Gold and Silver Buns (Mantou)

Category: Yeast bread

Kitchen: chinese

Ingredients
premium wheat flour	300 g
dry yeast	3-4 g
soda (baking powder)	1/3 tsp (1/2 tsp.)
sugar	1 tsp
salt	1/2 tsp
milk*	170-190 g
vegetable oil	1 tbsp. l.
Additionally:
whole condensed milk	taste

Cooking method

* Basically, for kneading the dough, the ratio of water to flour is 1: 2, depending on the type and type of flour. When replacing water with milk, it is recommended to increase its amount by 20 g, the amount of liquid also changes in accordance with the season, in winter the amount of liquid is increased by another 20 g, not forgetting to focus on the structure of the dough. All in all, I added about 190g of milk when making the dough.

Sift flour and soda through a sieve into a bowl, add sugar and salt. Activate yeast in warm milk or, if yeast does not require preliminary activation, mix it with flour. Add milk and vegetable oil to the bowl.

Knead the dough into coarse crumbs using Chinese sticks or a spatula.

Gather the dough into a lump with your hands.

Transfer the dough to a work surface and continue kneading the dough with your hands for a couple of minutes. Next, leave the dough for 2-3 minutes.

Continue kneading the dough for 5-6 minutes. Traditional dough kneading technique:

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Round the dough and transfer it to a greased bowl, brush the surface of the dough with a little oil as well. Tighten the bowl with the dough with plastic foil and leave to ferment for an hour, until its volume approximately doubles.

Dough after fermentation and before kneading.

Transfer the dough from the bowl to the work surface and knead it very well for 1 minute, removing as much air as possible from the dough, which will give even and smooth sides and surface of the buns in the future. Then divide the dough into two equal parts, round each and leave for 10 minutes, covered with plastic.

Meanwhile, cut the parchment paper into small 5 x 7 cm rectangles.

And pour warm water into the steamer pan, no more than 45 ^aboutC, for proving buns.

Next, roll one of the pieces into a thin layer. Roll the layer into a roll. Seal the seam with your fingertips and, while smoothing the seam, lightly roll the roll over the work surface.

Cut the roll into equal pieces, about two fingers wide.

Dip the bottom of the TK in a small amount of vegetable oil and place it on parchment. Repeat all steps for the rest of the test.

Place the pot with TK on the main pot of the steamer with warm water, cover and leave to prove for 30-45 minutes.

At the end of the proofing, pour another 2 liters of water into the main pot of the steamer. Tie the lid of the steamer with a cotton or linen cloth:

, to prevent possible dripping on the surface of the buns. Steam the buns for 15 minutes after boiling the water, reducing the heat to medium. Turn off the heat and slightly sliding the lid to the side, leaving a small gap for steam to escape, leave the buns for another 3-5 minutes.

Remove the lid from the steamer and transfer the finished buns to a serving dish.

To prepare the golden buns, make two longitudinal cuts 2-3 mm deep on each bun with a knife or scissors.

Preheat a skillet with vegetable oil over low heat and brown the buns on all sides. Do not leave unattended, the buns roast very quickly. Alternatively, you can bake buns in the oven. Place the finished rolls on paper towels to remove excess oil.Next, alternating "gold" and "silver" buns, place them on a platter in the center of which, set a bowl of condensed milk and serve.

The steamed buns easily regain their shape after pressing them with the palm and have a soft texture.

The buns fried in oil combine softness with an incredibly crispy crust, slightly reminiscent of donuts. The taste is just the perfect combination of steamed bun and condensed milk.

Note

This dish belongs to the desserts in Chinese cuisine and is very popular among children and adults, despite its simplicity and unpretentiousness. Sometimes, you can find mentions that the dish also symbolizes a life in abundance, full of gold and silver, as well as the time of golden autumn with a bountiful harvest. However, the dish has no seasonality, it is prepared for New Years and National Day of China, and just like that in the everyday menu.
Interestingly, the automatic steamers for steaming bread are:

are not very popular. New methods and types of forming steamed bread and buns are more popular, and not only among ordinary people, the chef sets the tone. The shapes and patterns are incredibly diverse, from cartoon characters to shiitake mushrooms, in general, and I tried

, simple and quite exciting.

For "shiitake mushroom" you need a glaze, it is easy to prepare it, it is enough to mix a small amount of cocoa powder and water until a thick sauce resembles melted chocolate. Then round off the TK, apply the glaze with a silicone brush and leave to proof. After steaming in a hat in the center, make a cross-shaped incision with scissors and set the "leg", put on a dish on a slope, in rows.
For sculpting figurines, for example, "piglet", additional parts are attached to the main TK with a small amount of water, simply lubricating the surface with it at the required point, and dyes (for example, cocoa powder) are mixed with a small amount of water and dough until smooth.