Best Homemade Dou Sha Bao (Red Bean Paste Steamed Buns)

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)

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Proof the dough 20 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Servings 12 steamed buns

4.9 from 11 reviews

REVIEW & RATE PRINT

Ingredients

0.5x1x2x

US CustomaryMetric

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

RECOMMEDED TOOLS

Kitchen Aid Standmixer

Dough Hook Attachment

Food Steamer

Marv's Recipe Notes

If you decide to use ready-made red bean paste, this is a good one to get!

*Nutrition facts are just estimates and calculated using online tools*

Nutrition Facts

Best Homemade Dou Sha Bao (Red Bean Steamed Buns)

Serving Size

 

1 serving

Amount per Serving

Calories

212

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

2

g

3

%

Saturated Fat

 

0.4

g

3

%

Trans Fat

 

0.01

g

Polyunsaturated Fat

 

0.5

g

Monounsaturated Fat

 

1

g

Cholesterol

 

2

mg

1

%

Sodium

 

58

mg

3

%

Potassium

 

103

mg

3

%

Carbohydrates

 

43

g

14

%

Fiber

 

2

g

8

%

Sugar

 

16

g

18

%

Protein

 

5

g

10

%

Vitamin A

 

25

IU

1

%

Vitamin C

 

0.2

mg

0

%

Calcium

 

31

mg

3

%

Iron

 

2

mg

11

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Check out this Soft and Fluffy No-Yeast Chinese Steamed Buns. These are so good and super easy to make!