HOMEMADE BAO

 

Hey everyone! Thought it was time to do an update for what's being going on at the farm and to share a new recipe that we've been practicing. Its been extremely busy this summer trying to get things organized not only at the gallery but what our options are for doing a pop up, when it would be appropriate to have an opening (safely) and what we should invest and where.

Additionally this summer I was lucky to travel to France and London with my brother and a couple of friends. And although we are still facing issues with the pandemic and England has issued a 2 week quarantine to anyone visiting from Holland, France and Belgium, it was extremely surprising and unnerving to see large groups of people clustered together not wearing masks or practicing social distancing.

But despite the health concerns we were still able to have fun with visiting galleries, museums, drinking champagne ... taking selfies ...

... lots of selfies.

Maybe too much champagne ...

One of the best things about visiting London are all the restaurants, cafes and international cuisine available. Everytime we go, it's always a new place we have to try. Netflix has a lot of cooking shows that have great recommendations for places to visit in London (Million Pound Menu).

This visit we really stuffed our faces ... Vietnamese food, Thai, Japanese Fusion concept ...

But the one place I always go to every single time i am in London is the amazing BAO. Freshed steamed buns with amazing fillings. My brother had not been yet so we decided to treat him ... he loved it. Unfortunately, for poor Bert he couldn't make it this time but we video chatted while we ate ... so there in spirit.

Look at this little ball of perfection!

I guess I spoke too much about my experience at Bao and how amazing the food was, because when I got home I had a brand new kitchen toy and a very hungry husband hinting (demanding) that I learn to make bao buns so that he could try them. After looking on the internet and running over to the neighbors to borrow some milk we got started. I have attached the cooking video we used from chef Seonkyoung Longest (I highly recommend subscribing to her channel ... she has a lot of good recipes).

After watching the video a few times to make sure I was prepared we got started.

You start by getting all your dry ingredients together in one bowl - you need flour, salt, sugar, baking powder. All the measurements are in the video because i'm lazy AF and don't want to write everything out.

Your wet ingredients consist of warm milk and water and a tablespoon of yeast ... after you've added the yeast you have to let it sit and rise, takes at 10 - 15 min.

Next step is too add both sets of ingredients together and kneed it until it's smooth and fluffy.

I got tired so Bert took over - the dough has to be elastic but not sticking to your hands.

Once done, roll into a ball put aside in a bowl and cover with a towel. You have to wait 2 hours until the dough can be used.

While we waited for the dough to rise, we started the bbq for the filing. We chose spicy chicken kimchi and sweet / sour shrimp. We think everything tastes better on the bbq.

as you can see it grew a lot and is now ready!

You begin by rolling out your down onto a flat surface about half an inch thick.

I used a whiskey glass to cut out the shape for the baos ... any leftover dough has to be rerolled and set aside. Its best to let that dough rest again for 30 min before using it again.

add a bit of oil.

Then fold and lightly roll again.

Fill the bottom chamber of your steamer with water and leave a wet paper towel in the top two to keep the bao from sticking to the pot. Wrap a towel over the lid to make sure none of the moisture escapes and all the baos get steamed the same. Roughly 8 - 10 minutes in the steamer without peeking!

We noticed that our baos turned out a little ... brown. Looking back we didn't have the proper sugar so we substituted brown sugar instead ... a little lesson to make sure you have everything before you get started.

Once the dough has cooled you can begin to stuff them.

Not the prettiest but they were pretty good!

In the natural light you can really see the orange / brown tinge.

They were devoured happily !!!

The next day we made it again with proper sugar ... they turned out the right color but a lot larger !!!

 

For comparison!

For a first effort not bad but we need to practice a lot more before we can serve them to friends and family, but we had so much fun making them and cannot wait to try different fillings. We have more recipes to try and so more blog spots to come!

Stay happy and healthy!

Happy International Dog Day!

Xxx