahead of making buns, or while dough is resting. Trim pork of any tough sinew (but leave the fat on). Make a marinade by combining garlic, ginger, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sugar, salt and black pepper together. Pour marinade over pork in a large bowl. Mix, cover and marinate for 30 minutes.

Set a large, heavy pot over a high heat and add oil. Once hot, add drained pork pieces (lift them out with a slotted spoon) and brown well all over, about 5–6 minutes. Add marinade, then enough water to just cover pork. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour, uncovered, until pork is very tender and liquid has reduced by two-thirds.

Remove pork from pot and allow to cool slightly before dicing finely into 1 cm pieces. Mix cornflour and water together, then pour into sauce and stir until thickened. Fold diced pork back into thickened braising liquid. Remove from heat, allow to cool, then refrigerate until completely cold.

Dough: in a large mixing bowl combine milk, sugar and yeast. Set aside for 15 minutes to allow yeast to activate – it will form bubbles and become slightly frothy when ready. Sift flour, cornflour and salt together into a separate bowl. Cut pork fat into dry ingredients until there are only small pieces of it through the dry mixture.

Combine dry mixture with milk/yeast liquid and half the water. Mix with your hands until it forms a single mass of dough. Add remaining water only as required, until the dough is workable and smooth (but not too sticky). If it gets too sticky, add a bit more flour. Once dough is kneaded and smooth, return to bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Place in a warm, dry spot (hot-water cupboard or oven warmer drawer on low work well) and let it rest for 2–3 hours or until tripled in volume. In the meantime, take some baking or greaseproof paper and cut out about 30 square pieces (10cm x 10 cm).

Once risen, tip dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 15–20 minutes until completely smooth. This ensures you don’t get too many large air bubbles in the finished dough. Once smooth, return dough to mixing bowl and place a towel over the top (so it doesn’t dry out as you set up to prepare the buns).

Assembly: Working with 2–3 pieces at a time, form dough into golf-ball-sized pieces. Flatten out to about ¾-cm-thick ‘pancakes’ in the centre of your palm. Press lightly in the centre to make a small dimple. Place a heaped tablespoon of filling in the dimple, then fold in the edges and pinch together tightly to seal. Place ball, seam-side down, in the centre of a paper square. Set on a baking tray while the rest of the buns are prepared. Place tray back in a warm spot, covered with a towel, to rise again for 1 hour.

Steaming: Set up your steamer (a multi-layered steamer works well). Fill the bottom of the steamer with 2–3 cm of water. Tie a teatowel around the lid to catch any condensation drips that would otherwise drip onto the buns. Place buns in steamer baskets, leaving 1–2 cm of space between the paper squares so there’s room for buns to expand. Steam buns on a rapid boil for 15–17 minutes until the bread is light, fluffy and shiny on the surface. Serve hot with a little extra soy sauce on the side.

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