Buns (Original, Pork, Scallion), 肉馅包子, 葱花卷

The perfect meal to pull out and eat in a pinch.

Apr 10, 2023

In the realm of things we always have in the freezer — a healthy collection of buns that we can pull out and steam when needed. It can be eaten with soup, as part of a larger banquet, or as a quick grab-n-go meal on your way to work. I love how simple the ingredient list is compared to the store-bought buns. We tend to make a bunch of the scallion buns and pork buns at the same time for efficiency, and freeze for later.

"Hey that's not bad!" - Dad

Ingredients - Dough

2 tbsp of flour (for pre-mix)
3 tbsp of sugar (for pre-mix)
1 tbsp yeast (for pre-mix)
1 tsp salt (for pre-mix)
1/4th tsp of baking powder (for pre-mix)
small pot of milk and water mixture - roughly half/half
- used to make the dough, by slowly adjusting the consistency
5 lbs all-purpose flour
1 pint of gluten flour
- Note this is not rice flour or gluten free flour. It is a specialized flour that you can find in the grocery store that is utilized for baking bread.

Ingredients - Pork Bun

bundle of Chinese celery
bundle of napa (Chinese) cabbage
2 lbs ground pork
1.5 tsp salt (based on 2 lbs pork)
1 tsp white pepper
4 tbsp soy sauce (for flavor)
2 tbsp mushroom superior dark soy sauce (for color)
1/2 tbsp sesame oil

Ingredients - Scallion Bun

bundle of wide stalk scallions
- The bigger/wider the stalk is better because they are more fragrant.
homemade oil
- oil is harvested from creating broth in a slow cooker from pork.
- you can use any other cooking oil if you don’t have this

Cooking Tools

wok
large bowl
steamer
measuring spoons

Steps

Start with 1 tablespoon of yeast.

Add 3 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp baking powder.

Add enough water to fill a small bowl with the powder. Stir together.

Add 2 tablespoons of flour and stir.

Cover the bowl to keep it insulated. Add a towel between the bowl and add a pot cover.
Leave the yeast mixture to sit for 35 minutes to rise.

Upon opening, stir the yeast mixture again.

Cover the bowl again and then leave for another 10 minutes to rise.

In a separate large mixing bowl, combine the 5 lbs all purpose and 1 pint gluten flour

Create a crater in the center of the flour mixture

Warm the milk and water mixture to 35-40 degrees F.
If too hot then the yeast will be killed.
If too cold then the yeast will not rise.

Slowly pour the milk and water mixture into the flour while mixing.

Knead the dough

Ensure that all of the bubbles are pushed out of the dough.

Adjust the milk/water to flour ratio until the dough is at a consistency where the dough won't stick to a metal bowl or dry hands. There should be no excess flour in the bowl or on your hands.

In order to have high quality dough, knead until all air bubbles have been forced out of the dough

Cover the dough with a basin. This is to prevent the dough from drying out.

Dough will be twice its original size when it has risen. Jump to the next sections depending on the type of bun.

Bun Options

Pork Bun
Scallion Bun

Pork Bun

Slice down the center of the stalk.

Dice the scallions to become finely chopped.

Take off all the leaves off the Chinese Celery and shred. Shred the bundle of Napa (Chinese) cabbage.

Mix and mush the ground pork. Squeeze to make smooth.

Add 1.5 tsp salt to pork. Salt will help keep the blood in the meat.
Note - Uncle Charlie says that salt shouldn’t be used because it makes the meat hard. Aunt Kim says it is necessary.

Add 1 tsp of white pepper and mix.

Add 4 tbsp of normal soy sauce and 2 tbsp of mushroom soy sauce.
Normal is for flavor, mushroom is for color.

Mix the celery and Napa cabbage into to the pork mixture.

Add 1/2 tbsp sesame oil.

Mix it very well so when you slap the meat it doesn’t stick to your hand.

Break off a portion of the dough and knead again for air to enter the dough.
Add flour to the board periodically so the dough doesn't stick to the board.
Set aside some dough and use a wet towel to cover dough so it doesn’t dry out.

Roll out the dough into a 1 to 1.5 inch diameter roll. Then using a knife, cut into pieces the size seen in the picture below (the front pieces). For each piece, use your palm to press it flat (the back of the photo).

This part is a little tricky. You want to use a rolling pin to flatten the edges of each of these. You want to alternate rotating and pushing towards the center as seen in the video. Notice that we push into the center, not out from the center. This will create little circular pancakes where the center is thicker than the edges. This is important for the bun shape.

Once rolled out, you'll have little pancakes, one for each bun. Notice the thicker centers.

Take one pancake and place meat in the middle depression.

With your other hand hold the meat in the center. As you fold sections of the dough, slowly spin the top of the dough so each of these small sections slowly will close the bun.

Set on a slightly floured baking tray to allow the bread to further rise with the yeast. This is not ready to steam yet. Cover with a damp towel and let sit for 20 mins. Then proceed to cooking instructions below.

Scallion Bun

Take a portion out and knead the dough again for air to enter the dough.

Add flour to the board periodically so the dough doesn't stick to the board.

Set aside some dough and use a wet towel to cover dough so it doesn’t dry out.

Roll the remaining dough out into a flat rectangle.

Using a paintbrush, apply homemade oil onto the dough.

Slightly salt the dough with a salt shaker.

Sprinkle scallions evenly across the dough.

Roll the dough mixture into a roll (cylinder).

Cut the dough into small sections.

Stack two sections on top of each other and press down with a chopstick.

Set on a slightly floured baking tray to allow the bread to further rise with the yeast. This is not ready to steam yet. Cover with a damp towel and let sit for 20 mins.

Cooking Options

Steamed Buns
Pan Fried Buns

Steamed Buns

Heat up a steamer on the stove. Bring the water to a rolling boil.

Add a damp light towel to the bottom of the steamer and add the buns

Steam on high for 20 minutes
If you take it out and it’s not done yet then it will never be done. The bread has to be steamed properly the first time.
DO NOT open the steamer to check if it is ready