60grsugarabout 5 Tbsp, more if you want it sweeter
200grmashed pumpkin
1tspoil
50mlcold/room temperature waterstart with this amount, you may or may not need more liquid
Instructions
Making the dough with a machine:
Place all ingredients for the dough in a mixing bowl, except for the water. Use the dough hook attachment and start kneading the dough on the lowest speed. Depending on how much liquid is in the mashed pumpkin, you may add a bit water, teaspoon by teaspoon if needed. Increase speed to 2 and knead the dough for 10-12 minutes or until the dough is very smooth and stretchy
Making the dough by hands:
Place all ingredients for the dough in a mixing bowl, except for the water. Mix until you get a rough dough (it's not going to be smooth yet) and add water a bit by a bit as needed. 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, about 15-20 minutes. At any point during kneading, you can always stop and rest the dough if you find it hard to knead. 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
Rest the dough:
Cover and rest the dough for 15 minutes. This is not to proof the dough. It shouldn't double in size. This is to relax the gluten for easier shaping and rolling the dough
Shape:
Roll the dough into a long log. Cut into 48 roughly equal pieces
Keep the rest of the small doughs covered. Take 3 doughs. Work with 1 dough at a time. Flatten the dough with your palm and then roll it out into about 4-inch circle
Repeat with the other 2 doughs. Overlap each circle by about 1-inch. Gently press on the overlapped part to secure
Roll it up from the short side like rolling a Swiss roll
Cut it into two. Place the cut side down on a parchment paper or muffin paper. Repeat with the next 3 sets of the dough
Proofing:
Keep the flower shaped dough cover with a cloth and let them rise until about 50% of its original size, may take about 30 minutes to one hour. When you gently press on the dough, it should slowly bounce back. If it bounces back immediately, it needs to be proofed longer. Also, lift the dough up to feel if they are lighter. A nicely proofed dough will feel much lighter than before. They won't necessarily double in size, but will be at least 50% larger than the original size. When all these three are met, the buns are ready to be steamed
Steaming (you may need to steam in batches):
Most likely your steamer won't be able to accommodate steaming all buns at one go unless you have something like this 3-tier food steamer (which I love a lot!). 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
Bring the water in your steamer to a rolling boil. Wrap the steamer's lid with a cloth (not needed with bamboo basket).
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 8 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
After 8 minutes, turn off the heat and let them sit for another 1 minute so the steamed buns won't shrink due to sudden temperature change. Remove from the steamer to a cooling rack so the bottom of the buns will not be wet and soggy
Continue to steam the rest of the buns
Notes
You can also replace all 300 gr of all-purpose flour and 60 gr of wheat starch/corn starch with cake flour or premixed Hongkong/Vietnamese bao flour and omit the wheat starch/corn starch.