Do What I Like: Chinese Steamed Mantou

Do What I Like: Chinese Steamed Mantou

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Chinese Steamed Mantou

Chinese steamed mantou/bun (饅頭) is a kind of steamed bread bun originating from China. They are somewhat similar in nutritional values and eating qualities to the white bread of the West. Mantou is a staple carbohydrates of the Northern Chinese diet.

Instead of just plain bun, you can wrap in sweet fillings like red bean paste, lotus seed paste (lin yoong) or sesame paste and for the savoury fillings like pork or beef can be used. Steamed buns with fillings are normally know as baozi (包子).

Nowadays, these kind of buns or mantous are easily available frozen from supermarkets or served deep-fried/steamed in Chinese Dim Sum restaurants.

I liked those deep-fried ones served in Peking restaurants. They go really well dipped in some of those spicy sauce in the “Kung Po Prawns” dish but my kids loved them dipped in condensed milk.

I am lazy, so I used my bread maker to do all the mixing and kneading. Making full use of my bread machine.

Steamed plain mantou and black sesame paste baozi.

Texture of mantou – soft and fluffy inside even when cold.

Final proving – 45 minutes.

Ingredients:
Dough Starter
150g cake flour
50g plain flour
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp yeast
110g water

Method:
I put all these into my bread maker on the dough cycle. When the dough cycle is completed, remove 70g for use and keep the rest in a freeze bag and chill in the vegetable compartment for use thereafter. The whole process is about 1 hour 20 minutes.

*** If you don’t have a bread maker, you have to knead the dough manually till it is smooth then prove the dough in a covered bowl for at least 45 minutes.

Main Dough
175ml skim milk
70g sugar
200g plain flour
100g cake flour
5g yeast
70g dough starter
1 tbsp corn oil

Method:
1. Put in all the ingredients except the oil into the bread maker, use the dough cycle. When the dough gathers into a ball, add in the oil and let the machine do its kneading till smooth. The whole process should be about 15 – 20 minutes depending on your bread maker.
2. Remove dough from bread maker, roll into a flat sheet then roll it up swiss roll style.
3. Cut into pieces of about 50g each and put it on a piece of square greaseproof paper. Place them in a steamer, make sure you leave enough room between each mantou for expansion during its final prove.
4. Prove for 45 minutes before steaming on medium heat for 12 minutes.

*** If you don’t have a bread maker, knead the dough manually till smooth before dividing and shaping.

Notes:
I have added black sesame paste to some part of my dough to create the black/grey and white spiral swirl.
Some of the mantous you see there are wrapped with black sesame paste filling.

References:
CL & TPC