These pillowy steamed buns are delicious in all the same ways as Parker House rolls, with the sweet flavor of cornmeal.
Recipe information
Yield
Makes about 16 Servings
Ingredients
Cornmeal Bao
2
1
2
1
1
1
2
Sauce and Assembly
¼
3
1
1
1
2
2
2
1
Preparation
Cornmeal Bao
Step 1
Stir sugar and yeast into ⅔ cup warm (100°) water in a small bowl. Let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes. Whisk flour, corn muffin mix, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl to combine. Stir sugar mixture into dry ingredients, then stir in 2 Tbsp. oil. Mix just until a shaggy dough forms.
Step 2
Turn dough out onto a work surface. Gently knead just until smooth (be careful not to overwork). Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm spot until dough is puffed and yields easily when poked, about 1½ hours.
Step 3
Divide dough into 16 balls and gently roll between your palms until smooth. Roll out each ball to a 6x3" oval, lightly brush with oil, then fold in half crosswise. Cover bao with a damp cloth and let rise until slightly puffy, 60–90 minutes.
Step 4
Place a bamboo steamer lined with parchment paper over a large pot of simmering water (or you can use a steamer basket). Steam bao in batches until firm to the touch and cooked through, 10–12 minutes per batch.
Step 5
Do Ahead: Dough can be made 12 hours ahead; chill instead of letting rise. Let rise 2 hours. Bao can be steamed 1 week ahead; tightly wrap and freeze. Thaw and steam 3 minutes to restore softness just before serving.
Sauce and Assembly
Step 6
Cook sugar and soy sauce in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring often, until sugar is dissolved; let cool.
Step 7
Transfer to a small bowl and mix in chile, ginger, garlic, dark soy sauce, mushroom soy sauce, vinegar, and pepper. Let black pepper sauce sit 30 minutes to allow flavors to meld.
Step 8
Build sandwiches with bao using turkey, black pepper sauce, mayonnaise, pickles, carrots, and cilantro.
Step 9
Do Ahead: Sauce can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and chill.
Nutrition Per Serving
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Reviews (6)
Back to TopNever again! Yikes the dough didn't really work, the streaming was tedious. Way too much work for a mediocre product.
brushjl
solon, oh
12/15/2020
This is a great recipe for an easy, basic bao. I have never made it with the turkey fixings, but I've made the bao dough and sauce 6-7 times now. Two pointers- people are saying that the dough didn't rise much, which is true. For the second rise, I used to shingle them in a Pyrex the way you would with Parker House rolls, but having them overlap prevented them from puffing up as intended. For your second rise, make sure they are not overlapping even though there are 12-16 of them. Second, the dough could use a *touch* more water but not much. I just wet my hands thoroughly 2-3 times during the brief kneading time and that always works perfectly.
jessamin
Raleigh, NC
8/25/2020
My dough was very dry and did not rise much. They puffed a bit after steaming, but were rather dense. I am going to try to make them again before Thanksgiving, because they had a good flavor. But wondering what the correct consistency of the dough should be. Mine was like a pie crust and that didn't seem right.....
Anonymous
Brooklyn NY
11/25/2019
Angsturban: If you haven't found a Jiffy mix sub yet, here's a good recipe. www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/jiffy-corn-muffin-mix-copycat-345502 If the only cornmeal available is coarse, you'll need to grind it finer. I blitz mine in a blender to about the coarseness of whole grain flour, just a bit rougher than AP flour. Coarser might work for you, but the larger grains were still really hard in my first batch. The blitzed version was delicious.
Anonymous
US
4/4/2019
any ideas what us european folks can use in place of the Jiffy muffin mix?
angsturban
Hungary
3/20/2019