Sheng Jian Bao translates to when you're cooking by 'pan-searing from the dough's raw state'. Which means crisp and fluffy perfection. It is a classic dish typically served during Dim Sum (Chinese breakfast) and as street food in China. Typically enclosed with ground pork but here we like to experiment with other things like lamb, beef, assortment of cheeses and spices.
We've made Scallion & Sesame Sheng Jian Bao's here. Basically if a Chinese Scallion Pancake had a baby with a Bao. This is what you would get..
Scallion & Sesame
Fresh Mozzarella & Sesame
A couple tricks we've learned from making this recipe so many times..
- Make sure you add your flour in batches when making the dough. Doing this will prevent clumpy and dry patches within the dough.
- Proofing for at least 20 minutes before searing will ensure fluffier baos
- A thin layer of oil when searing will give you even golden brown crust.
SHENG JIAN BAO RECIPE
DOUGH:
300 ml Milk
6 g Yeast
500 g All Purpose Flour
2g Baking Powder
6g Sugar
PREPARATION:
Stir warm milk with yeast and dissolve. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl combine flour baking powder and sugar.
While stirring add the dry ingredients to the milk in 3 separate batches. Once the dough forms into a ball, let it rest for 10 minutes then knead for 5 minutes with as little extra flour as possible. Cover and let the dough proff for about 1.5 hours until double in size.
Place the dough into a surface and cut in half. Roll both halves into even logs, divide up into 12 -16 pieces, flatten, and roll out each piece to a quarter inch thick. Fill with desired filling and enclose. Let the baos then do a final proof for at least 20 minutes before pan searing for fluffy results.
In a large saute pan that has a lid, place your baos into the pan with a good amount of oil once your pan is heated up to temp on medium to medium-low heat. After a minute, very carefully pour a quarter cup of water into the pan and cover immediately. Let it steam and add more water once it evaporates. Do this at least 1 or 2 more times depending if you have a raw filling or not. Remove the lid once all the water is gone. Add a little more oil to get a final crisp on the baos. Flip to get both sides and garnish with sesame seeds or cilantro.
Here's our full video on how to make and shape your baos:
HOW TO MAKE KXPRMT'S BAO'S