Bao are having a moment. Restaurants are springing up all over the place to serve variations on this Taiwanese snack of pillowy dough pockets stuffed with roasted meats and pickles. In Dublin, Jack Fox and Duncan MacDonald serve them at their restaurant, Bread & Bones at Millennium Walkway in Dublin 1, and they recently hosted a bao class to share the secrets of making these versatile snacks.
It turns out it’s not too difficult. The slightly sweet, soft dough is surprisingly resilient but some tips may help. Don’t overcrowd your steamer. Have the water on a rolling boil so the bao get a hot blast of steam and don’t end up heavy. Don’t be tempted to open the steamer lid for at least seven minutes once you put the bao on to cook.
BREAD & BONES BAO
Makes 20-25 buns
725g strong white flour
75g caster sugar
25g salt
30g dried yeast
5g baking powder
5g bread soda
370ml warm water
75ml oil (plus more for brushing); rapeseed, sunflower or light olive oil
1: Measure all dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix together well.
2: Add the water and oil and bring the mixture together into a dough.
3: Knead (by hand or with mixer) until the dough is soft and no longer sticky to the touch. This takes about 10 minutes by machine or slightly longer by hand. Once you can stretch the dough and see light through it without it tearing the dough is ready.
4: Form the dough into a ball, cover with cling film or a plastic bag and leave to rise in a warm place for an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
5: Using your fingers, prod the risen dough to remove most of the air, then roll into a long sausage shape.
6: Tear or cut the dough into regular-sized pieces, anything from 25-65g, depending upon your preference.
7: Using a cupped hand, place it over each ball of dough and roll in a circular motion to form smooth balls, using the thumb of that hand to tuck the dough under on each roll.
8: Once finished, starting with the first ball rolled, flatten between your palms then roll using a rolling pin or pasta roller on the widest setting to make flattened oval shapes.
9: Using a pastry brush or your fingers brush a little oil on one side of the oval then fold in half gently.
10: Place each oval on a small square of greaseproof paper then cover and leave to rise again for about 15 minutes or until doubled in size again.
11: Place in the basket of a steamer (making sure the water is at a rolling boil) and steam for seven-10 minutes.
12: Once steamed, the buns can be refrigerated, frozen or stored at room temperature, then re-steamed for a few minutes to heat through.
Serve with a filling of choice and sauce on the side. Bao are traditionally served with pickled veg and cucumber. Some ideas are: roast pork with peanuts, pickled apple and hoi sin; steak with red onion pickle and teriyaki sauce; fried tofu with pickled mushroom and teriyaki sauce.
