The key to successful bao making is to mix, roll and shape the dough before the first rise occurs. Therefore, work fast so the dough is nice and cold. At the test kitchen, we leave half of the larger batches still mixing, so to prevent air pockets while we roll out the other half. Once air bubbles start forming, it's hard to achieve the smooth baby-butt surface and it will be dimpled after steaming.

Ingredients

351g soft wheat super white flour or cake flour
47g sugar
4g yeast
4g baking powder
0.8g salt
24g water (chilled)
12g oil

Tang zhong

50g flour
250g water

Method

1. To make the tang zhong, whisk the flour with the water in a pot. Make sure all the flour is well mixed into the water without lumps. At a low-medium heat, use a hand thermometer and slowly cook the mixture to 65C, whisking the whole time.

2. Once ready, remove the mixture from the heat and pour it into a stainless steel bowl over a ice water bath to cool. This can keep for up to three days. Keep it chilled until ready to use.

3. For the bao, use a stand mixer with a paddle insert, add all dry ingredients and mix well at low speed.

4. Add the water and 234g of the tang zhong. Make sure the wet ingredients are as cold as possible (when we do large batches at our test kitchen, we add ice to replace some of the water; the colder the dough, the slower the rise which is what we want).

5. At a medium speed, mix until a dough forms and becomes smooth (about 10 minutes). Add the oil and mix until dough forms and becomes smooth again (about 10 minutes).

6. Feel the dough; it should feel quite sturdy, dense and bouncy, like playdough. If it feels too wet, add a bit more flour.

7. Lightly sprinkle flour on a clean kitchen surface and lay out your dough. Use a roller to roll out to one centimetre. Fold one third of the dough (topside) down and fold one third of the dough (bottom side) up. Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat this process.

8. At the restaurant, we use a dough roller to do this more than 10 times. Rolling the dough repeatedly smooths out the dough and removes big air bubbles. Bao buns should have evenly distributed air pockets that are barely visible to the naked eye. This process helps it to achieve that.

9. Finally, roll the dough out again and roll it up like tightly into a log like a swiss roll. Cut into nine 75g pieces.

10. Shape the dough into rounds and press down for a burger shape. Lay the dough on baking paper in a steamer basket and cover with plastic wrap or damp cloth.

11. Let the dough rise until it has doubled in size and feels light. Steam for 15 minutes at high steam.

Makes 9 large baos