Steamed Buns - A Triumph

Our apartment was situated above a cafe, which was cute, at first. I'd come home from work after the cafe was closed, see one man in the kitchen singing away to the radio while he worked, and smell...bread. Oh, it was glorious, tauntingly glorious. I wanted it. I wanted the homemade bread, like my mom used to make. The best part of bread-making is the smell, when you have yeast combining with gluten. As you knead, the gluten links arms with its fellow gluteneers, becoming the stretchy dough. The yeast feeds on the sugars and releases carbon dioxide, which gets trapped in mini gluten hot air balloons, causing the dough to rise. So yes, one of my favorite smells in this world is yeast farts.
My mom had one of those electronic bread makers, where you prove it and bake it in the machine, and then a tall cube of perfectly golden bread comes tumbling out of the grey bucket. She'd slice it thick, still steaming hot, and slather margarine all over it. We'd eat it with soup, chicken n' dumplings, or spaghetti with grandpa's homemade sauce recipe. I shiver with delight remembering these country meals, and there'd be times in the city where I was desperate for those warm comfort foods.

Impossible, I thought, I can never make bread without a proper oven! And I am not in possession of one of these bread makers, because that machine is huge. So I was in a dilemma. Until the day I discovered you can STEAM DOUGH TO MAKE BREAD.
Okay, this recipe is about to blow your bread yeasts' minds. This is a way to make bread on an electric burner. It is so easy.

Here are some materials you need:

• Aluminum foil pie plates
• Dish cloths/towels
• Parchment paper (optional)
• 2 C Flour (560g)
• 1 3/4 tsp Instant Yeast (5.5g)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 Tbsp + 1/2 tsp Sugar (15g)
• 1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil (15g)
• 1/2 C cold milk (160g)

Mix the flour, yeast, salt, baking powder, sugar, vegetable oil, and milk together in a bowl. Mix the ingredients until it all comes together into a dough. Knead the dough by hand for about 10 minutes or until it becomes super smooth. Roll into a ball. Place the ball in a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let it prove until it's doubled in size (about 2 hours). 

Take the dough out of the bowl, and using a knife, cut the dough in quarters, and divide those pieces into thirds. I know that sounds ridiculous, and most of the time my buns are never the same size, but it's saved me time. You could also roll the dough into a hot dog shape and then divide the dough evenly into a dozen even portions. Whichever way you choose to divy them up, roll each portion until it is in a ball shape and tuck any uneven portions under the ball, so when it sits, it can hide its imperfections. Because that's what we do. 

If you have parchment paper, get it out now. Cut the parchment into small squares to rest your buns on. Not your human buns, sicko. Let the balls of dough rest on the pieces of parchment, covered with the damp towels for another 30 minutes to rise. If you do not have parchment paper, make sure to follow the next set of instructions first before resting your buns. Now comes the edgy part. 

Normally, you'd steam in a steaming basket, but I personally did not have room for this extra gadget in my lil' apartment. So I made a steaming basket with aluminum foil pie plates! I pierced the bottom of the foil multiple times to allow steam to rise through the openings. If you can find anything heat-proof with little holes in it that will sit flat, you got yourself a steamer. If you were one of those peeps without parchment paper, you'll want to prove your buns directly in the pie plates because you will not want to disrupt their perfect shape after they've poofed up. Just place the buns distanced apart on the foil and place a nice blankie over them.   

Fill a pot about halfway with water and start to boil. Place your buns (still on the parchment paper) in the pie plate, spaced apart for room to grow. Place the pie plate on top of the boiling water pot (it should rest on top, not touching the water below). Find a lid big enough to fit on top of the pie plate without squishing the delicate buns. 

Below is a demonstration of my set-up:

Steam the buns for about 10 minutes with no interruptions. When they are done, remove the lid quickly so the condensation does not drop onto the bread. That's it! These bread rolls are super soft, are responsibly proportioned (we need to keep up our city figures), and keep very well at room temperature. I feel like we accomplished something great today out of our lil' kitchen. A triumph, truly, and a slight taste of home.