I've made several recipes out of Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More by Andrea Nguyen, but never before for a crowd. I made three types of dumplings: Tibetan beef and Sichuan peppercorn, kimchi mandu, and lai wong bao. The kimchi mandu and the Tibetan dumplings will be in a future post, but today I'll explain how to make your very own lai wong bao from scratch.
First, what exactly *are* lai wong bao? Bao is a Chinese filled dumpling. The dough is bread-y and made with yeast and usually they're steamed. Lai wong bao are egg custard buns, which are sweetened and a perfect dessert. They're often found in dim sum restaurants served alongside barbecue pork buns and other similarly steamed items.
It's easy to find prepared wonton or spring roll skins in the supermarket, but since these are made from a bread-like dough, it's easier to make them at home.
Bao dough for 32 dumplings (adapted from Asian Dumplings)
1.5 t instant yeast OR scant 2t dry active yeast
3/4 c lukewarm water (no hotter than 120 F)
2 T oil (I used canola, but another neutral oil would work here)
12 1/2 oz low gluten AP flour (Gold Medal works well, King Arthur does not)
2 T granulated sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t (kosher) salt
Combine the yeast and water and set aside for a minute. Add in the canola oil and whisk to dissolve. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Make an indentation in the center of the bowl, and pour in the yeast mixture. With a well oiled spatula, mix in the dry ingredients to the well. I find it easier to mix in the flour from the edges (as per Andrea Nyguen's advice) to make sure that all the flour gets incorporated. Keep stirring until the dough mostly comes together, but is still a bit ragged. Knead the dough until it all comes together smoothly. It shouldn't need any more flour or water. When you press it, it should be slightly sticky, but release easily and spring back, leaving a small indentation. If the dough seems too wet or too dry add more flour by the ~1/2 teaspoonful or more water by the ~1/2 teaspoonful. Prepare a clean bowl by rubbing the inside all over with oil. Let the dough rise in this bowl in a warm place for at least 30 minutes, or when the dough doubles in size.
While you're waiting for your dough to rise, make the custard filling.
Egg custard filling (Adapted from food.com recipe here)
2 large eggs
20 g Bird's custard powder*
200 g granulated sugar
100 g wheat starch flour**
200 mL milk
100 g butter
In a small pot, heat milk. Add in the sugar, wheat starch flour, and custard powder and whisk to combine. Add in the butter and when melted, remove the pot from the heat and temper in the two eggs. Bring the mixture back to the heat and allow it to thicken. Don't worry if it gets kind of lumpy. I used my immersion blender to smooth it out. Once thickened (should be like paste consistency), allow the mixture to cool.
To form the wrappers, take the dough and cut it in half, then cut that dough in half. Put 3/4 of the dough back in the oil bowl and keep covered. Roll the remaining dough out into a long and even tube. Cut this in half, and then cut those in half, and then cut everything in half again. You'll end up with eight pieces. Take one of the pieces and roll it into a sphere in your hand. Using either a small rolling pin or some other narrowish cylinder (I actually used the glass tube that my vanilla beans came in), roll out the dough into a circle. I do this by constantly rotating the dough every time I roll it. Once it gets to ~3 inches in diameter, add in about a tablespoon or so of the custard filling and seal the dough. The way I do this, which is probably the trickiest part, is to take opposite sides of the dough and then pinch them together.
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| just pretend this is well drawn, mkay? |
To cook these bad boys, steam them for ~10 minutes, or until the dough is cooked. In dim sum restaurants, these buns are snow white. If you use traditional all purpose flour, the buns will definitely not be all white. This is okay, though, because they will still be extremely tasty.
I've listed the recipe in units of mass. I have a small kitchen scale that I bought for 20 bucks and I like using it for baking applications where it's a science and not an art. If you don't like doing these measurements by weight, here's a way to convert *some* things. In general, 1 c of ALL PURPOSE flour is ~5 oz by weight. Different flours have different conversions, so proceed with caution.
*Bird's custard powder is available at specialty stores. I can find it at Central Market in Austin, and I've also found it at World Market (which is apparently called Cost Plus in other parts of the country). It's apparently big in the UK, but it's a lot like pudding. You can substitute a vanilla instant pudding, though it won't be exactly the same and you'll have to play with the amount of sugar you use.
**Wheat starch flour can be found in Asian grocers (and known as tung min flour) or probably even in the Asian grocery section of your local friendly megamart. This is *not* the same as wheat flour. It's white and looks a lot like corn starch and sticks to everything, so measure carefully. ;)
