Dou Sha Bao (Red Bean Paste Steamed Buns) – Soft and fluffy steamed buns stuffed with sweet red bean paste filling. Homemade is best.
Best Homemade Dou Sha Bao (Red Bean Paste Steamed Buns)
SWEET RED BEAN PASTE BAO
I had been on a mission to learn how to make soft and fluffy Asian steamed buns EVERY TIME!. The family had eaten enough steamed buns for the past few months 🙂 Nobody complained though. That’s what I love about tinkering in the kitchen. I felt like I’ve learned so much in the process. One of the family’s favorite sweet steamed buns is this dou sha bao (red bean paste steamed buns). The dou sha (red bean paste) is sweet but not overwhelmingly sweet, which I like. I love dessert, but I can’t say I have sweet tooth. I’m one to pick savory food anytime and most of the time never save room for dessert 🙂
HOW TO MAKE GOOD DOU SHA BAO AT HOME?
1. The basic bun recipe
That goes without saying right? You can read more in details on how to make those soft tearable steamed buns because I use that basic dough in this recipe as well
2. Dou sha filling
Yes, that goes without saying too! Dou sha is actually pretty straight forward to make. You only need red beans,sugar, and water. A good dou sha filling for steamed buns should be “stiff” and thick. The process of cooking the beans is also to cook off the water. You want to cook off as much water as possible. Too much moisture in the dou sha filling may cause your steamed buns to collapse during steaming. You don’t want your hard work goes to waste because of this. Details on how to make your own dou sha is here
3. Do not overproof the buns
Overproof the buns will create more air bubbles and causing the steamed buns to be not smooth. You don’t need the buns to double in size. If it puffs up to only about 50% of its original size, it’s good to go. It’s ready to be steamed
HOW TO PROPERLY WRAP STEAMED BUNS WITH FILLING INSIDE
1. Roll the filling into balls
It doesn’t have to be a perfect round ball. This makes it so much easier to wrap the filling later and the finished wrapped steamed buns will be “tall” and when you steam it your buns won’t appear flat and wide if that’s making any sense.
2. Flatten into a round disc with middle part thicker than the edge
Gather the edge to wrap into a round ball or you can create pleats by folding (Sorry, it’s hard for me to take a photo of how I pleat the pattern with one hand!)
Steamed buns before steaming
WHAT TO EXPECT
Steamed buns with filling inside will not be ultra smooth as the plain ones. I still manage to make the pretty smooth because the filling does not have lots of moisture. Like I mention before, the moisture can cause the surface of the buns not to be as smooth and sometimes even some “burn” spots.
I wrote in length about most of the common issues people encounter while making steamed buns in this How to Make Soft Fluffy Asian Steamed Buns. I think it helps if you read through that first before jumping on making any steamed buns. It’s really not complicated, but sure is helpful to know some pointers.
Now, let’s eat shall we?
Best Homemade Dou Sha Bao (Red Bean Steamed Buns)
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 300 gr all-purpose flour
- 60 gr wheat starch or use potato starch or corn starch
- ¼ tsp salt
- 4 gr instant yeast
- 30 gr sugar
- 1 Tbsp oil
- 180 ml cold milk can be dairy or non-dairy milk
For the filling:
- 360 gr Red bean paste (dou sha)
Instructions
Prepare the dough:
- Place the flour and starch, instant yeast, sugar, salt, and oil in a mixing bowl. If you are using a stand mixer, use a dough hook attachment. Add cold milk or room temperature water. Start with 180 ml and add more until you can form a dough. You will most likely need to add a bit more milk/water. I would rather you start with the lowest amount of liquid and add more teaspoon by teaspoon until the dough comes together. Continue to knead at low speed (speed 2 on KA) for 12-15 minutes or until the dough is smooth, silky and elastic. There is no need to reach a window-pane stage
- If you knead by hand, mix until you get a rough dough (it's not going to be smooth yet). Cover and rest it for 15 minutes. Then go back and knead it. You'll be surprised by how easier it is to knead it now. Knead until the dough is smooth and pliable. The kneading motion is like washing cloth with hands. At any point during kneading, you can always stop and rest the dough if you find it hard to knead and so much resistant. This is to relax the gluten. Then go back to knead again and you'll be surprised by the difference it makes by just resting the dough before kneading again. It's easier for you too. You want the dough that is smooth, silky, and elastic. Just to warn you that it's going to take some time to knead by hands
SHAPING AND FILLING:
- Divide the red bean paste into 12 equal portions. Roughly shape them into ball as that makes it easier to wrap later
- Lightly dust your work surface with some flour. Flatten the dough with your palm and then use a rolling pin to roll the sides thinner to form a circle with a thicker middle part. This is to support the weight of the filling
- FOR ROUND SHAPE: Place the dou sha filling ball in the middle and gather the edge to enclose into a round ball and place the seam side down. Cup the dough with both palms and move the dough in a circular motion to shape it taller. This part is important so your steamed buns come out tall instead of spreading to the side after steaming
- Place on a piece of parchment paper. Lightly dab the surface of the bun with some milk using your finger to smooth the surface. Loosely cover with a saran wrapper to prevent drying. Work with another dough and do the same
- IF YOU WANT TO PLEAT SOME PATTERNS: Place the dou sha filling ball in the middle. Create a fold around the edge and then pinch to seal. Cup the dough with both palms and move the dough in a circular motion to shape it taller. This part is important so your steamed buns come out tall instead of spreading to the side after steaming
- Place on a piece of parchment paper. You don't need to dab the surface with milk if you have patterns. Loosely cover with a saran wrapper to prevent drying. Work with another dough and do the same
PROOFING:
- Let the shaped and filled buns proof until about 50% double its original size at a warm place. They don't have to double in size. This may take about 30 minutes to one hour, but please don't go by the time, just observe to make sure the buns have puffed up to half its original size before steaming and when you gently push on the dough, it slowly bounces back. If it bounces back immediately, the dough needs longer proofing time
STEAMING:
- Most likely your steamer won't be able to accommodate steaming all buns at one go. You may need to steam in 2-3 batches, which means, the rest of the batches will sit longer and continue to proof while waiting for the steamer. Not good for the buns! Here's what you can do: Make sure the cover them with plastic wrap and then place them in the refrigerator to slow down the yeast activity or halt it all together until they are ready to be steamed
- Prepare your steamer. Bring the water in the steamer to a boil. Wrap the lid of your steamer (like wrapping a gift basically) with a clean kitchen towel and secure with rubber band/ string or whatever you have on the top. This is to prevent the condensation from the steam drops back to your bao and this will create "burn spots" later. When I steam with a bamboo basket, the condensation is not a problem
- LOWER THE HEAT TO MEDIUM. Place the buns in there, leaving about 1-inch space in between. Cover with a lid but leaving it about 1/4-inch gap for some steam to escape. Steam on medium heat for 15 minutes. This is especially important if you see that you have overproof the steamed buns (the steamed buns have doubled in size and they have widened to the side). As long as you steam them like this, the buns will not wrinkle and collapse later when you take them out from the steamer
- Turn off the heat. Do not open the lid of the steamer. Let the buns sit there for 5 minutes like this. The buns will not sink or wrinkle due to the sudden change in temperature
STORING:
- If you make extra and plan to store them, place them on a baking sheet, not touching each other, and then put the entire tray inside the freezer for about 1 hour. They will harden, but not completely frozen yet. Transfer to a freezer bag and they will not stick to each other anymore. Try not to keep for more than 1 month
REHEATING:
- They can go straight from freezer to steamer when you ready to eat them. Steam on high heat for 5 minutes and they are as good as new
Notes
Recommended products:
Nutrition
Check out this Soft and Fluffy No-Yeast Chinese Steamed Buns. These are so good and super easy to make!
20 comments
What is the weight for each portion of red bean paste (it only says to divide the full recipe by 12). Thanks!
Roughly about 30 grams per portion for 12 buns. You are welcome to adjust with more or less filling. Just try not to stuff too much, making the dough stretch too thin and it may “wrinkle” when you steam them. I hope this helps.
Hi! I am intending to try this recipe. How much raw red beans do I need to yield 40pg of paste? Thanks
I have updated the recipe for the dou sha, you can use about 150 grams, you may or may not have a bit of leftover, depending on how much you fill the buns, but should be enough for the recipe. I hope this helps
Purrrfect!!!
Good to know Rheena 🙂