Char siew pau

Recipe for char siew pau

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About this recipe

In this blog post I will guide you thru the steps and ingredients needed to craft this recipe. Grab your favorite apron and let's start.
Char siew pau is a popular Chinese dim sum dish that consists of soft and fluffy steamed buns filled with succulent barbecued pork. The buns are known for their slightly sweet and savory taste, making them a delightful treat for any time of the day. The recipe for char siew pau requires a combination of marinating the pork in a flavorful sauce, preparing the dough for the buns, and assembling and steaming the buns to perfection. With its tender meat and pillowy texture, char siew pau is a must-try dish that will satisfy any craving for authentic Chinese cuisine.

Keywords: Chinese dim sum, barbecued pork, steamed buns, flavorful sauce, authentic cuisine

Char siew pau details

Char siew pau, recipe Rating: 4.4
Number of votes:92 INGREDIENTS:

Main Dough:

75g cake flour

65g tung min flour

1 tsp bread improver

10g baking powder

60g icing sugar

1/2 tsp instant yeast

40g water

140g (2 portions) Dough Starter

10g shortening

   

METHOD:

1. Sift cake flour, tung min flour, bread improver, baking powder and icing sugar into a mixing bowl. Combine yeast and water with flours. Blend to mix well. Beat using dough hook until a smooth dough is formed.

2. Add in dough starter and shortening. Continue to knead until the dough is smooth and elastic (for about 15 minutes) .

3. Prove dough for 60-90 minutes until dough passes the finger-tip test .

4. Divide dough into 45g portions. Roll each portion into ball, covered with a damp cloth and set aside to rest for 5 minutes.

5. Use a rolling pin to roll out a portion of dough such that edges are thinner than the central part. Place some char siew filling in the centre and wrap to form a pau. Repeat for remaining dough.

6. Boil water in a steamer.  Steam char siew pau over rapid boiling water immediately after the wrapping for 10-15 minutes. Serve while paus are still hot.

NOTE:

1. This recipe is different from Steamed Man Tou, Meat & Vegetable Pau, although it uses dough starter too. The important step in the preparation of char siew pau is to reduce the percentage of gluten in the dough to ensure char siew paus do break up when steamed. This is make possible by substituting flour with tung min flour.

Tung min flour is produced from flour where the protein has been removed. With the exclusion of protein, gluten will not be formed upon addition of water. However, when constructing this recipe, We was afraid  that protein contributed by the cake flour alone was not sufficient for the proper functioning of yeast and for the texture of pau. As a result, We used 2 portions of dough starter.

1. Unlike bread dough, dough for pau does not have to be kneaded to the thin membrane stage. Knead until gluten is formed in dough.

2. Use the “finger-tip” test to check if the dough has fully risen. Press dough with your finger tip. If the impression stays, it is ready to go on to shaping. If the impression spring back, continue proving.

3. Please adjust water content of this recipe. Remember amount of water required depends on type of flour used, type of liquid used, temperature and humidity of atmosphere at the time of making the pau.
4. Dough with tung min flour tends to be soft and sticky to work with. However, avoid using too much flour to dust your working surface. This may result in thick and hard pau skin.

5. Avoid water condensate at steamer’s lid from dropping to the pau. Dry lid with a cloth every time you uncover the steamer.

6. If you are not able to finish all the pau at one time, keep them in an air-tight container or plastic bag and freeze. Just reheat them whenever you want to have them. Estimated storage period is 2-3 months.