Each week, my son has been asking me to make mantou as his fellow Chinese students are eating it for their tea during our weekly Chinese lesson. So I followed the Food Network website to make this but I have altered the recipe.
To make this, I need:
- 1/2 tablespoon yeast
- 2 tablespoon caster sugar
- 200 ml warm water
- 500 g Plain flour
- In a small bowl, sprinkle yeast and sugar over 4 tablespoons of the warm water and leave it for 15 minutes.
- Place the flour in a bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour in the yeast mixture and the remaining water. Mix everything to form a dough.
- Turn it onto a floured board and knead until smooth.
- Return dough to the bowl, cover and let it stand in a warm place for about an hour or until doubled in size.
- Punch down, cover again and let it stand for 20 minutes longer.
- Knead the dough again and shape into rolls. I had made it into smaller buns as I do not have a large steaming tray. I am using my Jamie Oliver Homecooker to steam the buns. I turn it up to 210 degree and steam for 15 minutes.
My mantou looks quite yellow as I used just plain flour. In order to achieve white bun, it is best to get strong white flour from a Chinese supermarket.