I’ve posted about red-bean-paste buns a few times before: the recipe I used for making the koshi-an (sweet red-bean paste), a recipe for the bao dough, an updated recipe for the dough, and some photos of one of my attempts). I’ve not been happy with the dough—it was always too dry and didn’t seal well, so I tried modifying it today, as I had some koshi-an in my refrigerator that I had to use up (from a rather unsuccessful batch of buns a couple of weeks ago). This recipe takes about 6½ hours from start to finish (if you already have koshi-an, which may take longer to cook, depending how dry your azuki beans are).
Step 1:
1 tsp yeast
½ cup lukewarm water (this is an increase over previous batches)
½ cup sifted all-purpose flour
Mix together and proof for fifteen minutes.
Step 2:
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
½ cup powdered sugar
½ cup warm water
Mix with the sponge from step 1 and let rise for 2 hours (until doubled).
Step 3:
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sunflower oil (a more liquid fat than I’ve previously used)
¼ cup slightly warm water
In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour and baking powder, then knead with the dough from Step 2, gradually adding the oil and water. The dough was much more manageable than previous batches—the extra ¼ cup of water seems to make a big difference.
Roll the dough into a sausage shape about 1½ inches in diameter, cut into 12 equal pieces and roll each one into a ball. Place them well apart on a lightly floured cookie sheet and cover with a damp towel. Let rise until doubled (about 3 hours).
Cut 12 3-inch squares of waxed paper. Roll each ball into a circle about 2½ inches in diameter, but no thinner than ¼” thick. (Using my cookie sticks!) Pinch the outer edges to be a little thinner.
Put about 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of the circle, then pull up the edges and pinch and twist them to seal. Put the bun flat-side-down on a waxed paper square. Let the buns rise for 45 minutes before steaming.
Keep the buns at least ½ inch apart in the steamer, and steam for 20 minutes (somewhat longer than before). Serve hot.
Steamed buns can be frozen and thawed, then re-steamed.
The steam buns stuck a bit to the waxed paper (which is fairly normal), and only a few of them popped open, so this was probably the most successful batch so far, though I did not bother taking pictures this time.