Baozi (Chinese steamed pork buns)
Perfectly fluffy, incredibly juicy, and bursting with flavor, these baozi will transport you straight to the bustling streets of China.
Equipment
- 2 medium mixing bowls
- 1 small wooden rolling pin
- Steamer
Ingredients
Wrapper dough
- 5 cups (600g) all purpose flour
- 2 tsp instant or active dry yeast
- 2 tsp granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 1/4 cup (290g) lukewarm water
Pork and napa filling
- 1 pound (450g) ground pork belly (or other pork)
- 1 pound (450g) napa cabbage, finely diced
- 2 1/2 tbsp (15g) ginger, finely diced
- 1/4 cup (30g) rice cooking wine
- 1/4 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 1/4 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1/4 tbsp salt
Instructions
Make the dough
- Add flour, yeast, sugar, and oil to a medium mixing bowl and stir to combine
- While stirring with a fork, slowly trickle in water until a soft, smooth dough is formed. You may have to press with you hands to bring it together. Alternatively, fit a standmixer with the dough hook and slowly trickle in water on slow speed.
- Knead for 5 - 10 minutes until dough is smooth without any lumps
- Place dough in mixing bowl and cover with a damp towel. Let rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until doubled in size.
Make the filling
- While the dough is rising, make your filling. Use clean hands to squeeze out any excess water from your napa cabbage. Combine the pork, cabbage, ginger, rice cooking wine, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, salt, and sugar in a mixing bowl. Stir until well-combined.
Fill and wrap your bao
- After your dough has doubled in size, gently punch down with your fist to release the air. Place on a floured surface and knead until the dough is back to its original size. Roll into a long cylinder and cut into 24 round, even pieces.
- Gently flatten each piece so it is circular. Using your rolling pin, push with your dominate hand. Use the other hand to rotate the dough in a circle so that you only ever flatten the edges. You want to center to remain thick so that your bao doesn't leak. Please refer to my video above if you need visual guidance. Your wrapper should be ~5 inches in diameter.
- Place a few spoonfuls of filling in the middle of the wrapper. Hold the wrapper in your non-dominant hand. Use your thumb and index finger of your dominant hand to pinch the edges of the wrapper together. Please refer to my video above if you need visual guidance.
- Let the buns sit for 20 - 30 minutes until puffy.
- Boil water in a steamer. After water is boiling, line the steamer with parchment paper and place bao in. Steam for 18 minutes. Remove and serve immediately.