For the longest time I've dreamed of making this kind of Chinese bao that I've seen (and eaten lots of!) in Dim Sum 點心 restaurants, where the heat of steaming gracefully splits the top of the snowy bao, allowing the luscious filling to peek temptingly out. But, alas, it was not as easy one would suppose. I've previously attempted a few times to make this kind of bao with ammonia powder and, as of yet, have been happy with the results ;(
So, anyhoo, I recently discovered and tried making a recipe that makes this cracked bao without ammonia powder and this is the record of that rather bumpy food journey. Tho (myself) was fraught with doubts all the way thru, these Salted Egg Yolk Custard Bao 鹹蛋黃奶黃包點心 turned out beautifully perfect: the bun so gorgeously soft, airy and light with a naturally cracked top and the scrumptious salted egg yolk custard filling just peeking through in all its golden glory. Me so happy...hey guys, it's dim sum time!
First to make the filling, a luscious custard filling flavored with Chinese salted egg yolk. For those of you who have tasted of the beauteous salted egg yolk, you will already know that this filling is gonna be a little lot of something special. For newbies to the salted egg yolk, the taste is lusciously umami rich, buttery, slighty nutty and savory; a taste like no other and the ultimate flavor boost to a custard base!
Look for Chinese salted eggs at your local Asian grocer. They will be the eggs that are thickly coated in a black paste. You can also buy just the salted egg yolk itself but I find that the yolks from the whole eggs generally taste better.
If using the whole salted egg, crack open, save only the yolk and discard the rest. The brined yolk will be firm enough to keep its shape and therefore is easy to pick out. These salted eggs yolks are placed in a blender with sugar and blended until a smooth golden paste is formed.
To this salted egg yolk sugar mixture we add the rest of the custard ingredients. Cream, milk, condensed milk and egg make up the base of the custard. To really bring out the flavor of the custard we add custard powder and milk powder. Finally, to help set the filling we add in corn starch and glutinous rice flour. Just toss all these into the blender with the salted egg paste and then blitz til all mixed up.
The resulting mixture is a golden liquid. Don' t mind about the bubbles, it won't matter in the long run so you can just leave 'em in.
This liquid mixture is steamed over high heat until it is completely firmed up.
Do note that, in order that condensation while doesn't drip back onto your filling mixture as you steam, you will need to grab a kitchen towel to place over the steamer before topping with the lid. Make sure that the loose ends of the cloth are lifted and placed over the lid so as not to burn!
This is the filling after steaming. I was super surprised how golden yellow the filling turned after steaming, lol. Let the filling completely cool down.
Once cooled the golden filling is scraped into one mass and then put into the freezer to firm up. I left mine in the freezer for a couple of days and it was firm but still scoop-able. This is definitely a filling you can make ahead of time!
Once firm enough to handle the filling needs to the scooped, weighed and rolled into rounds. As the filling was pretty soft, it was a wee bit messy to deal with but overall very doable. Once all your filling rounds are made, be sure to place back in the freezer while you make the dough.
Now onto the new and exciting dough! First the dry ingredients are mixed: low gluten flour, wheat starch and some baking powder are added to a bowl. Once that is stirred up we add some lard and use fingertips to mush the flour about until the lard is mixed in and coating the flour.
Separately the wet ingredients of the dough are mixed: milk, sugar, egg white, and white vinegar are stirred together until the sugar is melted.
The dry dough ingredients are added into the wet dough ingredients and stirred until just mixed and no more.
And...it was exactly at this point that I became fraught with worry. Cuz this dough was the goopiest dough I ever did see. After a bit of waffling, I decided to give the dough a chance and follow through even tho I was mostly convinced that it wasn't going to work. So this goopiest of doughs went into the fridge to firm up.
Note that after chilling the dough was a wee bit firmer but still really quite goopy. By now I was even more worried and sad that my dream of cracked top baos were naught but to stay a dream.
Surprisingly, with a bit of care, however, I was able, with a few tweaks, to wrap the bao! But, warning, this dough was still goopy like no other! But I discovered that the secret weapon to the goop is flour, flour, flour!
I used a spatula to scoop the goopy dough onto the weighing scale to weigh and then again to scoop the dough onto a very generously floured working surface. Lightly dust the top of the dough with flour as well, otherwise the dough will stick everywhere.
Use fingers to press/shape the soft goopy dough to a flat round shape and then add one salted egg yolk custard ball of filling.
Gently bring the dough up around the filling. You will need a light touch with this dough as it is quite soft. If the dough gets sticky add flour but try to limit the flour on the soon to be inner surface of the bao to a light dusting. (Too much flour will prevent the dough sticking to the filling.)
Finish off with an extra coating of flour and a roll between the palms to round the ball out smoothly.
And so, you can see that after a bit of stress and sweat, I was able to wrap the bao! Each wrapped bao should be placed on a piece of paper dim sum liner so that they will not stick to the steaming pot.
I bought my paper dim sum liners pre cut but you can just make your own from regular baking paper. Just cut the paper to size!
A high blast of steam in the steamer will cook the bao. Look at how much they grew! Isn't that just amazing? And how, you ask, does this bao dough expand this much without even a bit of yeast? Well, it is the mixture of baking powder and the vinegar in the dough mixture, that, when subjected to the heat and moisture from steaming, produce a chemical reaction, releasing bubbles of carbon dioxide gas that expand and push the dough, helping it rise and creating its signature super duper soft and fluffy texture.
The verdict, then, of this kinda weird food journey? Let's see: Beautifully cracked tops, check. Super duper soft and fluffy bao wrapping, check. Luscious umami burst of salted egg yolk custard filling, check. Seriously, guys and gals, these were just like the ones from the dim sum restaurants that I always wanted to make. Happy Dim Suming to one and all!
Salted Egg Custard Bao Bun
鹹蛋奶黃包
(adapted from 正統中式點心全書: 師承香港傳奇料理大師 by 吉岡勝美)
(makes 23 bao) Prep time: 25 mins Steam time: 22 mins
Ingredients:
Salted Egg Custard Filling
- 4 Chinese salt egg yolks 鹹蛋
- 3 tbsp + 1/2 tsp white sugar, 40g
- 1 tbsp cream, 15g
- 1 tsp custard powder, 3g
- 1 tsp cornstarch, 3g
- 1/2 tsp milk powder 1.5g
- 2 tsp glutinous rice flour, 4g
- 1/3 cup +1 tbsp milk 100g
- 2 1/2 tbsp condensed milk 50g
- 1 egg yolk
Milk Dough
- 1 3/4 cups low gluten flour, 214g
- 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp wheat starch, 50g
- 2 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 2 1/2 tbsp lard, 33g
- 1/4 cup+ 2 tbsp milk, 100g
- 3/4 cup sugar, 150g
- 1 large egg white, 27g
- 1 1/2 tsp white vinegar
- 23 paper dim sum liners
Filling Directions:
Prepare the salted egg yolks: If using whole salted eggs, crack the shell and remove the firm yolk, discarding the egg white.
Make filling mixture: Add salted egg yolk and sugar to blender. Blend until a paste is formed. Add cream, custard powder, cornstarch, milk powder, glutinous rice flour, milk, condensed milk and egg to blender and blitz until thoroughly mixed.
Steam the filling mixture: pour mixture into a shallow pan and steam over high heat for 12 mins or until firm. Place a clean kitchen towel between lid and steamer to catch condensation, remembering to lift any loose towel ends over the lid to prevent burning.
Cool the filling mixture: Leave the steamed mixture to cool completely. When completely cooled use a scraper to scrape the mixture together in a mass.
Freeze the filling: Place in an air tight container and chill in the freezer until firm enough to handle. This can be done ahead of time.
Making the filling rounds: Use a food scale to weigh out 0.4 oz/12g of filling and roll into round balls. Place balls back in the freezer while making the dough.
Dough Directions:
Make the dough: Mix together low gluten flour, wheat starch and baking powder in a bowl. Add lard and use fingertips to mix the lard into the dough completely. In another bowl mix together the milk, sugar, egg white and vinegar until the sugar is dissolved. Next, add the wet to the dry and mix until just combined. The dough will be very soft.
Chill the dough: Cover the dough and chill the fridge for 30 mins. This should firm up the dough a bit. Note that due to the nature of the raising agent (i.e. baking powder/ammonia) this dough should be used immediately.
Wrapping Directions:
Prepare the working surface: If you have a silicon mat, use it. Sprinkle working surface very generously with flour.
Weigh out the dough: Use a scraper to scrape the goopy dough onto the food scale to weigh it. Each piece should weigh 0.9oz/25g. Use the scraper to scrape the dough onto the floured working surface.
Shape and wrap the bao: Use gentle fingers to shape the goopy dough into a flat circular shape about 2 inches/5 cm in diameter. Sprinkle a light dusting of flour over the top. If the bottom of the dough is sticking to the working surface add more flour. Note that this goopy dough needs alot more flour than the average dough.
Place one filling round in the middle. Pull the sides of the dough up and over the filling until the tops meet and closes. Roll the now wrapped bao in between floured palms to make it nice and round.
Steam the bao: Place each wrapped bao on a paper dim sum liner inside the steamer. When the steamer is full, steam over high heat for 10 mins. Remember to place a clean kitchen towel between steamer and lid in order to catch condensation, remembering to lift loose towel ends over the lid to prevent burning.
Eat and store: Eat these super soft and fluffy bao straight from the steamer, they're hard to resist! As for the rest of them, let then cool down completely, then place in an air tight baggie and store in freezer for up to 3 months. When you want to eat some of these lovelies, just steam 'em over hight heat for 10 mins. Enjoy the dim sum love!
Beauteous Buns at The Hong Kong Cookery:
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