My first homemade bun

I make my first bun successfully TODAY! 

I did this bun-making process once before but the mission was unsuccessful cos I forgot to do the kneading process. So this time I'm determined to try it again by using another person's recipe; a Korean recipe. Her name is Maangchi and she has a lot of recipes in her blog.

You can watch the video of making this pork bun in her blog.

=Her recipe yields 16 steamed pork buns but I only managed to make 10 buns=

My assorted shapes of raw bun. I use aluminium foil as its base cos one reader suggested it. Baking paper is a no-no as the bun will stick to it when it cools down.

~For dough~

3 cups all purpose flour
2 ts dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/2 ts salt
1 ts sugar - light brown
2 tbs vegetable oil


Make the dough

1. In a large bowl, add 1 cup of warm water (under 40C), dry yeast, salt, vegetable oil and sugar. Mix well until the dry yeast is fully dissolved.
2. Add 3 cups of flour to the yeast water. Mix with a wooden spoon - I use silicone spatula, then knead for 2-3 minutes (rub your hands with vegetable oil first before kneading to prevent stickiness).
3. Set aside in warm place until the dough doubles in size. *another faster tips -watch Maangchi's video to learn how
4. After the dough has risen, knead it again for 1 minute to remove any extra gas. Set it aside in warm place with the lid closed for 30 minutes.

While waiting for the dough to rise, let's prepare the fillings:


1 cup chopped onion - white
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1 1/2 cup zucchini/ courgette
1 1/2 cup chopped green onions
2 cups chopped white mushrooms

1. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together. Sprinkle 1 ts of salt over top and mix it by hand. Set aside for 10-15 minutes.
2. Squeeze the excess water out (Maangchi suggested using cheesecloth - I only use siever and my fingers).

400g minced pork
1 ts soy sauce
2 cloves minced garlic
1 ts sesame oil
1/2 ts black pepper

1. Mix the above ingredients in another bowl.

COOKING TIME

1. In a preheated pan, add 1 tbs vegetable oil and saute the chopped vegetable for 2-3 minutes. Transfer them to a large bowl.
2. Heat up the pan again and cook the marinated pork for 3 minutes until fully cooked.
3. Put the pork into the bowl with the vegetable and mix it all together.

MAKING BUN

1. Split the dough into 16 smaller pieces.
2. Take a few dough balls and put them on a floured cutting board. The rest of the balls should be in the bowl with the lid closed, to prevent them from getting dried out.
3. Roll out each ball into a disk 4" (10cm) in diameter.
4. Place a disk into your palm and add 2-3 tbs of filling mixture to the center of it.
5. Lift the edges of the disk up around the filling, then press the edges together to seal the filling snugly inside the bun.
6. Repeat step 3-5 until you have made 16 buns. - I only managed to make 10 buns
7. Put water into the steamer and place each bun on the rack. Leave 1 inch gap between them because they will get bigger when steamed.
8. Wait for 20 more minutes to let the dough rise even more.
9. Bring to boil over high heat and steam for 20 minutes.

As I still have a lot of fillings leftover, I 'puak' kuey teow with it, red onion, oyster sauce and soya sauce for dinner tonight. Hubby said yummy and would like to eat it again for breakfast tomorrow.

Happy that he likes it too ^^