Bao is one of the two breads that come to mind whenever someone says “cloud-like,” and I’d long wanted to make a burger with it and share it with you. Use it to your heart’s content!
The short answer
Bao is China’s much-loved steamed bun, soft as a cloud. You need neither an oven nor a mixer: knead the dough by hand and steam it over a pot for 8 minutes. This recipe makes six 55 g bao plus a small test piece, and I put a burger in them.
Recipe
Steamed Bao Buns and Bao Burger
- Prep3 hr
- Cook8 min
- Makes6 × 55 g + 1 × 30 g
Ingredients
- 210 g bread flour
- 4.5 g (1 heaped tsp) instant yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 12 g sugar
- 12 g extra virgin olive oil
- 120 ml milk
Method
- Mix the flour, yeast, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl with a spoon.
- Add the milk and olive oil and mix by hand; turn it out and knead for 5 minutes in total, until you have a smooth ball.
- Put it in a greased bowl, cover with cling film and let it rise until doubled (about 1 hour in summer, 2 in winter).
- Flatten the dough on an unfloured counter and roll it up from one end to the other; cut 6 pieces of 55 g and 1 test piece of 30 g.
- Flatten each piece without separating the layers, fold the edges in and seal the seam with your fingertip; roll gently between two fingers without squeezing.
- Set each on an 8×8 cm square of baking paper and rest for 30 minutes.
- Put a steamer basket over a pot of boiling water, wrap the lid in a kitchen towel, cover and steam for 8 minutes.
Notes
- For a bao burger: season a 60–65 g patty with salt and pepper and cook it in a cast-iron pan for 2.5 minutes per side; after flipping, top with onion marmalade and a slice of burger cheese.
- Don’t butter the bao; it ruins the texture.
The dough
- Stir the dry ingredients (flour, yeast, baking powder, sugar, salt) together in a bowl with a spoon, then add the milk and olive oil.
- It starts out sloppy and comes together as you knead. Knead on the counter for 5 minutes in all; it takes a bit of arm work, but you’ll manage. You want a smooth dough, almost like a ball.
- Put it in an oiled bowl, cover with cling film and let it double: about 1 hour in summer, 2 in winter.
Shaping
- Flatten the dough on an unfloured counter and roll it up from one end to the other; a log makes portioning easy. Use a precise scale to cut 55 g pieces.
- As you flatten each piece, make sure the folds merge; if they stay separate inside, they cause trouble later.
- Fold the edges in toward the middle, pinch the last bit together with your fingertip and press the seam into the dough so nothing sticks out.
- Without squashing it, roll it into a dome under two fingers and set it on an 8 × 8 cm square of baking paper. The bao go from 4.5 cm raw to 6.5 cm cooked; let them rest 30 minutes.
Steaming
Use a steamer insert that sits inside the pot, or, like me, a steamer basket that sits on top. Wrap the lid of the boiling pot in a kitchen towel, close it and steam for 8 minutes.
The bao burger
I don’t like mini burgers, so this one is filling: a 60–65 g patty, not too thin, seasoned with salt and pepper. It cooks for 2½ minutes a side in a cast-iron pan; when I flip it, I add onion marmalade and a slice of burger cheese, which melts in that time.
Those who know I love butter will ask why I didn’t butter the bun: I absolutely don’t want to change its texture. The bao needs nothing else; it practically pulls itself apart.
What else goes inside?
When shaping, you can fill them with any slow-cooked meat: lamb shank, beef shank or beef short rib all work beautifully.
Keep reading and listening
- Onion marmalade
- Melting burger cheese sauce
- Potato butter burger buns, with a comparison of the burger buns on the site
- The Burger Handbook
- Burgers on our podcast YBYK (in Turkish): episode 9, Burger 101
