Dow sah bow/ cha siu bow

6 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 Cake of fresh compressed yeast
1¾ cup Of warm water
¾ cup Of sugar
1 teaspoon Baking powder
6½ cup Unsifted all purpose flour

Directions

First you need to make the dough. This dough is good for steamed or baked 'bows' (buns). It will yield 2 dozen buns: For the dough, you need:

Dissolve ½ yeast cake with sugar in warm water. Immediately add baking powder and then the flour. The dough will be firm and fairly dry. Knead on board for 20 minutes until dough is elastic and smooth.

Place in a mixing bowl, cover with a damp cloth and leave in a dry warm draft-free place until dough doubles in bulk. (about 2½ - 3 hours). Punch down the dough and knead 5 minutes more and it's ready to be stuffed.

If you want Cha Siu Bow, you'll need: 4 cups of finely diced barbecued pork ½ cup dehydrated onion flakes For the sauce (in Cha Siu Bow) use: 2 tsp Hoisin Sauce 2 tsp Sherry 4 tsp Oyster Sauce 2 tsp Ketchup 1 tsp Sugar 1 ½ tb Cornstarch 1 ½ cup Chicken Stock

Soak the onion flakes in a cup with enough water to cover flakes. Mix sauce ingredients in a small sauce pan. Cook over medium high heat until sauce thickens. Stir in diced pork and onion flakes. Chill for 3 - 4 hours.

If you want Dow Sah Bows, use a can of sweet red bean paste.

Divide the filling (pork mixture or sweet bean paste) into 24 portions. Divide dough into 24 balls. Slightly flatten each ball then roll out into 4 inch discs, leaving the center twice as thick as the side. Place 1 portion of the filling in the centre. Gather up the sides around the filling, twist dough to seal. Place on a 2 inch square piece of wax paper, twist side down. Allow buns to rise in draft-free place for another hour.

You can cook them by steaming them 15 minutes. This will give you a white bun.

You can also bake these. Preheat oven to 350. Brush with a mixture of 1 beaten egg white, 1 tsp and ¼ tsp sugar. Bake 20 - 25 minutes until golden brown. Brush with melted butter. From "Dim Sum" by Rhoda Yee.

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