Smiling Char Siew Pau

I used Agnes Chang recipe before (Title "basic dough for making smiling pau” in Delightful Snacks & Dim Sum book). Her recipe needs 3 days for the finished dough. This time I tried 阿芳的3杯面粉 recipe. It is much more time saving. The result is quite similar. Looks like I need more practice on my wrapping skill :P

Ingredients : yields 16 pieces
~Overnight sponge dough: yields 200g x 3 portions
3 cups plain flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 ½ tsp yeast
1 cup water
*Only 1 portion is needed in this recipe. Can use other portions for bread as well. Refer to early post black sesame loaf bread.

~Pau Dough:

200g sponge dough (above)
* Tear into pieces
1/3 cup water
2 tbsp castor sugar (original recipe 5 tbsp)
1 ½ cups low protein flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp vegetable oil

~Char Siew Filling

500g 梅花肉‏(small slices)

1 onion (dice)

2 tbsp oil

Seasoning: 2 tbsp oyster sauce, 3 tbsp soya sauce, 3 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp sesame oil

Thickening sauce: ½ cup water, 2 tbsp cornflour, 1 tbsp plain flour (mix and set aside)

2 tbsp sesame seeds (optional)

Methods:
~Overnight sponge dough
Mix all till form a dough. Divide into 3 portions (around 200g each). Immediately store in greased plastic bag (no proving needed). Make a tight knob without leaving any space for the dough. Store in fridge at least 4 hours. It can be kept up to 7 days. Thaw it for 10-15 minutes at room temperature before use.



~Char Siew Filling
Fry onion with oil till fragrant. Add in the meat and stir for even cooking. Follow by the seasoning. Then the thickening sauce. Cook till all come into simmer. Keep in fridge for an hour. Add in toasted sesame seeds before used.

~Pau Dough
 

1. Dissolve sugar in 1/3 cup of water. Add in pieces of overnight sponge dough. Follow by flour and baking powder. Using a pair of chopstick, stir till all flour coated with the liquid.
2. Start kneading to form a rough dough. Put in oil once all come together. Continue kneading until the dough become smooth. Cover and rest for 10 minutes.

 3. Transfer to working surface. Divide the dough and mould into balls. Flatten balls into round shape. Wrap in filling and place on lined paper(I used banana leaf). Wrap without tight seal so the pau will “smile” once steamed. Rest the pau in steamer for 15 minutes. I used to place a cloth around the steamer (as shown below). This is to prevent pau from getting wet during the steaming process.

4. Bring the water to boil. Steam with high heat for 12 minutes. Once the steaming time is over, off the heat, leave the pau inside the steamer for 1 minute before open the lid.