I made steamed buns once a long time ago and as much as I liked them I completely forgot about them until my daughter came home from preschool asking me to make the kind of buns she saw in a book. "You know, mom, the kind that are filled with some kind of stuff and then you cook them. You know what those are right mom?" So I gave them my best shot that day and presented her with a few plain steamed buns and I filled some of them with a combination of mushrooms, kale, and bok choy. She was a big fan of the plain buns dipped in asian bbq sauce or soy sauce. While I liked the veggie stuffed ones, I knew I would really enjoy them with a savory barbecued meat filling. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I was standing in front of the fridge staring at a container of leftover braised meat I had made for burritos the day before and I knew what dinner was going to be that night. I love it when something comes together by chance!
Steamed Buns
dough
1/2 cup warm water
2 1/2 teaspoons active yeast
1 tablespoon yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm milk
3 1/2 cups flour
filling
2 cups braised meat, shredded
asian barbecue sauce (I used a korean bbq sauce which was very good)
Mix cooled meat and bbq sauce together.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, add warm water, honey, and dry yeast. Let stand 5-10 minutes, mixture should be foamy. Add warm milk and flour. Using a dough hook, mix until dough comes together and forms a ball around the dough hook and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Add a little more flour if necessary. Place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a towel and place in a warm, draft free place to rise for at least 50 minutes.
Once dough has doubled, punch dough down and separate into 16-20 pieces and roll into balls and place on floured parchment paper. Let rest 10 minutes.
Pat one ball out on a floured surface. Do not roll too thin. Place a heaping tablespoon of meat and bbq sauce mixture.
Pull sides up and pinch together.
Place bun on a square of parchment paper and cover with a towel. Repeat with remaining dough. Feel free to leave some of the buns plain, they taste great dipped in sauce as well.
Place 3-4 in a steamer basket and steam for 10 minutes. I steamed these with a mixture of water and milk, which seemed to work really well.
*Use a bamboo steamer basket if you happen to have one, I'm sure it will work better than my vegetable steamer.
