Steamed Chinese Dumplings

Unbalanced

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

Place the flour/starch combination, instant yeast, sugar, salt, and oil in a mixing bowl. If you are using a stand mixer, use a dough hook attachment. Add cold milk or room temperature water. Start with 150 ml and add more until you can form a dough. You will most likely need to add more milk/water if the dough is still a bit dry. I would rather you start with the lowest amount of liquid and add more teaspoon by teaspoon until the dough comes together and continue to knead for 5 minutes. Let it proof for 30 minutes.

Step 2

Shape the dough into 12 circles. Let the dough rise at room temperature or at a warm place. If it's winter where you are, you can use your oven "bread proof" function to let them proof in there, or simply turn on your oven to the lowest temperature and then turn off and after 15 minutes, place the dough in there to let them proof. They won't necessarily double in size, but at least puff up to about 50% of the original size. This may take about 1 hour or longer at a warm temperature. When you gently push on the dough, it will leave an indentation but it will spring back slowly. This dough is perfectly proofed. If it springs back right away, it needs to be proofed a bit longer.

Step 3

While the dough is proofing, make the filling: Heat the canola oil over medium-high heat in a medium skillet. Add the beef and a sprinkle of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook, breaking up the meat with a spoon, until lightly browned and no longer pink, about 2 minutes. Transfer the beef to a plate. Lower the heat to medium. Add the onion to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 2 minutes. Return the beef to the skillet. Stir in the Chinese five spice powder and cook until very fragrant, about 20 seconds. Add the sherry and cook until the skillet is almost dry. Add the soy sauce, hoisin sauce and 1/4 cup water. Stir to combine and cook until the sauce has reduced and thickened, about 3 minutes. Cool completely.

Step 4

Once the dough has proofed, it's time to fill and shape the dumplings. Take each circle and fill with 2 spoons of the prepared filling. Pinch the bun closed on 4 sides, and the twist the top.

Step 5

Cup the dough with both palms and move the dough in a circular motion to shape it taller. This part is important so your steamed buns come out tall instead of spreading to the side after steaming. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Cover with a clean kitchen towel let the buns rest for about 15 minutes.

Step 6

STEAMING:

Step 7

Most likely your steamer won't be able to accommodate steaming all buns at one go, unless you have something like this 3-tier food steamer (which I really love). You may need to steam in 2-3 batches, which means, the rest of the batches will sit longer and continue to proof while waiting for the steamer. Here's what you can do: Make sure to cover them with plastic wrap and then place them in the refrigerator to slow down the yeast activity until they are ready to be steamed.

Step 8

Bring the water in your steamer to a boil. Wrap the lid of your steamer with a kitchen towel to prevent moisture dripping back on the steamed buns as this will create "burn" spots

Step 9

3. LOWER THE HEAT TO MEDIUM. Place the buns in there, leaving about 1-inch space in between. Cover with a lid but leaving it about 1/4-inch gap for some steam to escape. Steam on medium heat for 15 minutes for plain medium-large buns with no filling, 20 minutes for large buns with raw meat filling. This is especially important if you see that you have overproof the steamed buns (the steamed buns have doubled in size and they have widened to the side). As long as you steam them like this, the buns will not wrinkle and collapse later when you take them out from the steamer.

Step 10

After steaming, turn off the heat. DO NOT OPEN THE LID of the steamer. Let the buns sit there for 1 minute. They will not collapse or wrinkle if allowed to cool in the steamer first