Chinese Steamed Bun – Man Tou

Last year, I made Chinese Steamed Buns – Man Tou using the Food Network website.  So last week I went to my Chinese friend’s house and she taught me her own recipe.  She had tried a few recipes but they were not as good as the ones sold in her own country.  She had also tried a number of different brands of plain flour but found that the Aldi plain flour is whiter than other brand. Also it is cheap at only 49p.  Also by adding strong white flour, it makes the bun spongier.  She also taught me a new way to steam buns.  I saw it on internet before but I dared not try it until now.  Since she taught me once, I have been trying it out and it was great but just slightly oily.

Yeast: I didn’t realised there are two different type of yeast available in the market. It is easier and better to use easy bake yeast than dry active yeast as the latter needs to be used with water.

Why use milk? Using milk instead of water gives a nicer flavour/fragrance.

To make this, I need:

• 1/2 teaspoon easy bake yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 200 ml warm milk/water
• 250 g Plain flour
• 50 g Strong white flour

Method:

1. In a small bowl, mix all the flour, salt and sugar together and add warm milk to knead a dough for a minute.
2. Add yeast into the dough and knead until smooth.
3. Cover the dough and let it stand in a warm place for about an hour or until it doubles in size.
4. Knead the dough and shape into rolls.
   
5. Heat the pot with oil and place the dough in. Wait till the base of the dough is slightly brown.
   
6. Add half a cup of water into the pot and cover it up.
   
7. Wait for about 10 minutes before removing it from the hob.

I used the flour that I bought from a high street supermarket and it is quite yellow which is quite common. If you prefer to have whiter buns, you could try buying Chinese flour in from a Chinese supermarket.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!