Steamed–BBQ Chicken Bao Buns

A delicious Chinese barbecue filling resides in these soft and fluffy steamed bao buns. If you’re unfamiliar with them, they’re a traditional Chinese pastry that involves stuffing a bun with filling and usually either steaming or frying the bun. In these buns, Chinese five spice powder gives the barbecue filling an extra kick, and the honey contrasts with the soy sauce for a sweet and salty element. Chicken is slow-cooked in the barbecue sauce until tender, and the meat is pulled apart in the sauce to create little shredded bits of chicken, each one thickly coated in the savory and sweet sauce. Once it’s stuffed into the bao buns and neatly folded up and steamed, it makes for a beautiful little pocket of salty sweet flavor. • makes about 14 buns

Bao Bun Dough

1½ cups whole milk
½ cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons sesame oil
4 teaspoons active dry yeast
6 cups all-purpose flour
⅓ cup granulated sugar
¾ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt

Barbecue Chicken Filling

¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup honey
3 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons mirin
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
¾ teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
Warm water, for assembly

For the bao bun dough, in a small saucepan, combine the milk, stock, and sesame oil and heat to lukewarm over low heat. Pour into a small bowl and add the yeast. Let rest for 10 minutes and then stir to incorporate any yeast still floating on the surface.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, garlic powder, and salt. Add the yeast mixture in a slow and steady stream with one hand while stirring the flour mixture with the other. Once the yeast is incorporated, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, 5 to 7 minutes.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover. Place out of direct sunlight and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, for the filling, in a small Dutch oven, whisk together the soy sauce, honey, ketchup, mirin, brown sugar, vinegar, garlic, and five spice powder over low heat. Add the chicken and cover. Simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and shred the chicken with two forks. Stir to evenly incorporate the sauce with the shredded chicken. Set aside.

When the dough completes proofing, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it to help disperse any existing air pockets, about 3 minutes. Use your hands to roll the dough into a cylinder that is roughly 4 inches thick.

Use a lightly oiled knife to cut a ½-inch-thick slice. Use a rolling pin to roll out the slice to a 6-inch round that is completely flat, pushing the pin down harder around the edge of the circle to make the outside thinner and the middle a bit thicker. Hold the round flat in the palm of one hand and place 1 tablespoon of the filling in the center. Dip a finger into the warm water and run it around the edge of the dough. Use your free hand to fold pleats around the edge, pressing each pleat into the last, until the bun is sealed at the top with the series of pleats. Set aside on a lightly floured surface and repeat until all the buns are assembled.

To steam, place the buns in a bamboo steamer lined with parchment paper, leaving 2 inches of space around each bun as they will expand when steaming. Use a small knife to poke holes through the parchment paper around the buns to allow the steam to come up through the bamboo slats. Steam until the dough is cooked through and puffy, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

To freeze and steam later, place the buns on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place in the freezer for 2 hours. Remove the frozen buns from the pan and place in an airtight freezer-safe container and store in the freezer for up to 4 months. If you are steaming frozen buns, allow them to defrost before steaming them for the same amount of time as indicated for the fresh buns above.