Wholemeal Char Siew Pau - Filled Baos #3

I am not the kind of person who likes dimsum shops type of buns. Those too soft, super fluffy, smiling buns. I prefer those with better structure, less baking powder and better mouthfeel that doesn't stick between the teeth type of steamed buns.

My husband loves charsiew pau (CSP), and it's one of his must orders for dimsum. Most commercial buns use inferior meat and taste so oily and fatty. It's hard to find a char siew pau that I find to be tasty.

The problem is, I always use Kampar's Kam Ling restaurant's CSP as the yardstick. Their CSP are fragrant and the balance of flavours are perfect for me. Thick, gooey, sweet, fragrant with rose wine .... oh my, just by typing this makes me miss home so much. Or shall I say, miss Kam Ling's CSP, LOL. But sadly, their CSP is the typical baking powder laden smiling dimsum type of bun. It's the filling that I miss, not the dough, not the dough. In Perak, I know there are 2 places where there still are CSP made with traditional yeasted doughs, one in Tanjung Tualang and another in Pokok Assam, Taiping. And their fillings taste similiar like the one I made, not with Hoisin sauce, not that. I somehow don't like the taste of Hoisin sauce.

Since my hubby don't like whole meal breads, I thought of making his favourite bun with his hated dough, so that I can make him eat it. Did he eat it? Yes, but not as much as when I made with white dough. Of which is good, I can ration him and make less. If not he can wallop 4 CSP in one go. With this dough, he only took 2 and said he has enough, LOL. Wicked wife I am, LOL!

I also made this for my uncle's memorial service's reception, but I made them in half the size. I got rave reviews from the guests.

You can have this dough plain, or filled with Char Siew.. either way, it's just as delicous, soft and bouncy.

Wholemeal Char Siew Pau
Recipe created by: WendyinKK

250gm pau flour
83gm whole meal flour
17gm wheat bran
1 tsp baking powder
50gm sugar
Small pinch of salt
5gm instant yeast
160gm warm water
Pinch of sugar
18gm shortening

360gm Char Siew filling

1. Proof yeast with water and pinch of sugar. Wait for it to bubble. As long as there are some bubbles, good enough.
2. Mix everything together and knead(5 min KA Speed 4) to form a non sticky dough. The surface should be smooth (with the whole meal flour it’s hard to see, but look at the white flour part.. it should be smooth.
3. Cover and let it proof for 1 hour or until doubled.
4. Divide dough into 12 pieces, about 48gm each
5. Wrap with cha siew fillings (refer pic)
6. Let it proof for another 45 minutes.
7. Steam on high heat for 12 minutes

*I used about 30gm of filling in each bun. Not too much as we like a nice balance of filling with dough.

Old Char Siew filling recipe here

New Easy Char Siew filling recipe here

Divided dough and frozen filling

  Rolling the dough

Filling and Wrapping

the bread monster stole my bun .... see the finger attempting to kidnap my buns

Soft, fluffy with better structure

I love goooey fillings... yummy!