Steamed buns （Mantou 馒头）

Mantou (馒头）or steamed buns are a dietary staple in most, if not all, of China. Simply put, mantou can be eaten at any time of day, with anything you want, steamed then fried, and are easy to make. I was introduced to mantou during my high school days when my parents began buying the packages of frozen fried mantou. If I remember correctly, fried mantou were quite popular in Flushing, NY at that time and my parents would get some whenever they had the chance. They liked to dip the fried mantou into sweetened condensed milk.

For me, however, mantou were just funny shaped bread that were bland. I didn't care to much for them whenever my parents bought them. If I had to choose, I would rather eat plain white sandwhich bread than mantou! So why am I posting about how to make mantou if I don't like them? Well, I may not like eating mantou, but my husband does therefore I decided to learn the recipe! Aren't I such a loving wife ;).

 I've made mantou several times and each time I've had a different outcome. A bunch of times the dough failed to rise and other times the final product was pretty hard! It wasn't until I got my kitchenaid and learned about tangzhong along with some tips from my in-laws that my mantou came out successfully. Hopefully, my recipe is successful for you as well!

Mantou ingredients

1.25 tsp of active dry yeast

1 tbs of sugar

1/4 cup of warm water

3.5 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp of salt

1 cup of milk

Directions

Make the tangzhong by taking 1 tbs of flour and mixing it with 5 tbs of water in a small pot over medium-low heat. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens to the point where you can form lines in the mixture with a fork or some other utensil. At this point, turn off heat and let it cool. Activate the yeast by mixing it with the sugar and the warm water. It is ready when it becomes foamy. Mix the remainder of the all purpose flour with salt. Form a well in the center of the flour and add the milk, tangzhong and yeast. Mix well and knead by hand or with a standmixer. If kneading by hand, you'll be kneading the dough for about 10 minutes or so. With a standmixer, it'll probably take 2-3 mins or so for th dough ball to form. Once it forms take it out and knead by hand for 3-4 minutes, until you get a nice round and soft ball of dough that has a slight stick to it. If your dough is sticky (as in sticking to your hands and not coming off) then you'll need to add more flour. Place your dough in a bowl, cover it, and let it rise until it has doubled in size. This usually takes at least an hour or so. Just keep an eye on it and when it has doubled in size, take it out and you are ready to shape your dough. For the traditional mantou look, roll out the dough into a rectangular shape, with the dough being approximately 1/4" thick. At this point, I like to sprinkle raisins all around. Then, starting with the short side of the dough, roll it up and you'll have a "log". Once rolled, you want to gently squeeze and elongate the log until the diameter of the log is approximately 2". Then slice the log into 2" pieces, place on pieces of parchment paper (they should be bigger than the dough) and let rest for 30mins or until they have almost doubled in size. Now you can steam them and they'll be ready for eating in about 15 mins or so. Just rip open one to make sure it's cooked! If you can't finish them, then just freeze them. They'll last for awhile in the freezer! Enjoy!

Steamed raisin mantou