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Friday, April 30, 2010

Steamed Pumpkin Buns 南瓜包子


I made my first batch of these using the same recipe from the same food magazine of those not so tender steamed banana cakes. I want to give the author a 2nd chance. Oh-no, I was so wrong. The buns from the original recipe turned out like leather!!!! Nothing like what was in the picture. How I hate these local publications.

And if you see a pumpkin bun recipe calling for
150gm cake flour
1/2 tsp B.P.
30gm egg white
60gm sugar
90gm pumpkin puree
Run away from it!!!!!!

These taste Urrrgghhh!!!


But…… the filling is really good (Lydia ate all the leather buns… err.. all the filling from the leather buns).
Well, part of the recipe works. The filling, they look like salted egg yolks. Look only… but taste absolutely pumpkinny.


Let me try to tweak the recipe of the bun dough.
I did by changing the flour, adding in some DABP, butter , and yeast, took out the egg white And now.. voila, a total change!!!! Absolutely yummy.
My MIL are always believe that some recipe book authors never tell you the whole story… and maybe she’s right this time.

Making pumpkin puree
Steam pumpkins until easily penetrable with a chopstick. Puree until fine.
For the filling
300gm pumpkin puree
30gm sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
Cook until thickens and use 2 teaspoons to form into little balls and place on a lined tray. Chill until time of use.

For the bun (retained the amount of sugar, pumpkin and flour from the ori recipe that you can see above, but tweaked the type of flour, additional yeast, DABP and butter)
60gm sugar
90gm pumpkin puree
1 tsp instant yeast (Mauripan doesn't work well with this recipe)
150gm pau flour
1 tsp double acting baking powder (or just use regular baking powder)
10gm butter

1. Combine sugar, pumpkin puree and yeast.
2. Combine pau flour, D.A. B.P and butter. Mix to form crumbs.
3. Pour (1) into (2) and mix to form a dough.
4. Knead dough until it is smooth and no longer sticky.
5. Let dough proof in a warm place until double in size. Remember to cover it.


Assembly.
1. Punch down dough after it has doubled. Knead it for 2 minutes and divide dough into 12 pieces.
2. Remove pumpkin filling from the fridge.
3. With lightly floured hands, take one piece of dough and flatten it, making it thinner at the sides.
4. Place one piece of filling, round side down onto flattened dough.
5. Wrap and seal bun.
6. Seam side down, make marks that resemble a pumpkin using a dinner knife.
7. Let buns proof (covered) for 45 minutes and steam on high heat for 12 minutes.


And now that they are done, please eat with your eyes



Well, I did this at night when Mike was around to take pics of me wrapping the buns. The next morning, when I tried to take pictures of them in the morning sun, because I was so dissatisfied with the pictures I took that night... this happened



Luckily I did take some pictures before Lyanne snatched the buns from the plate





How can Lyanne resist this bun, right???




115 comments:

  1. wendy looks very delicious leh.....ohh i mean the buns not you lar hahahahhahaha....u think i can have the honour of tasting one of your great work one day ar? but must be free 1 lar hahahaha yes i am very cheapskate one

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  2. Lyanne is so cute, can not resist this lovely bun. Appreciate so much of showing us the detail steps of making this bun, must try it out soon.

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  3. they really dont look leathery like what you said. Instead they look pretty soft. I've made pumpkin mantou before and they were soft as pillows. Maybe you can try it out :)

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  4. So pretty, you are a genius! Your buns from the first batch don't look smooth and the texture seems heavy. The last pic shows a soft and fluffy bun. Unfortunately the markings weren't too obvious after steaming, else will look perfect. I thought your "peek-a-boo" pic of the bun looks great ;-)

    My sis had the same negative experiences with cookbooks. I'm not saying the authors are keeping some trade secrets but some could be due to publication mistakes/errors. This is also one of the reason why I don't rely on cookbooks but to surf recipes online for tried and tested recipes :P

    I'm sure Lyanne enjoyed herself very much, just check out her expression!

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  5. I always like to see all of your steamed buns. They are always nice in shape and colour.

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  6. wow, this golden bun is awesome.
    Can't get my eyes out of them.. yum yum!!

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  7. Manglish,
    I do need eaters!!! I love to try so many recipes, but I can't eat them all up. Will be so so glad if you are willing to be my guinea pig. Just wish u lived near.

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  8. Sonia,
    Please do.... it's so lovely to eat.

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  9. Tracie,
    The leathery buns are in only in the 2nd pic. The rest are from the altered recipe of which yielded soft buns.

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  10. Yummmy...so pretty bun. Can I make this?

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  11. I want the filling! So smooth, and delicious.

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  12. Blessed Homemaker,
    Yeah, too bad the markings aren't obvious! I followed the recipe's instruction on making those marks, but they were pretty obvious on those leather buns, cos they didn't puff up at all.
    Both my girls loved the buns so much, especially Lydia.

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  13. DG,
    Thanks. I'd love to see you making steamed buns.
    When will that be? :)

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  14. Rachel,
    Haha, then make some to look at. :)
    All yours right in front of you.
    I love your bento artwork.

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  15. Anncoo,
    Oh please do, please, pretty please do.

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  16. Angie,
    Haha, the filling looks pretty attractive, right??

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  17. hi,

    may i know what is b.p stand for?

    thank you.

    xuan

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  18. Xuan,
    BP is Baking Powder. If u ever see DABP in other blogs or recipes, they stand for Double Acting Baking Powder.

    Don't use the 1st recipe. It's the 2nd one (with pictures) that works.

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  19. These steam buns looks very pretty and healthy too! Thanks so much for giving the details procedure in pictures. All the pictures looks nice and clear. I have bookmark this recipe and hope to try it out once I got the ingredients. Thanks for sharing!

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  20. These pumpkin bao is just heavenly looking! If only my family likes pumpkin...else this would definitely be my To-do-list next. :p Maybe next time...thanks so much for sharing yet another wonderful recipe. ;)

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  21. Kitchen Corner,
    Oh great!!! I can't wait to see the results:)
    Don't forget to put your link here once u've done that!!

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  22. Honey Bee,
    My husband don't like pumpkins too, but my girls do and so do I.
    This recipe only yields 12 medium sized buns, not too much actually. You can try it out if u really feel like eating one.

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  23. Your sweet little princess remind me of my younger one when he was 3. Same thing happened to my raisins bun. Look so...cute. :)

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  24. Happy Flour,
    Haha!! I think all kids are irisistable to food when they were small. My elder one at 2 1/2 now don't bother much about food, unless it's something with strawberry or chocolate. She used to like everything, but now has start to choose.

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  25. It really has the pumpkin shape, nice looking pao.

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  26. Little Inbox,
    Thanks for the compliment :)

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  27. Let dough proof in a warm place until double in size.
    Can I know how long the dough need to double in size? 45 min?

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  28. Anonymous,
    It depends on your weather, your room's temperature and your yeast, I'd say.
    If you have good yeast, stay in South East Asia and your room temperature is about 29-34C (that's my house's average), it should be about an hour.

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  29. Wendy, how come you're saying that the bun is leethery? But they all look very well rised and fluffy though. Maybe you don't get use to that kind of texture. Don't mind! Because some people do like this kind of texture especially the Hakka. So, next round use other steam bun recipe! Never try never know, right!
    Have fun!
    Regards, Kristy

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  30. ar.. this is good method to explain how u make the things. More easy to learn!

    i am pity ur daughteer be a white mouse to test the food.

    i dont might be a white mouse hehehe

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  31. Voon,
    My never force my daughter to eat. She saw them and said "Pumpkin" and straight away open up the pau to eat the filling. I looked at her and she said nice. Hah!!!! But when I made the fluffy ones later.. she even ate more.

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  32. look like u have a group of support - ur 2 daughter hehehe.

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  33. Voon,
    When they all grow up and leave home, that's when I cannot experiment so much liao. ;)

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  34. Wendy, so the flour makes a great deal of difference? I don't have pau flour at home and I'm not sure if I want to buy a pack just to make this. I only have cake flour, plain flour and bread flour at home.

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  35. Blessed Homemaker,
    Pau flour is finer than all purpose but have about the same amount of gluten.
    I don't recommend cake flour for this. Try using all purpose if you don't have pau flour. It will only be slightly coarser.

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  36. hi there , i have try your pumkin bao is was indeed very nice ,but i still cant get a nice shape as yours ...a big thank you to u

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  37. Ewe,
    Great to hear this.
    As long as the taste is good, don't worry too much about how it looks.
    I'm sure you can do better next time.

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  38. Hi, I tried your recipe. The buns turn out very soft n tasty. However, the skin is not smooth n nice like yours. When steaming, they look really nice (see-thru cover) The minute i lift the cover, the buns 'sink in' n look rumpled. Do u know why?

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  39. Cassey,
    1. You might have overproofed the 2nd proofing. I found that if I wait too long, after steaming, mine looks wrinkled too.
    2. You might have opened the lid too fast (I don't mean soon). Try releasing a bit of the steam by tilting the lid, then only open the lid.

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  40. Hi! Thanks to you as I am getting praises for my buns. Now I make them every week. Guess, I'd better learn to make something else before everyone gets sick of it. I need your help. I am thinking of buying a new counter top oven. Any recommendations? What oven are u using?

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  41. Anonymous,
    I'm so glad everybody loved your steamed buns.
    It's nice to make some variation.

    About your oven, first of all, it's really up to your needs, and your budget.
    I'm using a very old Microwave Convection oven bought by my MIL when my hubby was a teen.

    If your budget is high, I'd recommend a Microwave Convection oven as a counter top oven, cos you can use combination functions to bake butter/oil cakes/muffins in half the time. But some models will not allow multi tray baking, means you have to bake cookies tray by tray.
    Personally I always prefer digital controls.

    But if you have a tight budget, look for an oven with a strong fan, that makes the cakes and bread brown nicer and more even. Some models allows baking 2 trays of cookies at a time.

    The final decision is still yours. :)

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  42. It's me again. This is great! Our Halloween is coming in two months. So is bumper crops of Pumpkins that in the US, they don't really have much 'great' recipe for the abundance of pumpkins they have. I've seen the pumpkin mousse, pumpkin cheesecake, and of course, the pumpkin pie. But this is the first I've seen as Bao/Bun. This is really good. I am going to try it and then, make them for my grand-children. Maybe I will make it into animal shapes, etc. Thanks!

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  43. Bee with Style,
    Oh yes, pumpkin will be out in full force very soon over there.
    Pumpkin bao is very common in Chinese culture.
    If you can read Chinese, there are loads of recipes (that I can refer you to) with pumpkin, be it steamed cake or bread (not quick bread which is like a cake).
    I hope your grandkids will love this.

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  44. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe :)
    My first attempt making steamed bun and it turn out perfect~!!! It's still soft even after the next day :D

    - Jane -

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  45. Jane,
    Oh so happy to hear this.
    So glad you liked it.

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  46. Hi,
    I'll like to try making this, but wonder if i could substitute normal baking powder/instant yeast/baking soda, as i don't have double action baking powder. It's not expensive at all but i already have a pantry FULL of half-used stuff :)
    thanks!

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  47. Anonymous,
    There is yeast in there already. There's no need to substitute the DABP with more yeast.
    Baking soda is absolutely not suitable.
    Regular baking powder will be fine.
    You can omit the baking powder too, it's actually optional. The bun will still rise with the yeast, just that it will be less fluffy.

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  48. Hi Wendy,
    Can I use HongKong flour instead of pau flour?

    Thanks.

    Regards,
    XiQi

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  49. XiQi,
    YOu can, but I feel somehow it' wasted, because HK flour is more expensive and the special characteristic of HK flour which is it's "whiteness" is overcomed by the pumpkin.

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  50. Hi Wendy,
    Noted with thanks.

    Will try again using pau flour next time.

    Woke up early today and made a batch.

    The buns turned out soft and fluffy. : )

    But the filling is still in ball form, doesn't look as "runny" as yours.

    I could have cooked it a little too long liao. :(
    I actually kept the filling inside the fridge overnite too.



    Regards,
    XiQi

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  51. XiQi,
    Leaving it overnight in the fridge w/o covering will dry up the balls, which is why yours stayed in ball shaped even with the steaming.
    Just cook the pumpkin until it's as thick as baby porridge, and you can form a ball with it when it has slightly cooled down.
    Glad you liked it. I hope you'll try to make this again

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  52. Hi Wendy,
    I'm still not sure which type of pumpkin you use, but I just tried your recipe yesterday with a japanese pumpkin and it was well received by my family so I'm very happy. Thank you for your awesome recipe!
    My dough was extremely sticky to handle/knead, it just stuck everywhere like chewing gum, it looked a lot more stickier than the sticky dough in your picture, I think this might be because of the type of pumpkin I used? Maybe it had a higher water/moisture content? Or maybe it was the flour I used. I had to work in a lot more additional flour to the dough, lucky the buns still turned out soft-ish.
    Just wondering did you have to work in extra flour too? If I had persevered by kneading the sticky dough in a bread machine (instead of adding in more flour), would they have turned out as soft and fluffy as yours?
    Also, after 45 minutes of the second proofing, my buns still looked unchanged in size, but I steamed it anyway and it turned out fine, is there a way to know whether the buns are ready to be steamed so that I can avoid under/over proofing the dough? Thanks!
    Haha, so many questions, sorry! :)

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  53. Serena,
    First of all, may I know where are you from?

    I never added any extra flour in. That was all I used.
    How much of flour to work in sometimes can be vague, very very frankly. Whenever I try Japanese recipes, I must reduce 10% of water amount because I will end up with chewing gum.
    The flour that we get in different countries, I believe have slightly different absorbency rates. Just use enough flour to make it a sturdy sticky dough. I know some doughs are so soft that it loses it's form when left aside, but not this one. It is sticky at first, but it's very sturdy. Like as u said, it may be due to our pumpkins. I've heard from another blogger residing in UK that our pumpkins here do taste sweeter and creamier.
    Actually this bun will still rise no matter what, because it has baking powder in it.
    I just tell by looking at the dough, if it seems to have doubled or at least look puffed, then it has proofed enough. I have no other way of telling.

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  54. Hi Wendy,
    I'm from Australia.
    Thanks for your reply, yup I'll just have to adjust the amount of flour on the next attempt or maybe try a different brand and see the difference in absorbency rates.
    Here's a picture of one of the buns I made: http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/905/img0513nk.jpg
    Will definitely be trying out your other bun recipes too! :)

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  55. Serena,
    The bun looked good. Thanks for showing me.
    Hope you like the other buns too

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  56. hi Wendy,

    Gong Xi Fa Cai!

    I used Hong Kong flour and japanese kent pumpkin. Like Serena, i found the dough too wet and had to add further amt of HK flour ( like 50%! more ). Sigh - i tried twice cos ur pumpkin pau looks soo... really awesome! The pumpkin filling taste fantastic - like kaya but so much healthier cos no coconut milk!Its gonna be my fav pau filling from today onwards!

    Can u please advise the brand of pau flour u used? is it "blue key" or "happy grass"?

    I really wanna try n get it right the 3rd time!

    Susanna, Perth

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  57. Susanna,
    Glad you loved the filling.
    I have no experience with Kent pumpkins, hence I won't know the difference.
    I use generic pau flour, not branded ones. They are packed in 1kg bags by the bakery supplies shop. I have no idea which factory manufactured them.

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  58. hi wendy,
    after reading your post about this pumpkin bun, i have these two question bothering me:
    1)what is the different between cake flour and pao flour? isn't both of them is low protein flour?
    2) double acting baking powder and baking powder, any different?

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  59. Janetan,
    1. Cake flour is low gluten and fine. Pau flour is medium gluten but fine. Hong Kong flour is low gluten due to bleaching.
    2. Double acting baking powder rises twice, once during kneading, once during steaming. Usually used for steamed buns. But you can susbtitute with regular baking powder, no problem with that.

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  60. hi wendy,
    i'm so thankful for your info and answer to my question..i like to do research b4 trying anything.. u are really a mentor to me.. hopefully u won't find me annoying for asking many questions.

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  61. Janetan,
    It's ok. I was once new and knew nothing too.
    I hope you learn new things by coming to my blog :)

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  62. hi wendy,
    thats why using h.k flour to make pau is really soft compare to pau flour. then can i use pau flour to make cake?? or use cake flour to make pau? i'm really interested in knowing about these flour..

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  63. is me again.. i really love chatting with u. wendy, have u ever use chinese yam to add into pau recipe?? it is really making the pau soft..

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  64. Janetan,
    You can try.
    Cake flour with pau might yield crumblier pau, but still soft. Once I tried that b4, and my family still prefers pau flour.

    Pau flour to make cake, can. I use that at times when I run out of cake flour. Haha! But have to be more careful with the mixing, as it has more gluten than cake flour.

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  65. Janetan,
    Chinese yam is a herb, "Huai shan" or in cantonese "Wai San". I've never heard of it used in paus. It's very slithery.

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  66. hi wendy,
    not at all..i mean slithery. instead, it give the pau flour mixture more easy to handle..if u interested it is from a taiwan cooking program. you can take a look at youtube.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu07cwUmYV4&playnext=1&list=PLDD3978C2FD425808

    i have try it, the ingredient will be no problem..

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  67. Janetan,
    thanks for the link.
    I learnt something new

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  68. Hello Wendy
    First, my Congratulations to ur newborn boy. May he grow up blessed as his Mom is blessed and talented.
    I just want to let u know that I'd tried out ur recipe on Steamed Pumpkin Buns and they were so so good. I want u to know that this is also the first time I have succeeded in pau making. I followed sotongcooks.blogspot.com and made them without the filling and the paus were equally fluffy and soft even up till the next day. I never made paus so good before. My paus always hardened the next day with other recipes but not yours.
    Thank u Wendy for all the recipes in your blog. They are absolutely trustworthy just like (LK) Food-4-Tots blog, very trustworthy.

    I will continue to use ur other recipes and feedback to u. Thank u for being unselfish in sharing ur recipes.

    Blessings
    Priscilla Poh
    Singapore

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  69. Priscilla,
    Thank you for the feedback and the wishes for my dear son.
    I'm happy my recipes work for you :)

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  70. hi wendy,
    this recipe of yours really bring the best result..i increase the amount of the flour to 500g, DABP change to BP, then double the yeast, pumkin puree 320g and sugar 100g. this weigth of ingredient can yield 30 pcs of 30g bun and the result is super soft..thanks for sharing~

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  71. Janetan,
    I think I have only given you for idea to do it your own style.
    As long as you like it, then good. Glad to hear of it.

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  72. Hi

    It's me again! I just tried this pumpkin bao (after the many successes with the Rose bun :)... Regrettably, my pumpkin bao didn't double in size during the first proofing, and now it's in the midst of its 2nd proofing... keeping fingers crossed...

    Any thoughts why the dough didn't double? I sub dabp w bp... Which I thought should still be fine. Used a new pack of yeast... N followed the rest of recipe to the T.

    Tx in advanced for your thoughts pls.

    Jo

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  73. Hi hi

    The bao turned out nice! Just the right sweetness though the texture feel a bit on the dry side...

    Am wondering why is the basic dough different from the sweet potato rose bao? I meant differences such as:

    1. Dabp here n not at the rose bao recipe,
    2. There's no water here...

    If I like the texture of the rose bao, can I simply replace the sweet potato with pumpkin?

    Tx!

    Jo

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  74. Jo,
    DABP or just BP won't make much difference.
    In fact now I prefer using BP to make pau. Old DABP will get sourish and you won't know until you bite into the steamed bun, all efforts gone to waste!

    I think the brand of yeast affects this pau.
    When I made this I used Angel brand which is actually from China.
    Then when I reattempted this recently, I used Mauripan and the rising is stunted.

    This recipe is a high sugar content (high in terms for yeast recipes) and the yeast cannot cope with it and got killed. There are high sugar tolerant yeast in the market and I think Angel is a sugar tolerant yeast as I've read in some China sites, the recipe called for sugar tolerant yeast and they just used Angel and it works fine. If you can find Angel brand, use that for this pau. Don't use Mauripan

    The pau is dry because of insufficient rising. It still fluffed up during steaming because of the baking powder.

    You can play around with the sweet potato recipe, but the water used should be much lower as pumpkins have a very high water content.

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  75. Hi
    Does pao flour itself contain any rising agent?

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  76. Anonymous,
    No. It's a special grade just for making pau.
    It is finer than all purpose, but has the same gluten level as all purpose. Another type of flour made especially for making pau is Hong Kong flour, of which is bleached pau flour.

    If you're from US, I heard Vietnamese Pau Mix has rising agents in it.

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  77. May I know what is the meaning of D.A.B.P?

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  78. Anonymous,
    Just above picture no.10, is the recipe for the bun dough. DABP is Double Acting Baking Powder.

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  79. Ohhh Thank you :) i love your cooking blog. Hope to see more cooking from you. I love it so much :)

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  80. Wendy, you mentioned that Mauripan yeast does not work well in this recipe, can you please suggest what brand is good?

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  81. ppchua,
    I've used Angel brand with this bun and it rose beautifully. I think Angel has better sugar tolerance.
    I bought Angel yeast from Bake With Yen

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  82. Noted. Thanks Wendy.

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  83. Dear Wendy

    Thank you for providing the recipe. I've tried creating this pumpkin buns and they are delicious! My family loves it and keep asking for more!

    Can I check if I can substitute pumpkin with sweet potato, or yam? Will the results still remain? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  84. Shan*,
    All those that you mentioned are drier in texture.
    The result will not be the same.

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  85. Is cornstarch same as corn flour?

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  86. Me,
    In Malaysia or Singapore, yes they are the same. But not in US.

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  87. Hi Wendy. Just wanna know what is the thing that u use to make the pumpkin puree?

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  88. Nicole,
    It comes with a few names
    Stick blender, pot blender, immersion blender.
    Depends on how the manufacturer puts it as.

    ReplyDelete
  89. 1st time heard of that. Paiseh paiseh. . .:-P

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  90. Hi Wendy. I am a little confused here. Did some recipe reading on steam paus. Some recipes ask for a mere 10-15 mins proofing time both before and after shaping but most of your recipe ask for proofing time 45-60 mins or till double. How will it affect the outcome?

    ReplyDelete
  91. Nicole Wong,
    I think the best way for you to understand is by trying the 15 mins proofing and twice proofing (the usual method by me).
    15 mins proofing will still rise, but the major difference is when you eat it while its cold or the next day. :p
    I will never go with shortcuts when making pau

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  92. Ya I prefer to follow your recipe. Proofing for 1 hr or till double like better. By the way, will it smell yeasty if proofing time is insufficient?

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  93. I did tried out other ppl's recipe with 15mins proofing time and the bun smell weird and become hard very fast.

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  94. Nicole,
    Each time u steam buns, you must steam it until it smells good. Usually it takes 12 minutes for a 50gm bun. So, I have never encountered yeasty buns before. I'm not sure about that.

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  95. Used your recipe over n over again and all I have got from families and friends comments is "Mo tuck deng" (Very good...........)

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  96. Tennese Chan,
    Thank you for the feedback and I'm glad it was enjoyed by everyone.

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  97. Hi Wendy,

    Can i use cake flour instead of pau flour?

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  98. Tessla,
    Personally I won't, although it can be done. The result is more 'sticking' to the teeth.

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  99. Hi Wendy,

    I am novice in baking/cooking and I made these buns using your recipe and they tasted excellent. We liked the bun skin very much, and I just wonder how much water do I need to put in replacement for the pumpkin puree (so that I can have white buns!).

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  100. Cathryn San,
    You can go through the recipe index.
    There's quite a few bun recipes that you can try. Some of them are white.

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  101. hi wendy...
    can i use sweet potatoes for this recipe? tks.
    rebecca

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  102. Rebecca,
    No, you can't directly substitute. The moisture content is different.

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  103. Hi Wendy,
    Can I use oil instead of butter for this recipe?
    Winnie

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  104. Hi Wendy,

    I tried your steamed bun recipe today & it was a success! This is my first attempt at making steamed buns & I really appreciate your honest to goodness sharing :)
    Thank you :):):)

    Cheers,
    Mavis

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  105. Hi Wendy,

    Thanks for sharing your recipe! Looks lovely :) Similar to the story you shared, i've tried a few recipes for steamed buns with no success - rock hard!

    I'd like to know if the kneading and proving can be done using a breadmaker?
    And do these buns stay soft and fluffy overnight as well?

    Thanks!!
    ~min

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  106. Min,
    Most of the time, rock hard buns are due to underkneading and underproofing. That particular recipe was not right, there was no yeast.
    You can surely knead the dough in a bread maker.
    They stay soft and fluffy provided they were properly kneaded, properly proofed, and properly kept airtight.

    ReplyDelete
  107. Hi there.. tried this recipe n the dough didnt double in size during the first poofing. Need less to say, the pao didnt turn out right. Didnt rise. I dont have pao flour at home so used hk flour instead. Other than that.. all tje rest of the ingredients were the same.

    Would u be able to advise on which step i did wrongly?

    ReplyDelete
  108. Natallie,
    HK flour wasn't the issue here. You can even use plain flour.
    The problem is the yeast. It's dead. If it's alive, the dough will surely expand.

    ReplyDelete
  109. Thks for the reply. I tested the yeast. Was still active. Could it be that i didnt knead it right? Could u teach me how u kneaded your dough?

    ReplyDelete
  110. Natallie,
    This recipe is a bit sensitive to certain yeast. What was the brand you used? Active dry yeast will not work. You can do a youtube search to watch how it's done. I can't give you the best instructions with only words.

    ReplyDelete
  111. Hi Wendy, you stated that Mauripan doesn't work well with this recipe. Why? And may I know what brand of yeast you usually use? Because I'm new to baking with yeast and had previous failures with yeasted dough (it turned out hard&crispy or the dough never passed window pane test no matter how long I knead). So I wonder is it because of the yeast (I only can find Mauripan from nearby shop), or maybe because I kneaded wrongly or some other factor. I would really appreciate any advice and feedback to solve my mystery. Hehe. Thank you in advance, and thank you for many many great recipes on your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  112. Rosa Bella,
    Hard and crispy? I guess it's due to proofing. Did your buns grow big before you steam them or did you cover them as you wait for proofing?
    You can find the answer to your yeast question on Sept 25 2011 at 10.51am, just scroll up the comments :)

    ReplyDelete
  113. Hi Wendy, thank you for your reply. I must have confused you. What I meant when I said the result is hard&crispy is when I did pizza dough using Mauripan. Hehe. The dough will always doubled in size during proofing, but not elastic enough, like it will break if I try to stretch it larger. And it never passed the window pane test. Is this the ultimate (must do) test to make sure the texture of the dough will turn out good?
    And for this pumpkin pau recipe I tried making it with Nona brand, it turned out ok (soft, puffed out and all) but then again I think it's not elastic enough. So now I'm kinda stressed out to try making yeasted dough. Maybe it's the kneading process that need to be improved?
    Thank you so so much for your kind reply Wendy :)

    ReplyDelete

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