Deep fried pineapple pizza baozi
Chinese Cooking Demystified · ♥ 6.6K likes · 171.3K views · 13 min video
Timestamp
Ingredients
Method
Techniques
- 200 g all-purpose flour
- 2 g salt
- 8 g sugar
- 2 g instant yeast
- 80 g milk
Put 200 g all-purpose flour in a bowl with 2 g salt, 8 g sugar on one side and 2 g instant yeast on the other, then 80 g milk roughly mixed into the sugar side and 28 g water into the yeast side.
- 28 g water
Mix it all together with a chopstick until shaggy, then knead in the bowl one to two minutes to a rough ball.
Knead five to six minutes on the work surface by smearing the dough away, rolling it up and repeating, which develops the gluten more efficiently.
Pinch the seam closed, set it seam side down and twist to smooth it, then ferment in a bowl until doubled, about one hour in a tropical climate.
Punch a hole in the centre, form a ring, tear it in half and in half again for eight pieces, refined on the scale to 40 g each.
Flatten each piece, pull the edges to the centre, squeeze it closed and roll the seam against the surface into a smooth ball.
Flatten by hand, then with a rolling pin gently roll in and press out so the centre stays slightly thicker than the edges, to about a 12 centimetre wrapper.
- 1 whole tomato
Skewer a large tomato on a chopstick and grill it over a medium flame to de-skin it, then core, seed and finely dice it.
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 cloves garlic
In a pot over a medium flame, heat one tablespoon of oil and fry a large clove's worth of minced garlic about one minute until fragrant.
- ½ tbsp liaojiu
- ½ tbsp soy sauce
Add the minced tomato, mix, and after about another minute add half a tablespoon of liaojiu and half a tablespoon of soy sauce.
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp sugar
- 0.125 tsp MSG
Add a quarter teaspoon each of salt and sugar and reduce three or four minutes until little obvious liquid remains.
- ½ tsp cornstarch
- ½ tbsp water
- white pepper powder
- ¼ tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 cube low-moisture mozzarella
- processed shredded mozzarella
Add an eighth teaspoon of MSG and thicken with a slurry of half a teaspoon cornstarch in half a tablespoon of water, then finish with a sprinkle of white pepper powder and a quarter teaspoon of toasted sesame oil.
- 1 tsp tomato sauce
- 1 tbsp shredded cheese
- 1 tbsp diced ham
- 1 tbsp diced pineapple
On each wrapper put one teaspoon of the tomato sauce, about a tablespoon of shredded cheese, a cube of the real cheese, a tablespoon of diced ham and a tablespoon of diced pineapple.
Filling and pleating the bao
Pleat the baozi around, pressing the filling down gently, pinch closed at the end and fold any extra dough over into a new top.
- 1 tsp Kewpie Mayo
Variation: for half of them, swap the tomato sauce for about one teaspoon of Kewpie Mayo, taking inspiration from Japanese bakeries.
The Kewpie mayo variation
Put each bao in a bamboo steamer and give them a final proof over water, 35 centigrade preferably, for 15 minutes, or until the dough slowly bounces back when poked.
Bring a pot of water to a rapid boil, set the bamboo steamer on, lower to medium high and steam eight minutes.
- 2 inches oil
Shut off the heat and leave them in the steamer one to two minutes to avoid a rapid temperature change, then remove.
Once cooled to the touch, heat the oil to 185 centigrade, drop the baozi in topside down and brown 35 to 40 seconds.
Flip and fry the other side the same 35 to 40 seconds until evenly golden brown, then drain on a paper towel-lined plate, skipping any bao that leaked.