tibetan steamed buns

Learn how to make soft fluffy Chinese Steamed Buns. All the tips you need to know to make very smooth soft steamed buns with this recipe.

Soft Fluffy Chinese Steamed Buns Recipe (Baozi/Mantou)

gr all-purpose flour

60 gr Wheat starch (about 1/2 cup (unsifted),

gr Instant yeast (About 1 1/4 tsp, see note 1,2,3)

gr sugar (5 Tbsp, you can cut down on the sugar or add more to your taste)

Tbsp cooking oil

tsp salt

Start with 150 ml (about 2/3 cup) of milk

Place all of the flour, cornstarch/wheat starch/potato starch, instant yeast, sugar, salt, and oil in a mixing bowl. If you are using a stand mixer, use a dough hook attachment. Add cold milk or room temperature water. If I use cake flour, I need less liquid, but if I use combination of all-purpose flour and cornstarch, I need close to 200 ml of liquid. So, start with 150 ml and add more until you can form a dough. You will most likely need to add more milk/water if the dough is still a bit dry. I would rather you start with the lowest amount of liquid and add more teaspoon by teaspoon until the dough comes together and continue to knead for 5 minutes

Prepare the dough with a machine:

Place the all the flour, cornstarch/wheat starch, instant yeast, sugar, salt, and oil in a mixing bowl. Start with 150 ml of liquid, most likely you will need more liquid than called for in the recipe. Mix until you get a rough dough (it&#039;s not going to be smooth yet). Cover and rest it for 15 minutes. Then go back and knead it. You&#039;ll be surprised by how easier it is to knead it now. Knead until the dough is smooth and pliable, about 10-15 minutes. At any point during kneading, you can always stop and rest the dough if you find it hard to knead. This is to relax the gluten. Then go back to knead again and you&#039;ll be surprised by the difference it makes by just resting the dough before kneading again. It&#039;s easier for you too

Prepare the dough by hands:

Cover and rest the dough for 15 minutes. This is not to proof the dough. It shouldn&#039;t double in size. This is to relax the gluten for easier shaping and rolling the dough, then proceed to next step that&#039;s applicable to you

Rest the dough (to relax the gluten, not to proof the dough):

Divide the dough into 12 equal portions. Lightly dust the work surface with some flour. Work with one dough at a time. Knead the dough a few times to push out any air bubbles (if any). Flatten the dough with your palm and then use a rolling pin to roll it out to form a circle about 4-5 inches, with a slightly thicker middle part. This is to support the weight of the filling. Don&#039;t roll the dough too thin. If you roll the dough too thin, the filling might make the steamed buns &quot;wrinkle&quot; later when you steam. Place the filling at the center and then gather the sides to enclose the bun and pinch to seal. Flip the bun so the seam side is down now

Cup the dough with both palms and move the dough in a circular motion to shape it taller. This part is important so your steamed buns come out tall instead of spreading to the side after steaming. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and proceed to proofing

If you are going to make steamed buns with filling:

Divide the dough into 12 equal portions. Lightly dust the work surface with some flour. Work with one dough at a time. Knead the dough a few times to push out any air bubbles (if any)

Then pull and tuck the dough so the seams are at the bottom and the surface is smooth and round. Roll the dough into a smooth round ball in between the palm of your hand or as I did in the video. REALLY make sure the dough is smooth.

Cup the dough with both palms and move the dough in a circular motion to shape it taller. This part is important so your steamed buns come out tall instead of spreading to the side after steaming

Place on a piece of parchment paper. Lightly dab the surface of the bun with some milk using your finger to smooth the surface. Loosely cover with clean kitchen towel to prevent drying. Work with another dough and do the same. Proceed to proofing after that

If you are just making plain steamed buns with no filling (round shape):

Roll the dough into a long log and use a dough cutter to cut into 8 equal portions using serrated knife is best so it won&#039;t squish the dough down. Lightly dab the surface of the bun with some milk using your finger to smooth the surface. Proceed to proofing step below

For mantou shape:

Let the dough rise at room temperature or at a warm place.  If it&#039;s winter where you are, you can use your oven &quot;bread proof&quot; function to let them proof in there, or simply turn on your oven to the lowest temperature and then turn off and after 15 minutes, place the shaped buns in there to let them proof. They won&#039;t necessarily double in size, but at least puff up to about 50% of the original size. This may take about 30 mins to 1 hour at a warm temperature. Don&#039;t go by the time however

For active dry yeast and fresh yeast, you may need a bit longer for it to proof compare to instant yeast. If you use more sugar in the recipe, you may need to proof a bit longer too. Do not overproof your dough however

How do you know if your buns have proofed ? They will be about 50% bigger than their original size AND when you lift them up, they should feel lighter. If not, let them proof a bit longer. They won&#039;t visually look bigger. Use a finger test too. When you gently push on the dough, it will leave an indentation but it will spring back slowly. This dough is perfectly proofed. If it springs back right away, it needs to be proofed a bit longer. If it never springs back, then you have over proofed the dough. Loosely cover them with a plastic wrap and put the overproofed buns in the fridge to slow down the proofing while waiting for the steamer

Proofing:

Most likely your steamer won&#039;t be able to accommodate steaming all buns at one go, unless you have something like this 3-tier food steamer (which I really love). You may need to steam in 2-3 batches, which means, the rest of the batches will sit longer and continue to proof while waiting for the steamer. Not good for the buns! Here&#039;s what you can do: Make sure to cover them with plastic wrap and then place them in the refrigerator to slow down the yeast activity or halt it all together until they are ready to be steamed

Bring the water in your steamer to a boil. Wrap the lid of your steamer with a kitchen towel to prevent moisture dripping back on the steamed buns as this will create &quot;burn&quot; spots

LOWER THE HEAT TO MEDIUM. Place the buns in there, leaving about 1-inch space in between. Cover with a lid but leaving it about 1/4-inch gap for some steam to escape. Steam on medium heat for 15 minutes for plain medium-large buns with no filling, 20 minutes for large buns with raw meat filling. This is especially important if you see that you have overproof the steamed buns (the steamed buns have doubled in size and they have widened to the side). As long as you steam them like this, the buns will not wrinkle and collapse later when you take them out from the steamer

After steaming, turn off the heat. DO NOT OPEN THE LID of the steamer. Let the buns sit there for 5 minutes or longer like this. The buns will not sink or wrinkle due to the sudden change in temperature

Steaming:

Immediately remove the buns to wire rack to let them cool down. This is to ensure the bottom of the steamed buns will not be wet and soggy

Cooling:

If you make extra and plan to store them, let the already steamed buns cooled down completely and then place them on a baking sheet, not touching each other, and then put the entire tray inside the freezer for about 1 hour. They will harden, but not completely frozen yet. Transfer to a freezer bag and they will not stick to each other anymore. Try not to keep for more than 1 month

Storing:

They can go straight from freezer to steamer when you ready to eat them. Steam on high heat for 5 minutes and they are as good as new

Reheating:

https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/3luE64It.mp4

Soft Fluffy Chinese Steamed Buns Recipe (Mantou)

Learn how to make soft and fluffy Chinese steamed buns using Instant Pot as a steamer for the best result. You will be surprised by how easy it is.

How To Make Instant Pot Chinese Steamed Buns

gr Wheat starch (about 1/4 cup,

90 gr cake flour (1/2 cup + 2 3/4 Tbsp)

gr Instant yeast (About 1/2+ 1/8 tsp. see notes 1)

gr sugar (about 2 Tbsp sugar, more or less to your taste)

tsp cooking oil

Start with 80 ml cold milk

dou sha

coconut filling

Char siu

Pork steamed buns

Place the flour combination (either option 1 or 2), instant yeast, sugar in a mixing bowl. If you are using a stand mixer, use a dough hook attachment. Add cold milk or water. Add cooking oil. You may need to add more milk/water if the dough is still a bit dry. Add more teaspoon by teaspoon until the dough comes together and continue to knead for 5 minutes. If you are kneading by hands, about 10 minutes until the dough is no longer sticky and smooth. Then add in the salt and continue to knead until the dough is smooth again

Place the flour combination (either option 1 or 2), instant yeast, sugar in a mixing bowl. Mix until you get a rough dough (it&#039;s not going to be smooth yet). Cover and rest it for 15 minutes. Then go back and knead it. You&#039;ll be surprised by how easier it is to knead it now. Knead until the dough is smooth and pliable, about 10-15 minutes. At any point during kneading, you can always stop and rest the dough if you find it hard to knead. This is to relax the gluten. Then go back to knead again and you&#039;ll be surprised by the difference it makes by just resting the dough before kneading again. It&#039;s easier on you too.

Wrap the dough with a plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes before shaping. The dough will not rise at this point. This step is to relax the gluten so you can roll and wrap the dough easily later

Rest the dough:

Lightly dust your work surface with some flour. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions. Work with one dough at a time. Flatten the dough with your palm and then use a rolling pin to roll it out to form a circle about 4-5 inches, with a slightly thicker middle part. This is to support the weight of the filling. Don&#039;t roll the dough too thin. If you roll the dough too thin, the filling might make the steamed buns &quot;wrinkle&quot; later when you steam. Place the filling at the center and then gather the sides to enclose the bun and pinch to seal. Flip the bun so the seam side is down now or you can fold the edge to create flower patterns

Wrapping:

Cover with a clean cloth and let them proof for about 15 minutes. Let the dough rise at room temperature.  If it&#039;s winter where you are, you can use your oven &quot;bread proof&quot; function to let them proof in there, or simply turn on your oven to the lowest temperature and then turn off and after 15 minutes, place the shaped buns in there to let them proof. This may take about 15-30 mins at a warm temperature. Don&#039;t just go by the time though. They won&#039;t necessarily double in size, but they will puff up to about 50% of its original size and feel light when you lift it up.

You can also do a finger test by gently pushing down on the dough, it will leave an indentation but it will spring back slowly. This dough is perfectly proofed. If it springs back right away, it needs to be proofed a bit longer. If it never springs back, then you have over proofed the dough.

Pour 3 cups of water into the inner pot of Instant Pot. Don&#039;t use the metal trivet that comes with IP because the trivet is too low and the steaming basket will get splattered by the boiling water during steaming and that will bruise the steamed buns

I use a heat-proof bowl instead. Then I place a bamboo basket or stainless steel steamer basket on top. Press &quot;SAUTE&quot; and bring the water to a boil. When water comes to a boil, carefully place the buns on the steaming basket, I can only fit in about 3. I recommend steaming one rack at a time for the best result as the buns will expand during steaming

Drape a clean kitchen towel over the inner pot (as shown in the photo and video). This prevents condensation dripping on the steamed buns. Then put the IP cover on top. The lid is just to cover and to make sure there is just enough pressure to cook the buns and we can&#039;t lock the lid because of the towel, which is ok. There will be steam coming out from the IP, don&#039;t panic, it&#039;s normal because the lid is not tightly secured

STEAMING TIME (just a reference): Small to medium buns with no raw meat filling needs 5 minutes to steam. Large buns with no raw meat filling need about 8 minutes. If there is raw meat filling, steam the small-medium buns for 8-10 minutes and the large ones for 15 minutes. You need to set your own timer using your phone or any digital timer

When it&#039;s done steaming, press &quot;CANCEL&quot;. Remove the lid and carefully uncover the towel. Transfer the steamed buns to a cooling rack to let them cool down completely. This also prevent the bottom of the steamed buns from getting soggy

To steam the next batch, refill the inner pot with 1-2 cups of water or as needed. Press saute again to bring it back to a boil, it shouldn&#039;t take long. Then repeat the same process

Use Instant Pot &quot;SAUTE&quot; mode (highly recommend this method):

Pour 1 cup of water into the inner pot of Instant Pot. Place a metal trivet in there. Use a bamboo basket or stainless steel steamer basket. I don&#039;t recommend using a plate as the material is too thick and the buns won&#039;t cook properly. It&#039;s better to use something that has holes or ventilation at the bottom so the steamed buns can cook properly Place it on top of the trivet. Arrange 3 buns in the basket allowing about 1/2-inch space in between. You will need to do the steaming in 3 batches

Close the lid. Turn the steam release valve to &quot;sealing&quot;. Press &quot;Steamer&quot; and make sure it&#039;s on &quot;high pressure&quot;. You can use the +/- button to adjust the pressure level. Set the timer to 3 minutes for small buns. About 5 minutes for larger buns. If there is raw meat filling, set the timer to 8 minutes. Make sure it&#039;s on high pressure. Release pressure immediately when they are done cooking

Carefully unlock the lid and remove the steamed buns to a cooling rack to let them cool down completely

Continue with the second batch. Refill the inner pot with some water if necessary. Arrange the rest of the proofed buns in a basket and turn the steam release valve back to &quot;sealing&quot; again and repeat the process. This time it will pressurize almost immediately

Use the Instant Pot &quot;Steam&quot; mode (result not consistent):

Pour 1 cup of water into the inner pot of Instant Pot. Place a metal trivet in there. Use a bamboo basket or stainless steel steamer basket. I don&#039;t recommend using a plate as the material is too thick and the buns won&#039;t cook properly. It&#039;s better to use something that has holes or ventilation at the bottom so the steamed buns can cook properly. Place basket/rack on top of the trivet. Arrange 3 buns allowing about 1/2-inch space in between. You will need to do the steaming in 3 batches

Close the lid. Turn the steam release valve to &quot;Sealing&quot;. Press &quot;Pressure Cooker&quot; and make sure it&#039;s on &quot;high pressure&quot;. You can use the +/- button to adjust the pressure level. Set the timer to 1 minute. If there is raw meat filling, set timer to 4 minutes. It will take about 1-2 minutes to pressurize. When it&#039;s done cooking, release pressure immediately

Carefully unlock the lid and remove the steamed buns to a cooling rack to let them cool down completely. This is important so the bottom of the steamed buns won&#039;t be soggy

Continue with the second batch. You shouldn&#039;t need to refill with any water. Arrange the rest of the proofed buns in a basket and close the lid again and turn the steam release valve back to &quot;sealing&quot; again and repeat the process.

Use Instant Pot Pressure Cooker mode (result not consistent):

https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/Ykon3PbA.mp4

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