Custard Buns

custard bun 奶皇包 and open half with custard filling

Chinese steamed custard bun (奶皇包) is a type of baozi, bun or bread. Custard bun is one of the dim sum items you can find at Chinese dim sum restaurants. Often, custard buns are eaten for breakfast or as a snack.

Course Appetizer, Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine Chinese

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 15

Total Time 35

Servings

Calories 167kcal

Author Tracy O.

Ingredients

(BREAD DOUGH) BUN:

2 cups All purpose flour
1 cup Milk
2 teaspoons Yeast
2 teaspoons Sugar
⅛ teaspoon Salt

FILLING:

1 tablespoon Custard powder
¼ cup Corn starch
½ cup & 2 tablespoons Milk
2 tablespoons Butter
½ cup sugar
1 egg
***(Double the filling if you like more filling)

Instructions

Put 1 cup of milk (at room temperature or warm them a little bit in a microwave, not too hot, just a little warm), 2 teaspoons of sugar, 2 teaspoons of yeast into a Bosch mixer bowl, mix a little bit and wait for 5 minutes.
In the meanwhile, add ⅛ teaspoon of salt and 2 cups of all purpose flour in a bowl and mix it well.
After that, turn on #1 the lowest setting. Slowly add the flour mixture from step 2 into the mixer until the dough comes together. Then, turn on #3 middle high setting. Let the mixer run for 5 minutes.
Next, take the dough out and cover the dough with a wet cloth. Let it rise around 30-45 minutes at room temperature. (My trick to speed up dough rising time is to preheat the oven at 200F then turn off. After that, put the dough in the oven and cover with a wet cloth for 15-20 minutes.)
While waiting for the dough to rise, let's work on the filing. I love more filling, so I double up the filling ingredients. Pour 1 cup & 4 tablespoons of milk, 4 tablespoons of butter, 2 eggs, 1 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons of custard powder and ½ cup of cornstarch into a saucepan.
Whisk and mix it very well.
Then, turn on the fire small to medium and keep stirring it.
Until it thickens and let it cool down a little bit.
At the same time, cut 12 pieces of parchment paper into square or rectangle shape.
Divide custard filling into 12 pieces, roll it like a ball.
After the dough rises it doubles.
Divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll it like a ball.
Roll the bread dough and flatten it by using a rolling pin. (The sides are thinner, the middle is thicker.)
Place the filling in the middle of the flattened bread dough.
Close it and roll it like a ball. After that, place the buns on the parchment papers. Cover with a damp cloth. Let it rise for 15-20 minutes.
After that, place the buns into a bamboo steamer.
Steam it for 15 minutes.

Video

Notes

Cooking tips for how to make Chinese steamed custard buns:

Put milk, sugar, yeast in a mixer and mix a little bit then wait for 5 minutes. After that, add salt and flour slowly into the mixer. Let the mixer run for 5-10 minutes.
Take the dough out and cover the dough with a wet cloth. Let it rise around 30-45 minutes at room temperature. My trick to speed up dough rising time is to preheat the oven at 200F then turn off. After that, put the dough in the oven and cover with a wet cloth.
In a saucepan put milk, butter, egg, sugar, custard powder and cornstarch into a saucepan and mix it well. Then, turn on the fire small to medium and keep stirring until it thickens. Wait until it cools off then roll like a ball.
In this steamed custard bun recipe, I doubled the filling because I love more custard filling in the buns. Therefore, it yields around 12 smaller or 10 bigger nai wong bao.
Cut a small piece of parchment paper and place the buns on it to prevent sticking on the bamboo basket and steam it.

Nutrition