Suddenly I have this craving for Black Sesame Paste Buns. I wish to reminiscent the taste of Black Sesame Bao that I ate at Bao Jin Tian long ago. So I decided to do it myself. Since Easter is coming, I decided to make Bunny buns.
I did some research and looked around for recipes, finally I settled on the recipe by Bakeforhappykids as this is one of my favorite source. For the bun dough, I used her recipe using water (not milk), the final outcome of the Bao is soft and fluffy, really delicious.
When I was making the Black sesame Paste, at the first stage of frying the seeds, I was careful not to burn it. But in the last stage when I placed the blended paste back to the saucepan, I left it unattended for a few minutes under medium heat, it got burnt a little, so the filling is a bit bitter. My Bao filling is bitter-sweet now. So please take care to keep stirring the paste until it dries up to be a firm paste.
This is the hand-kneaded dough before 1st proving.
This is shaping of the plain dough with the filling, and designing the buns.\
Buns after steaming.
Best to eat the Bao hot! Happy Easter!
Black Sesame Paste Buns (Steamed Baos)黑芝麻包 Recipe
(Adapted from bakeforhappykids recipe)
Recipe for Making Black Sesame Paste
90 grams Black Sesame Seeds
45 grams caster sugar
40 grams brown sugar
2/3 cup hot boiling water
1/8 cup vegetable oil
Method:
- Lightly fry 100 grams black sesame seeds on a saucepan for about 10 mins (I use low-medium heat) until I smell some slight fragrance from the seeds. Remove from heat and cool down. Take out 10 grams of seeds to be pounded into powder for the buns (below recipe).
- For the rest of 90 grams of black sesame seeds, add in hot boiling water into a food processor and processed into a semi-liquid black sesame paste. Cool down.
- Pour the black sesame paste into a saucepan to lightly fry (over low-medium fire), add in oil. The paste will turn shinny due to the oil. Keep stirring. Then add in the sugars. Keep stirring until the paste dry up to form a firm paste. (I stirred for 25 mins, paste still not firm enough.)
Recipe for Making Bun
250 grams Hong Kong Flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2/3 tsp instant yeast
25 grams caster sugar
140 mls water (slightly warm)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
10 grams black sesame seeds (lighted roasted above)
Bamboo Charcoal powder (for the eyes and nose of the bunnies)
Method:
- Pound the 10 grams black sesame seeds using mortar and pestle, until it becomes fine grains.
- Put the Hong Kong Flour, baking powder, yeast, caster sugar, grinned black sesame seeds into a clean bowl. Make a well in the middle, pour in slightly warm water. Use hand to mix to form a dough. Keep kneading until it becomes a smooth and elastic dough (it took me about 20 -25 mins by hand). Add the oil and continue to knead until it becomes shiny, smooth and elastic. (if you pressed your finger inside the dough, the dough’s hole will bounce back to almost normal).
- Let the dough prove for about 1 hour.
- Divide the dough into 13 equal portions (30 grams each dough). For the Black Sesame Seeds paste, weigh 15 grams for each filling. You should have some dough left over, dye the dough with Bamboo Charcoal powder to make it black for the eyes and nose of the bunny later.
- For each dough, first use your palm to flatten the dough, then use your fingers to stretched the sides of the dough, leaving the centre of the dough thicker than the sides. Place the black sesame paste filling in the centre of the dough. Using your fingers, start sealing the sides of the dough until the filling is completely sealed inside.
- As I am making the shape of a bunny, I shaped the bun oval shaped. Then I use scissor to cut the 2 ears for each bun, at the back, cut a tail. Using a bit of black dough, I made the eyes and nose. Just dab a bit of water on the bun where you want to stick the eyes and nose, then stick the black dough on it. Place each bun under a small piece of grease proof paper.
- Let the buns rest for 20 – 25 mins.
- Make sure your steamer water is boiling when you put the buns in to steam. Steam over high heat. My buns took 12 mins, the timing can vary depending on what you use to steam and the size of your buns.