how to make steamed pork bun dough with yeast

It may take a while to make this, but the bun is so very moist and delicious it’s worth it. Since this recipe makes about 20 buns, I recommend you make tons of buns on weekend and freeze them.
If you want to make buns fast, check out “how to make steamed pork bun dough without yeast.”
You can, of course, use this dough to make Kodama, Moogle, and Boo Ghost.

[How to make steamed pork bun dough with yeast] by my boyfriend’s mom!
*makes 20-21 small buns
– 3 cups all purpose flour (sifted)
– 1 tsp dry yeast
– 1 TBS canola oil
– 1 TBS sugar
– 1 pinch salt
– 1-1/3 cups lukewarm water
– 1/4 tsp baking soda

*This dough was made by my boyfriend.

[pork bun filling]
– 1/2 lbs of ground pork
– About 1 cup of chopped leeks or scallion (you can put more if you want)
– 4~5 shiitake, chopped (if you have any. make sure you remove the stems)
– half a can of bamboo shoot, chopped (if you have any)

[seasoning sauce for filling]
– 3 TBS of soy sauce
– 2 TBS of sake
– 1 TBS of sugar
– 1/4 TS of salt
– 2 TBS of sesame oil (or vegetable oil)

[dough]
1. Mix yeast with 1/3 cup lukewarm water and a pinch of sugar. Mix a little and set sit for 10 minutes until foamy on top.

2. In a bowl mix flour, oil, salt and yeast mixture. Mix together, and add up to a cup of water until the dough is smooth. Don’t add the extra cup of water all at once because you might not end up needing the whole cup. If the dough is smooth and not too sticky then it’s okay.

3. After mixture is combined, knead until smooth, shape like a ball and place in a large bowl.

(my boyfriend's hands, by the way)

4. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 2-3 hours (or until dough has doubled in size)

After 1 hour and half. (The recipe says 2~3 hours, but it took about an hour and half for us. I think it's because our kitchen was pretty warm.)

[filling]
5. Make the filling while you wait for the dough to settle. Put all veggies in, pour seasoning sauce in, mix in ground pork with your hand. (*The picture shown is twice more filling than the recipe)

Before...

...and after. (*This is twice as much filling than the recipe)

6. When dough is finished Mix 1 TBS water with 1/4 tsp baking soda and knead into the dough. The dough will be very fluffy and sticky. Let sit for 10-15 min.

7. Place dough on a board, knead and punch out air bubbles.

8. Shape dough into a large cylinder and cut into 3 even pieces. Put two pieces in a covered bowl while you shape the other into a smaller cylinder.

9. Cut smaller cylinder into even pieces about 1″ wide.

10. Roll piece into a ball and flatten with a rolling pin to a circle about 5″ in diameter.

11. Place about 2 TBS filling in the middle of the sheet and seal. (His mom said to make sure to leave a finger sized opening on the top, but he couldn’t manage to do it properly and they turned out fine)

Before steamed... (buns by me)

* If you want to freeze them, put the buns on a plate or baking pan and put it in the freezer to “flash freeze” them. (meaning set food unwrapped in the freezer until it gets frozen and hard) When the buns are completely frozen, put them in a ziploc bag, and keep them in the freezer.

12. Cover finished buns with plastic wrap and let sit 10 minutes before pan frying or steaming.
If you have cheese cloth, you can put it under the buns, so they won’t stick to the steamer, if you don’t cut wax paper or parchment sheet to put underneath the buns.

13. Steam the buns in a steamer for 12-14 minutes!

...and after steamed.

My boyfriend's masterpieces! So big and fluffy!

We didn’t make characters with this bun, but you can try the same way I show in “how to make Kodama, Moogle, and Boo Ghost steamed pork buns.”

How to make steamed pork bun dough with yeast on my flickr

For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.

If you have any questions about any of my how-to’s, please feel free to leave a comment or email me!