Man tou
Man tou or mantou (饅頭) are the steamed buns that are served in Northern Chinese cuisine.
They are made with wheat flour. They are white in color and soft and fluffy in texture, being much less dense than baked breads. Being steamed, they are easily resurrected when cold by re-steaming. They are often sold pre-cooked in the frozen section of Asian supermarkets. The consumer would either steam them or use the microwave oven to prepare the frozen buns. When cooked with a filling, it is known as a bau (飽), such as the well-known char siu bau (义燒飽, cha shao bao), a bun with barbeque-flavoured pork meat. Also known as Manapua. Man tou and wheat noodles are the staple carbohydrates of the Northern Chinese diet. (Northern Chinese do not consume rice as the major source of carbohydrate as the southerners do.)
Recipe outline
Consult a cookbook for more detailed instructions to make man tou.Add 3 cups of wheat flour to one package of dry yeast. Slowly pour in lukewarm water into the mixture. Mix everything and knead it into a dough. The dough should not stick the hand nor should it be flaky. Cover the dough with wet towel and let it set for several hours until it rises up. Knead the dough again.Cut the dough into bun size. Steam the buns for 15 minutes or so.
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