Steamed Buns (Bánh Bao)

These steamed rolls were amazing.  They were the closest to the ones we had so many times in Vietnam when we were living there.  The motorcyclists would drive them around with a hot stove attached and would steam them as they go and you could hear them yell out "bánh bao đây", sometimes late into the night and by that I mean midnight because Vietnam doesn't sleep.   They tasted so fresh and better than any bakery steamed rolls.  Our kids lived off  of this and that's what makes them like Vietnam when they first got there.

Ingredients for filling: (Some people like a lot of filling and some like less fillings but here is my rough estimate)
*1/2 cup (woodear mushrooms or any of your favorite)
*1 dozen boiled quail eggs (or chicken eggs cut in half)
*1 lbs ground pork 
*1 clove garlic
*1/4 onions
*2 tsp mushroom seasoning salt (or seasoning salt of your choice)
*A dash of salt and pepper

For the dough:

 * 1 1/4 tsp instant yeast
 * 3 tsp sugar 
 * 1 Tbsp cooking oil
 *1/2 cup  to 3/4 cup of milk 
 *  3 cups of cake flour, plus more for dusting.
 *  1/4 tsp salt 

For every 1 cup of plain flour add 2 Tbsp of cornstarch or use cake flour. This will help to soften the steamed buns compared to just using all plain flour. 

* Mix the first 4 ingredients and then the last 2.  Lots of kneading here. If you have a stand mixer, make it knead the dough for you!!!
 
Shape into a ball and the flatten to make a nice circle.  Divide the dough into 10-12 equal portion (depends on how small or big you want the steamed buns to be) 

 *Add filling  in the middle and wrap up and seal the top with a twist. Pull and tuck the dough from bottom to the top.  Could also smooth it for a rounder look.

Let the dough rise at room temperature or simply turn on your oven to lowest temperature and then turn off and after 15 minutes, place the shaped buns in there to let them proof until about 50% of original size.

Steam over medium-high heat.
Leaving about 1-inch space in between and steam on LOW heat for 10 minutes for medium buns, 15 minutes for larger buns.  Buns are done when they are fluffy and the fillings are cooked.