Charsiew bun and pastry

Last weekend, we made Charsiew pastry (Char Siew Soh) and the weekend just passed we made Char Siew bun. I was contemplating on posting these two recipes on separate blog entries but decided to put them together since the fillings were the same. Both the recipes were successful and we manage to make enough to satisfy our appetites. I must say both the pastry and the bun was not easy to make. Both required significant amount of time to prepare.

Ingredients:
Char Siew filling
Minced Char Siew
2 tablespoon of corn flour (mixed with half a cup of water)
1 big onion (diced)
1 tablespoon of LKK Oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of LKK HoiSin Sauce
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
A few dash of pepper

How I did it:

Firstly, fry the onion until is starts turning brown. Then add in the rest of the ingredients and mix for another 10 mins or so. That would be the filling for your bun and pastry.

Ingredients:
Pastry dough
Plain flour
Ready made puff pastry dough
Margarine
Sugar
Water
1 egg

How I did it:
As you can see I have not put in any measurement for the flour and water as I was freestyling. I don't have a weighing scale at home. I guess I understand the basic of baking and adding stuff together until it feels right is the way I go about doing things. I made the 'normal' dough on my own and bought the puff pastry. The last time I tried making puff pastry, it took me 2 hours at least. I had to combine the puff pasty with the normal dough because using pure puff pastry will be too flaky and using pure 'normal' dough will be hard. For the normal dough, firstly put in the flour and margarine into a mixing bowl and mix them together. I added a bit of water at a time into the mixture until a soft and elastic dough is formed. Once the dough is formed, leave it in the fridge for about 30 minutes to rest. Once that is done, divide the dough into 4 portions. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin. Place the puff pastry dough on top of the normal dough. The ratio for the normal dough to puff pastry is 2 to 1. Wrap the normal dough around the puff pastry dough until it forms a ball. Roll out the combined dough. Cut out a rectangular shape with a butter knife and put a tablespoon of Char Siew filling into the centre of the dough. Fold up the side and make sure they are properly sealed. Glaze the dough with egg wash. Place it in the oven for approximately 30 mins at 200 degrees Celcius. DONE!

Our first try to see which shape looks the nicest.




The result of our first try

We went for the 'sui kau' shape in the end

Ingredients:
Char Siew Bun
Bread flour
4 tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
3 tablespoon of milk powder
1 and half teaspoon of yeast
1 egg
50g of butter
120 ml of water

How I did it:
Add some water into the yeast. Leave it aside and the yeast will start 'frothing'. After 5 minutes, add in all the ingredients except for the butter. Knead the dough until it becomes elastic and non-sticky. Initially it will be very sticky but as you continue kneading, gluten will be formed. You can add a little bit of flour as you knead to quicken the process. The kneading process probably took approximately 20-30 minutes. It was so tiring and my arms were sore after that. I nearly gave up because I kept telling Steph that my dough is still very sticky. I lost track of the amount of flour I added. Add in the melted butter after 15 minutes. After a long and tiring process, the dough was formed. Cover the dough with a cling film and let the dough prove for 2 hours in a warm place. I place mine in an oven because the house was pretty chilly. After proving, the dough should double in size. Give the dough a few more rounds of kneading. Divide the dough into little mini balls. Flatten your dough with your fingers and place your Char Siew filling in it. Bring the edges towards the center to seal the dough around the filling. Place the seam side down on the baking tray. Let the dough sit for another 10 mins or so and you can see it grow a little again. Place the doughs into the oven for 20 minutes at 220 degrees Celcius. Once ready, brush the top of the buns with some melted margarine or butter to give it a nice glossy shine.

DONE!

-Adrian