Pastel Character Bao's recipe ٩(^◡^ )♥ Very nice to eat them in these cold rainy days ^_^

♥ PASTEL CHARACTER BAO ♥
By : Bake and Heat
Adapted from : RESEP BAKPAO VITACITRA2000
Duration : 180 mins
portion : -
Level : Intermediate 

 

   Chinese new year is coming very soon and i'm looking for a recipe to be shared to you guys which suits for this event and It's been raining a lot in Jakarta these days and the weather has been pretty cold lately. So i decided to make some steamed Bao/ mantou recipe and i made them into some cute characters which are easy to make but still looks pretty. Hot steamed bao to be enjoyed in a cold weather sure is nice ^^. This recipe I'm sharing you guys has been adapted from Ci Vita's blog which in the recipe she made,she used some purple sweet potatoes in the dough, but i will not use any sweet potatoes in this recipe so i will modify the recipe a bit.

( I made some cute bunnies and rainbow roses shaped bao♥ )

INGREDIENTS : 

♥  425grams low protein wheat flour / cake flour
♥  100 grams tang mien / wheat starch flour
♥   2tsp dry active yeast ( i use 6 grams )
♥   100 grams granulated sugar
♥   1 egg whites
♥   140ml water
♥   100ml plain Full cream milk
♥   1gram salt
♥   50ml shortening / white vegetable margarine ( you can substitute with butter )
( if you want a very clean and white bao, please use white vegetable shortening.)

INSTRUCTIONS: 

1. Mix cake flour,tang mien,dry active yeast,granulated sugar in a bowl and stir well.
2. Pour in milk and mix with low speed.
3. Pour in water gradually and mix with low speed till all the dough is incorporated well.
4. When you see that the dough is not sticky to the bowl anymore, pour in the salt and shortening. Mix till you get a smooth and elastic dough. ( if the dough is not elastic enough, your Bao will not rise perfectly and it will feels sticky when you chew on it).
   
   
5. Round the dough and let it rest for 10minutes.
6. If you wish to put some color in the dough like i did, take some of the dough and use some drops of food-grade coloring,knead till the color has incorporated well into the dough.
   
7. Cut and weigh into 50grams each (if you want to use some filling in your bao, just weight the dough into 30grams each, for the filling 20grams each). round them and let it rest for another 15minutes. 
8. Shape the dough as desired, let it rest for 35-40minutes. ( i made some bunny-shaped and rose-shaped bao). ( i use black sesame seeds for the eyes, fondant cutter for the flower shape and cotton and food coloring to blush the cheeks).
   
   
   
9. Steam the bao at medium-low heat for 15minutes.
10.  Enjoy :) 
    
    Enjoy your hot steamed bao at home ,♥ Happy Baking ♥ ^_^