Chicken Ham Bake (Buns and Baos)

on

 

What to do with leftover ham from the holidays? Make chicken ham bakes! These are so hefty, one bun is a meal itself!

I choose to use a slightly modified version (used 1.5X recipe and swapped out olive oil for butter) of this spinach dough recipe from here, but this eggless tangzhong dough (recipe here) would work just as well too. Whichever dough you decide to use, start mixing the dough first. Then, while the dough is rising, make the filling. The pictures for the dough making and general bao bun filling procedures are in the links above if you need a step by step pictorial view of the process.


Making the filling and baking the buns:

Mix the cream cheese with the salt, nutritional yeast, ranch dressing, onions and garlic powder until the spices are incorporated into the cream cheese. It’s going to be a thick mixture.

Add in the chopped ham and diced chicken and mix until thoroughly combined. Set aside until the dough is ready.
When the dough is ready, divide dough into 8 pieces on a floured surface. Flatten dough ball and fill with 1/8 chicken ham mixture. Pinch to seal and place seam side down on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. When all 8 dough balls are filled, place in a warm area to rise for 15 minutes.

Brush tops of buns with honey water. Then bake at 350F for 25 to 28 min until the tops are lightly browned and bao buns are cooked through.




Yields 8 buns

Ingredients for dough:

  • 1/2 c frozen chopped spinach, thawed and water squeezed out
  • 3 c all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1 T sugar
  • 1 1/2 t yeast
  • 1 c plus 2 T milk
  • 2 T butter
  • ¼ t salt

Ingredients for chicken ham filling:

  • 2 large chicken beasts, poached until cooked, and diced to cubes
  • 1 c ham finely diced
  • 2 T dried chopped onions
  • 2 T chopped green onions
  • 1/2 t dried granulated garlic
  • 1  block of cream cheese, 8 oz
  • ½ t salt
  • 2 T nutritional yeast
  • 4 T Ranch dressing

Honey water:

  • 1 T honey
  • 1 T water

Procedures:

1. Thaw the spinach and squeeze out the water.

2. If you have a bread maker, add all the dough ingredients to the bread maker and set it to the dough setting so that the bread maker will mix, knead, and rise the dough for you. If you don’t have a bread maker, then 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 45 minutes, or until approximately double in size.

3. While the dough is rising, make the filling by mixing together the cream cheese with nutritional yeast, both onions, salt, granulated garlic, and ranch dressing. Then add in the ham and chicken. Set aside until the dough is ready.

4. After the dough is done rising, place the dough on a lightly floured surface and divide the dough into 8 equal pieces.

5. Flatten each piece of dough and place a large heaping spoonful 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 parchment paper. Repeat until all 8 pieces of dough are used up.

6. Set the buns in a 125F oven to rise for 15 min.

7. Brush the tops of the buns with a mixture of honey water. 

8. Bake at 350 F for 25 to 28 minutes. (More specifically, you Preheat oven to 375F, then place tray of buns in the oven. Close oven door and lower baking Temperature to 350F and bake for 25-28 minutes.) Then allow buns to cool for 10 min before enjoying.