Cantonese Steamed Custard Bun Recipe (Gooey Style)

Hi everyone, I'm Mandy. Welcome to Souped Up Recipes. Today, we're making steamed custard buns, the gooey style, which means the filling is fluent and flavorful, the outer wrapper is soft and fluffy. This is very satisfying when you take a bite. Let's start with the filling. You will need 2 salted egg yolks. You can get it in the fridge or frozen section in your local Asian market. If you cannot find it, here is a quick method that you can make your own salted egg yolk. Unlike fresh egg yolk, this is very firm, kind of like gummy bear texture, so we have to steam it first. Put it in a heatproof bowl, then into a steamer. The water under has already came to a boil. Let it cook over medium heat for 15 minutes. Take the yolk out and use a heavy duty cleaver to crush it. Very easy, just press firmly and slide the knife until the yolk is smooth. If you don't have a cleaver, you can use a fork, a blender, or a food processor. Add the yolk into a sauce pot. Here is 120 grams of milk. I will pour in 2 thirds of it and reserve about 40 grams to adjust the texture later. Continue by adding 1 teaspoon of gelatin powder and give that a quick stir to make sure it is distributed evenly. Then add 2.5 tablespoons of unsalted and melted butter, 1 fresh egg yolk, 10 grams of cornstarch, and 55 grams of sugar. Mix well. You want to make sure the cornstarch is well distributed before cooking. Keep stirring over low heat for about 5 minutes and the mixture will start thickening. Don't stop the whisking until the starch is fully gelatinized, which means the temperature needs to be above 165 degrees Fahrenheit. You don't need a thermometer, as long as you can see some bubbles popping up like that, you can move the pot off the stove. If the starch is not fully gelatinized, the filling will continue to thicken while steaming, and you may not end up with a gooey steamed bun. Put on the lid. We are going to chill this in the fridge. The gelatin is what made this gooey filling possible, because it will set when the So I'm just going to stick the whole pot in. If you want to wash one more dish, you can transfer the mixture into a bowl and stick it into the fridge. The cooling will take about 1 hour. While waiting, we can make the buns. You will need 1 teaspoon of yeast, 1.5 tablespoons of sugar, stir well. I'm using active dry yeast, so it will take about 5 minutes to bloom. If you are using instant yeast, you don't have to wait. 5 minutes later, you will see some foamy substance. That means the yeast is activated. Now you can pour the yeast water into the flour and stir it at the same time. Knead it until a rough dough forms. Then add 1 teaspoon of room temperature butter. A little bit of fat will wrap around the gluten chains and make the steamed bun soft and fluffy like cotton. Also, the oil prevents the starch from retrograding, so your buns can stay soft even after it is cold. Keep kneading until the butter is well absorbed and the dough is smooth. Cover the dough and let it proof for 1 to 1.5 hours, or until it is doubled in size. During this time, keep an eye on the filling. If it is solidified, give it a nice stir until the filling becomes malleable again. Then you can portion the filling. I like to use a scale. Each one should be about 30 grams. Roll it in between your hands into a ball. Keep doing that until you finish all 7 of them. Due to your hand temperature, the filling becomes soft. Cover it and stick it back into the fridge so they stay firm. Alright, the dough is done proofing. It has doubled in size. Lightly dust your finger with some flour and poke a half-inch deep hole in the middle. The hole remains, so we know we are ready for the next step. Make a fist and punch the dough to eliminate the air bubbles. Then knead it on the working surface for 6 to 8 minutes. Watch how I do it. Use the palm of your hand and your body weight to open up the dough and spread it out. By doing that, you won't break up the air pocket. Some of you might be confused and ask, why are we doing this step? Let me answer that question by showing you a comparison. The left one, the dough was degassed completely, so you can see the surface is nice and smooth. The right one, the dough was not deflated properly, it was just roughly kneaded after the first proofing. You can see the surface is really bumpy. The air bubbles that are formed during the first proofing are always irregular. You want to get rid of that. Kneading it again will redistribute the yeast, sugar, and moisture, allowing the yeast to produce finer, regular, and fluffier bubbles. The more you knead the dough, the better steamed buns you will get. This is how I check if I have deflated the dough perfectly. Get a knife and cut the dough open. If you see a lot of irregular holes on the cut surface, that means you need to work on it more. A few minutes later, let's check again. Now the cut surface becomes smooth. You may still see a little bit of bubbles here and there. That's fine. You just want to make sure the holes are small and are the same size. Now I'm going to divide it into 7 pieces. If you use a scale, each piece should be about 50g. We will shape each one into a smooth ball. Just watch how I do it. Press the dough, fold it in half, turn the dough, press and fold it again. Repeat that until you have a smooth surface. You just turn that smooth side up and use both of your hands to shape it into a round ball. Put it away. Just do the same thing and finish all 7 of them. Now we are ready to wrap. Take a ball, dust it with some flour to prevent stickiness. Use a rolling pin to roll it flat. Flip it to the other side. Lift the dough and roll the edge to make it thinner. That way you can have a wrapper with a thick middle and a thinner edge. The size of the wrapper should be about 3.5 inches in diameter. Put the custard filling in the middle. Press it down to compact with the wrapper so you don't trap any air. Then use your forefinger and your thumb to squeeze it around and push the wrapper up. When you get to the very end, lightly wet the edge with a little bit of water so you can pinch and close the bun easily. Put the rough side down onto a piece of parchment paper and shape it taller. Otherwise, the buns will be a bit flat after the second proof. Put the buns on the steamer rack. Be sure to leave some space between each other because they will grow bigger while steaming. Put on the lid and let them proof for 20 more minutes. This is how it looks like after 20 minutes. Put it above the water and turn the heat to high. When you see the steam comes out, switch the heat to medium low and start counting the time. Let it steam for 8 to 10 minutes. Turn off the heat but do not open the lid immediately. Otherwise, the buns will shrink as soon as they hit the cold air. You want to let it sit in the steamer for at least 10 minutes. Since we got plenty of time waiting here, I'm going to give you a storage tip. Steam buns are freezer friendly. You can freeze them after you steamed them. Whenever you want to eat them again, do not defrost. Just directly re-steam over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes depending on the size. They will taste just as good as if they were freshly cooked. You cannot tell they were frozen. That's how freezer friendly they are. Okay, I'm excited. Let's check out the steamed buns. They look so smooth and pretty. Let's open one right away because I just can't wait to show you the gooey filling. It's so satisfying to see it just floats out right away. You see these tiny and even air bubbles? That's the sign of fluffiness. If the air bubbles are big, the buns will be rough. Wow, it's so good. When you take a bite, the rich and creamy flavor just surrounds you instantly. The wrapper has a great texture. It's like biting into a piece of cloud. So light and delicate. Cantonese dim sum is always neat and exquisite. You can eat this as breakfast. It is also a tasty dessert that you can enjoy on a Sunday afternoon with a cup of tea. Don't forget to like and subscribe to my channel for more delicious Chinese food. Thank you for watching and I'll see you next time. Bye!