Chinese Hot Dog buns and Bolo Bao (菠蘿包)

您们好！ How are you guys today? Yesterday, I said I would post how to make the hot dog buns and Bolo Bao. This recipe has no filling for the Bolo Bao (菠蘿包), but I will explain the instructions on how to add the filling to the buns, though there won't be any pictures. It would take longer until the bread is done if you want to add the filling. Anyways, don't these bread look delicious? I think they do. I love baking bread. It takes at least 3 to 4 hours though, but it is worth it. Anyways, for the bolo bao topping, I used brown sugar instead of the usual granulated sugar because I had run out of granulated sugar. That's why the cookie topping looks a bit different. Here's the link to the other bread recipe, where my cookie topping for the bolo bao has white granulated sugar instead of brown sugar. It still tastes pretty good though. The cookie topping recipe is at the end of this post. The hot dog buns are yummy too. My brother loves these chinese breads, and they're quite delicious. So, here's the recipe for the bread. The recipe for the dough is a bit different from the other recipe, in that, oil is used instead of butter. If you like a more buttery bread, use butter. I believe it's a bit unhealthier though, so I decided to make a bread recipe using oil. Have fun making the bread. Enjoy. :)

Ingredients: 

Dough:

• 3 3/4 cup bread flour
• 3/4  cup sugar
• 1/2  cup warm milk
• 1/2  cup warm water
• 2 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 egg, whisked
• 1/4  cup oil

Fillling Options:

• red bean paste
• BBQ Pork 
• hot dog
• lotus seed paste

Instructions

1. In a bowl pour in the warm water and warm milk. Mix in the sugar. 
2. Add in the active dry yeast and let it poof for about 10 minutes.
3. Mix in the egg and oil. 
4. Slowly add in the flour, cup by cup,  until a dough has formed. Knead the dough. It should be elastic, but it shouldn't stick to the bowl. 
5. Cover it with plastic, and let it rise for about an hour in a warm place. 
6. Push the dough down to let out the air.
7. Divide the dough into 15 pieces, and let them rise for an hour.
8. For the hot dog buns. roll out the dough like play dough until it's long, and then wrap it around the hot dog. There are pictures for this step, if you are confused. Let it rise for 30 min to and hour.
9. If you are making the bolo bao and are adding the red bean filling, flatten the dough with your hand and stretch it out just a tiny bit. Add the filling, and then fold in the edges together. Roll it into a ball and let it rise for 30 min to an 1hr. One hour is more ideal, so that the bread would be bigger. 
10. If you are making the bolo bao without the filling, it's time to bake them. Take a piece of cookie dough. flatten it out, make tiny criss cross marks, and but the cookie on the bread dough. Preheat the oven to 350 F and bake for about 20 minutes.
11. For the hot dog bread, and bolo bao with the filling, after it's done rising, it is time to bake them. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Add the cookie topping to the bolo bao. Bake the hot dog buns for 15 to 20 minutes. The bolo bao would take about 20 minutes. Use your eye and judgement. The bread grows and rises while it's still in the oven. Enjoy your bread. :)

 

 

 

 

The Pineapple Bun Topping recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup sugar (or a little bit more)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder

                                                                 Directions: 

1. Beat the egg and sugar too. Add the egg yolk, baking soda, and the milk. Combine the flour and baking powder and then add it to the rest of the ingredients. Refrigerate for an hour before use.  

Mushroom Bread, 豆沙包, 菠蘿包, recipe

Hey Hey Hey, everyone. I am so sorry that I haven't been posting for a while. I have been really busy with school, and preparing for the SATs. The SAT is this weekend and I'm really nervous. I"ve been studying really hard for this test. I really hope it pays off. Well, enough about that. I'm here to post recipes for all of you people to make to eat.
Well..these breads look pretty delicious, don't they?   我做豆沙包, 菠蘿包, 很好吃。：）用 了五个小时。I know. 5 hours to make bread is a very long time. That's because I made it all by hand. I did not use a bread machine, well, because I don't have one. My family is very old fashioned. It gave me a good arm workout though. They taste pretty good, but they don't look as pretty as the ones from the Chinese bakery. I'm still working on it, but it has come a long way since I first baked this kind of bread. I'm too embarrassed to post the picture of my first attempt at making bread. So, here's the recipe.

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 cup warm milk
• 2 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 2/3 cup salted butter, melted
• 2 eggs, whisked
• 7-8 cups bread flour

Directions: 

1. In a huge bowl, combine the warm milk, warm water and sugar. Add the yeast, and let it poof for 10 minutes. Make sure the water and milk aren't too hot, or else it may kill the yeast.  
2. Next, add the eggs and the butter. Mix it all together. 
3. While mixing, add the flour one cup at a time. Once it has come together, start kneading the dough until it has become elastic, but still a bit sticky. Cover, and let it rise for one hour. 
4. If you want to, just add all the ingredients into a bread machine according to the manufacture's instructions. 
5. After an hour, divide the dough into 36 pieces, and cover, and let it rise for an hour. Do the same thing when the dough is done in the bread machine. 
6. After, you can use any filling you want. You can use red bean paste, BBQ pork, lotus seed paste, mung paste, custard, sausage or hot dog and basically anything you want. First, you take the dough, and then flatten it on your palm. Put a spoonful of filling inside and then take the edges and squeeze them together to cover the filling. If you are making hot dog buns (pig blankets), take the dough, and roll it into a long string. Then, you wrap it around the hot dog. Cover and let it rise for an half hour or so. 
7. Preheat the oven to 350 F. If you are making the 菠蘿包 (pineapple buns), you add the topping right before you bake the bread (the recipe for the topping are under the pictures). The 菠蘿包 takes longer to bake than the rest of the bread. The red bean, BBQ pork bread takes about 13-15 minutes to bake. If the hot dog is raw, then it will take about 15 minutes to bake. The 菠蘿包 will take about 20 minutes. Just use your eye and judgment.

 The Pineapple Bun Topping recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup sugar (or a little bit more)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder

Directions: 

1. Beat the egg and sugar too. Add the egg yolk, baking soda, and the milk. Combine the flour and baking powder and then add it to the rest of the ingredients. Refrigerate for an hour before use.  

Mushroom Bread

So before I tell you guys how to make mushroom bread, I warn you guys to make small mushroom bread, not a huge one. I learned my lesson. A couple days ago, I wanted to make a huge mushroom bread for my history class, because we are learning about the Cold War. The bread was suppose to look like a mushroom cloud formed by an explosion. The bread did grow, but I when I tried taking the bread out after baking it, the inside was under baked while the outside was all the way cooked. It was a very sad attempt. The huge mushroom bread did not look like a mushroom either. I still got points, but I think it was out of pity. -_-. At least I received some credit.
I'm happy that I used the leftover dough to make small mushroom bread. Those turned out perfectly. The only difference is that you let the dough rise in a muffin pan instead. The baking time is 15 min. When you take them out, use a plastic knife first to go around the edges. Then, you can take them out. It makes it easier. Here are some pictures: 

My failed attempt at making a huge mushroom bread. -_-

The mini ones that just came out of the oven.

How they look when you take them out.

Enjoy this bread. :)