Chinese Steamed Buns also named as mantou(馒头) is a basic staple in northern part of China and served in every places of China not just the northern part.
In the other parts of China, Mantou is mostly served as breakfast in restaurants and food carts.
Mantou is made with flour usually all-purpose flour, yeast and water. There is no filling used. Howeverbaozi—Chinese steamed pork buns are also called as Mantou in some places of China especially in Northern China.
This is a basic recipe of homemade Chinese steamed buns. But now there are many variations about mantou in China for example wholemeal mantou, milk mantou and sweet potato mantou.
In the past days, people are making mantou totally by hand. But now we have mixer to help knead the dough. I introduce the hand-making way in case you may want to have a try.
How to make the basic dough for Chinese Steamed Buns
Prepare warm water around 35 ℃ and melt the sugar in. And mix the yeast with the water. Mix well and set aside for around 5 minutes. If you do not want sugar, just skip it.
I strongly recommend measure the water and flour firstly. And ratio should be around 1:2 for water :flour.
Prepare the flour in a large bowl. Pour the water with yeast slowly to the bowl with flour and stir with a chop sticker.
Then knead the flour into smooth and soft dough. At the very beginning, it might be a little bit sticky.
Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for around 1 hour or until the paste ball doubles in size. This process can be done by mixer. Since it is winter on my side, I put it in a oven and using fermentation function to shorten the time.
Preheat the oven to around 35 degree C for fermentation. After the oven works 5 minutes, turn it off. And leave the bowl in. Please note that in summer, the oven is not needed. The high temperature will kill your yeast. Just place the bowl in a warm place and wait until the dough double in size.
Tips about how to judge the dough is fermented well? There are two ways.
Firstly the size should be doubled. Poke a hole with finger and the dough does not collapse.
Or you can see the honeycomb texture. 
When the dough is double in size, get paste ball out and punch the air out.
Then on a slightly floured kitchen board, roll the dough into a long log around 1 inch in diameter or any size you want.
Scatter some flour on your board and cut the log to small sections you like. Be quick during the process.
The process is quite similar to make bread with lower requirements.
Then brush some cooking oil on the bottom of the buns and begin to steam. Add cold water to your wok or steel steamer. Place the buns and then cover the lid and rest for 10 minutes in summer and around 20 minutes in winter or until the bun becomes fluffy again.
Use high fire firstly and then lower the fire after you see the vapor coming out from the lid. Turn off the fire and wait for around 5 minutes before serving and enjoying. I highly recommend using a Bamboo Steamer to steam Chinese steamed buns or Chinese Baozi. They are much healthier than steel steamer and can bring a bamboo armoa to the food. You can try to find some in local stores or purchasing from Amazon Joyce Chen 26-0013, 10-Inch Bamboo Steamer Set
Basice Chinese Steamed Buns
Ingredients
- 300g all-purpose flour
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast (one packet instant yeast)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 150g water or 20ml more if needed
Instructions
- Prepare warm water around 35 °C and melt the sugar in. And mix the yeast with the water. Mix well and set aside for around 5 minutes. If you do not want sugar, just skip it.
- Prepare the flour in a large bowl. Pour the water with yeast slowly to the bowl with flour and stir with a chop sticker.
- Then knead the flour into smooth and soft dough. At the very beginning, it might be a little bit sticky.
- Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for around 1 hour or until the paste ball doubles in size. This process can be done by mixer.
- When the dough is double in size, get paste ball out and punch the air out.
- Then roll the dough into a long log around 1 inch in diameter or any size you want.
- Scatter some flour on your board and cut the log to small sections you like. Brush some oil on the bottom of each bun.
- Add cool water in wok and put the buns in the steamer to steam. Cover the lid and rest for around 10 minutes. Use high fire to bring the water to a boiling and continue to steam for around 20 to 25 minutes after the water boils depending on the size of your buns.
- Remove off the fire and wait for around 5 minutes before opening the lid.
- Serve with what ever you like.
Notes
When lifting the cover when the buns are steamed ready, do not drop any water on the buns.
FAQ about perfect Chinese steamed bun
1. What about the dough smells sour
Sour taste indicates that the dough is over fermented. This usually happens in hot summer days or if you add too much instant yeast. The best proofing temperature for steamed buns is around 28 degree C. So in hot summer days, place the dough in cooler places. For Chinese steamed buns, we only need to ferment the dough until double in size.
2. About how much water/milk should be added
Different flours may differ in absorbency. So adjust the water amount accordingly based on the 2:1 ratio. Usually higher gluten flour has stronger water absorbency capacity. If milk is used to replace water, then you should increase the amount because the water content of milk is around 87%. Count before adding the ingredients.
3. How to make the buns smooth in surface
Firstly, the dough should be well kneaded at the very beginning. So the yeast and flour in mixed well.
Secondly, make sure the dough is appropriately fermented just double in size. Avoid over-proofing for example the dough smells sour or like wine.
Thirdly, pinch the air out after the firstly fermentation forcefully to remove the air inside.
Lastly, control your fire during the steaming process. For steel steamer, use high fire all the timebecause there is no enough vapor. For bamboo steamer, low the fire to medium after boiling. Adjust the steaming time if necessary, if your buns are quite big in size, steam f for 25 minutes. After steaming, remove your steamer off the fire and wait for around 5 minutes before lifting the cover, otherwise your bun might collapse and present a bumpy surface.
We’ve got this article from Odd Family Blog.