Baked BBQ pork buns are a delicious staple at dim sum restaurants and bakeries. The outer dough is fluffy soft and the inside is filled with juicy Chinese BBQ'ed pork (char sui) in a sweet soy sauce based "gravy". You can have it as a meal for lunch or a hearty afternoon snack. Most of the time, I buy these from the bakery since it's not a quick and easy recipe. You have to make the char sui filling. Then make the dough. Then fill and bake. And if you don't buy your char sui and make your own, it takes even longer!
However, since my sister is allergic to eggs, buying these from the bakery won't do. So every once in a while when I have time, I'll make these eggless baked BBQ pork buns to bring to her. For the char sui, I used my homestyle char sui recipe here. And for the dough, I used my eggless milk bread--tangzhou recipe here.
And to give the baos a nice color, I use honey water to brush instead of an egg wash. The egg wash gives a nice shine to the buns, but if you are allergic to eggs, use the honey water-- it will help the buns brown, although they won't come out shiny like the egg wash.
This recipe makes 12 baos. You can freeze these for later by placing them in a single layer in a zip lock freezer bag, squishing out as much air as possible, sealing and freezing. To reheat, I take the amount I want from the freezer and thaw in the fridge the day before. Then the next day I cut the bun in half and microwave both halves together for 30 seconds to reheat.
HOW TO MAKE THE FILLING:
- ¼ c all purpose flour
- ½ c plus 2 T water
Ingredients for Dough:
- 3 c all purpose flour
- ¾ c plus 2 T whole milk
- 3 T sugar
- 1 ½ t yeast
- 3 T unsalted butter
- ¾ t salt
- All of the tangzhong above when it has cooled down
Ingredients for Filling:
- 12 oz Char sui (Chinese BBQ pork), diced (2 c diced)
- 1 small onion, diced (1 c diced)
- 1 T soy sauce
- 1 t dark soy sauce
- 1 T oyster sauce
- 1 T mirin
- 2 t sugar
- 1 t sesame oil
- 2 T cornstarch
- ½ c water
- salt and pepper
- 1 to 2 t olive oil for cooking
Honey wash:
- 1 T honey
- 1 T water
Procedures for making the dough:
1. To a microwave safe bowl, add flour and water for the Tangzhong. Mix until there are no flour lumps. Then microwave on full power for 1 minute. Take it out and mix with a spoon. Then microwave again for 30 seconds. Take it out and mix, and let it cool to room temperature on the counter top. Should take only about 10 to 15 minutes to cool.
2. In the meantime, add all the ingredients for the dough to your bread machine or kitchen aid mixer equip with a dough hook. Add the cooled tangzhong last. Turn on the bread machine and set it to the dough setting to automatically mix, knead, and rise.
3. If you don’t have a bread maker, then use a kitchen aid mixer with a dough hook to mix all the dough ingredients together in a bowl until combined. Then knead the dough for 15 minutes until smooth. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and allow it to rise for 60 minutes. (It’s best to use a bread maker or a kitchen aid mixer to mix this dough, as the dough is very sticky and will be difficult to mix by hand without being tempted to add more flour because the dough is so sticky.)
Procedures for making the filling:
1. Add diced onions to pan with olive oil and cook on medium heat until translucent. Then add the diced char sui.
2. In a bowl, add water, cornstarch, both soy sauces, oyster sauce, sugar, mirin, and sesame oil. Mix to form the sauce. Pour sauce into pan with onions and char sui
3. Stir over medium heat until the sauce thickens to almost a paste. This is not a runny sauce. It should be very thick. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed. Set aside until dough is ready.
Procedures for making the buns and baking:
1. After the dough is done rising, place the dough on a lightly floured surface and divide the dough into 12 equal pieces.
2. Flatten each piece of dough and place a heaping tablespoon of filling in the middle. Pinch the bun closed, and round it out with the palm of your hands. Place the seam side down onto a baking tray lined with a silicon baking mat or parchment paper. Repeat until all 12 pieces of dough are used up.
3. Cover the filled buns with a clean cloth and allow them to rest for 15 minutes. (I usually turn on the oven set to 175F while I’m filling the buns. And when the temperature hits 175, I turn the oven off. Then once the buns are all filled, I pop the tray in the oven to allow the buns to rest for 15 min in the slightly warmed oven.)
4. Once the buns have rested for 15 minutes in a warm location, gently brush the tops of the bun with honey water (or egg wash if you are not allergic to eggs-- it will come out "prettier"). (The honey water will give the buns a nice color when baked. It won't be shiny like egg wash though.)
5. While applying the honey wash, set the oven to 375F. Once the temperature reaches 375F, place the tray of buns into the oven. Turn off the oven and reset the temperature to bake at 350F. Bake at 350F for 20 to 22 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before eating, as the filling will be very hot.