No baking this time, but steaming. We love the result!
We have been making steamed buns once in a while for over two years now. In Holland we know them as bakpao or bakpau and they are well known and loved because of our bond with Indonesia. The results of making our own have been mostly good. We have to be honest, the folding of the dough is something that still needs more practice. Nevertheless the process of making, steaming and above all eating these buns is a great joy. So we want to share the results of our efforts and also make some suggestions for tasty fillings. Traditionally a bakpao is a steamed bun with minced pork, but we are not afraid to fill it with all kinds of spicy mixtures, with chicken, beef and lots of vegetables. We also filled them with homemade Surinam pom and South African bobotie and both were delicious.
Before you start it is important to think about how you are going to steam the buns. We bought an aluminum 4 piece steam pan from Thailand, but of course you can be creative with making your own contraption, using pots, pans and colanders.
The filling for the buns must also be made in advance and left to cool, before you can use it to fill the buns, as they will proof with the filling inside.
We will add more steaming results and tips to this post in the near future.
Happy steaming!
Suggestions for fillings
You need to prepare a filling in advance and allow it to cool, because the filling is going into the dough and must be allowed to proof. So it cannot be too hot or otherwise it will affect the dough. We have written down two lists of ingredients for inspiration, but by all means make up your own, with or without meat. We also make Surinam pom quite often and found that it works really well in a steamed bun. Another favorite is South African bobotie, which was also delicious. For us it needs to be a bit spicy. For this reason you also see people eating these buns and dipping them in sweet chili sauce.
Suggestion for filling I
1 small onion finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, pressed
250 g chicken thigh meat cut into small pieces
50 ml coconut milk
thumb size piece of fresh ginger, finely grated
2 tsp garam masala / curry powder
1 tsp palm sugar
50 g green peas
salt and black pepper to taste
Suggestion for filling II
1 small onion finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, pressed
2 spring onions, cut into rings
250 g ground beef or substitute
1 tsp palm sugar
1 tsp ginger powder
6 lavas leaves, finely chopped
1/2 red chili pepper to taste
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp ‘ketjap’ (sweet soy sauce)
salt to taste
Ingredients for the Dough
makes 9 bakpao buns
270 g strong bread flour (for instance Manitoba)
3 g salt
170 g lukewarm water (30ºC / 85ºF)
5 g instant yeast
10 g honey (a generous teaspoon)
Making the dough
In a bowl combine the ingredients for the dough and knead for 7 minutes (10 to 15 minutes by hand, depending on your technique). Leave to rest for 30 minutes in a warm place (around 24ºC/75ºF is perfect).
Divide the dough in 9 equal pieces and shape each piece into a ball. Cover with cling film and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Now take a ball and flatten, leaving the middle part slightly thicker than the edges. Place a bit of filling (about 25 grams works well for us) in the middle of the circle and fold the dough to close in the filling.
Our own simple ‘technique’ to shape and close the bakpao buns comes nowhere near the intricate folding and pleading technique of the masters of this art.You can check out YouTube for many examples. We will keep working on our own technique and method, but for now it was most important that the buns stay closed during steaming.
Repeat with the other buns, place each pun on a small square of greaseproof (baking) paper (about 10 cm x 10 cm), cover them and leave to proof in a warm spot for 20 to 30 minutes.
Prepare your steaming pan or contraption by filling the pan with a shallow layer of water and bringing it to the boil and leaving it to simmer gently.
Now get your first buns and place them in the steam pan or your colander, so the steam can rise up and around the buns. You need to place the greaseproof paper under the bun to avoid sticking and allow for easy lifting. We can steam three buns at a time in our pan. Make sure that the buns you filled first are also the ones that get steamed first, because they have been proofing the longest of course.
The steaming part will take about 10 minutes per bun or set of buns. When they are ready lift them from the pan and allow to cool for a few minutes, but eat while still nice and warm. You can store the buns in the freezer and put them directly from the freezer into the microwave to heat up.
Lydia says
July 21, 2018 at 15:16Sounds lovely. I’m thoroughly enjoying your website which I accidentally stumbled on. Tried your No Knead Brioche yesterday, good for first attempt. I should have proofed buns longer, 2 hours was not enough.
Love the fillings. Can I use them in a bun/soft dough recipe? Which recipe should I use?
Thank you for sharing your expertise and the lovely website.
Weekend Bakers says
July 26, 2018 at 21:12Hello Lydia,
Thank you for your enthusiastic comment. Yes, try to take the brioche to a perfect proof, so if it needs longer, just give it an extra hour even if possible. It also depends on the room and dough temperature how quickly it rises of course.
We have not done it ourselves, but of course you can fill other buns with these fillings. We think the dough for this recipe will work well too for your own version:
www.weekendbakery.com/posts…ie-danish/
Happy baking and experimenting!
Edward says
May 24, 2017 at 09:24Can I use all-purpose flour?
Weekend Bakers says
May 30, 2017 at 18:07Hello Edward,
Yes you can, but we have found we get the best results for this recipe when using high protein flour.
Ellen says
July 31, 2015 at 16:08Dag Ed & Marieke,
Wat leuk: bapao’s.
Is er een specifieke reden voor het gebruik van een sterke broodbloem en water?
Vraagje: Kunnen de broodjes ook gemaakt worden van Amerikaanse patent?
Vraag me af als je Amerikaanse patent of Manitoba gebruikt, of de gestoomde broodjes dan luchtig worden en niet te “stijf”, omdat het een waterdeegje betreft.
Alvast hartelijk dank voor de reactie.
Groetjes van Ellen
Weekend Bakers says
August 6, 2015 at 19:31Hoi Ellen, het sterke broodbloem zorgt er juist voor dat je lang kunt rijzen zonder dat het broodje in elkaar stort. De stoom zorgt ervoor dat het broodje nog een heel stuk door groeit tijdens het ‘bakken’. Gewoon een keer proberen!
Ellen van Schaik says
August 22, 2015 at 09:43Dag Ed & Marieke,
Heel hartelijk dank voor de duidelijke uitleg.
Ga het binnenkort proberen.
Fijn week end.
Groeten van Ellen
claire says
July 20, 2015 at 09:10so glad you are back! so far i have only baked your 70% rye bread, your rye lovers bread and your sourdough buns.. great recipes! thank you so much for your time and dedication, i was shocked to see you ‘of line’ because there are so much more recipes i want to try, like this one. Claire, Dutchy in Australia.
Weekend Bakers says
July 20, 2015 at 12:05Hi Claire,
Thank you so much.
We had some scary moments because something awful and technical happened this weekend beyond our fault and control Luckily all is well again and we can concentrate on the baking!
Greetings from Holland,
Marieke
RVW says
March 17, 2015 at 05:00You mentioned Holland’s special bond with Indonesia. Could you expand on that?
RVW the fairly ignorant American
Weekend Bakers says
March 17, 2015 at 09:44Hello RVW,
Indonesia is a former Dutch colony (think spices) with all the good and bad that comes with it, the wonderful food being a good part of course. You can read more about it here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…_relations
Greetings from Holland,
Marieke
Marina Maria says
March 14, 2015 at 14:25This sounds (and looks) awesome! I’ve been meaning to make steam buns since I ate them at Momofuku with pulled duck. I will definitely try there. Thank you!
Weekend Bakers says
March 17, 2015 at 09:45Thank you Marina, hope the result will be wonderful too!
Happy steaming,
Marieke