Bread Machine (124 page)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 large egg

3
¹
/
₂
cups bread flour

5 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon nonfat dry milk

1 tablespoon bread machine yeast

For the filling:

¹
/
₄
cup water

1 tablespoon rice wine or dry sherry

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

¹
/
₄
pound prepared char siu (Chinese barbecued pork)

3 tablespoons diced yellow onion or scallions, green part only

For the egg glaze:

1 large egg beaten with
  1 tablespoon sugar

1
¹
/
₂
tablespoons white sesame seeds

To make the dough, place all the dough ingredients in the pan according to the order in the manufacturer’s instructions, but adding only 2 cups of the bread flour. Program for the Dough cycle; press Start. About 5 minutes into Knead 2, slowly add the remaining 1
¹
/
₂
cups flour. The dough will be stiff at first, but by the end of the kneading phase it will be pliable and smooth. It is important not to add more water; if the batter is too moist, the
bao
will flatten as they bake.

While the dough is rising, prepare the filling: Make the gravy by combining the water, rice wine or sherry, oyster sauce, hoisin, soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar in the top of a double boiler. Whisk in the flour. Place over simmering water and, stirring constantly, cook until thick and smooth. The gravy should be the consistency of mayonnaise. Remove from the water bath and cool in the refrigerator.

Chop the pork into a large dice and place it in a large bowl with the onions. Add the gravy and mix. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. When the machine beeps at the end of the cycle, press Stop and unplug the machine. Turn the dough out onto a clean wooden work surface. Roll into a fat 3-inch-wide log. Cut the log into 6 equal portions. Place a disc of dough on a wooden work surface (don’t shape on cool marble or ceramic because it will stiffen the dough). With the palm of your hand, press down on the center and rotate your palm, spiraling out from the center. The dough will shape into a 3-inch-diameter circle (not lopsided, please) with a pretty spiral pattern radiating from the center like a flower. Don’t use any flour. Repeat with the remaining portions of dough.

Using a 1
¹
/
₂
-ounce ice cream scoop (size 40) or another utensil, place a scoop of about 2 tablespoons of the filling in the center of the round of dough. Bring the dough up over the filling and, holding the two sides between your thumb and third finger and pinching with your pointer finger, pleat the edges to encase the filling. Place the
bao
on their sides, and at least 4 inches apart, on the prepared baking sheet. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, 45 minutes to 1 hour. If the filling is cold, the
bao
will take 1
¹
/
₂
hours to rise.

Twenty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Brush each
bao
with the egg glaze and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until big, puffy, and golden brown. If you have a convection oven, this will take about 20 minutes. Eat the
bao
the day they are baked, or freeze in plastic freezer bags for up to 2 months. Reheat in a microwave (no need to defrost) for 2 to 3 minutes for a quick dinner.

Mixes and Some Special Breads Created from Them

When experimenting with the types of breads you can make in your bread machine, you may well want to taste the different commercial boxed mixes that are available. Although bread machine recipes, even from scratch, are only moments away from being mixed in the machine, some bakers like to use mixes. There are many brands and types of bread machine mixes available, some on supermarket shelves and some by mail order. Most small mills package some sort of bread machine mix made of their own flours, which is a real treat. All brands seem to offer homestyle or country white breads and hearty or honey whole wheat breads. Some, like Hodgson Mill and Eagle Mills, use stone-ground wheat. Most mixes include bread boosters like gluten, lecithin, vitamin C, and malted barley flour. Beyond these basics, the offerings vary from brand to brand. Some offer mixes for cracked wheat, honey wheat berry, nine-grain, herb and cheese, and some sort of cinnamon bread. There seems to be a wider variety of bread mixes available by mail order than on supermarket shelves. The King Arthur Baker’s Catalogue offers multigrain sunflower and maple whole wheat mixes. Williams-Sonoma has a good cinnamon-raisin mix in bulk and some sweet bread mixes to which you add your own spices with the eggs and milk. White mixes usually have a variation to make egg bread. Krusteaz and Fleischmann’s mixes use bleached flour, while others list unbleached flour. The mixes I tried did not list any preservatives.

Every brand of bread mix bakes up into a loaf with a slightly different profile when it comes to texture (most are quite light-to medium-textured by my standards), aroma (only the Hodgson Mill and King Arthur mixes really smelled as fresh as when you make your own), moistness (all I sampled were very moist and lasted for two to three days at room temperature), sweetness (I like to have more control over the sweetness content, and like to use alternate sweeteners like fructose and maple syrup), crust (most crusts were thin, yet slightly crispy), and salt content (the mixes ranged from about 150 mg to almost 300 mg per mix). None I tested had any cholesterol reading. If you have any special dietary needs at all, you must check the side panel on the box.

Mixes contain their own yeast packets. If you are tempted to add a pinch more yeast, don’t. When I did so, the breads rose too fast and were too delicate after baking. Sometimes I did add a few tablespoons more liquid without any disastrous results, and some gluten if none was listed in the ingredients on the side panel.