Tau Sar Bao and Matcha Anpan

Name: Tau Sar Bao
Prep time: 150 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 162 min
Ingredients: 1¼ cups red bean paste ((300g)); Red food coloring ((optional)); 2¼ cups bao flour (or all-purpose flour (300g)); 2 tbsp sugar ((28g)); ¼ tsp salt; 1½ tsp baking powder; 1½ tsp active dry yeast; 2/3 cup warm low fat milk ((about 110˚F / 43˚C) (160ml)); 1 tbsp vegetable oil

By: 👩‍🦳 Linda · Published: 🖨 July 17, 2011 · Updated: 💻October 3, 2017 · 🗨 49 Comments

Recipe ▼

Soft, white Tau Sar Bao with red bean paste filling makes a delicious breakfast or snack. Add some powdered green tea to make Matcha Anpan.

Tau Sar Bao or steamed red bean paste bun is very popular in East Asia as well as among the Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. These simple yet delicious buns are a common dim sum offering and they are eaten throughout the day. In Malaysia, steamed buns can be easily found in the coffee shops. I used to eat two Tau Sar Baos for a quick, delicious, and satisfying breakfast. Most days, I prefer them over the Char Siew Bao (barbecued pork buns).

I do make bao occasionally, using all-purpose flour but have not been satisfied with the results. Baos made with all-purpose flour which has a higher gluten content, are not as white and soft as I would like them to be. Unfortunately, low gluten bao or Hongkong flour is not found in my part of the US. Last summer during my visit to Malaysia, I decided to lug two kilograms of bao flour home. You would have thought that I would get to work as soon as I got home but somehow I never got round to it until this weekend. I kept the flour sitting in the fridge.

I am glad to say that lugging the two kilograms of bao flour half way round the world was worth it. These baos met my expectations. They were soft, light, and very fine textured. The color of the baos were white as snow! 🙂

Steamed savory buns are gathered at the top while sweet buns have a rounded surface. Tau Sar Bao is often marked with a red dot to distinguish it from other types of sweet buns.

To simplify the work, I used canned red bean paste. All I had to do was to concentrate on the dough which was not difficult. It just needed a little elbow grease but you can let your stand mixer do the kneading if you prefer.

Update: September 15, 2016 – If you prefer to make your own red bean paste, please check out my recipe here.

5 from 6 votes

Tau Sar Bao

Soft, white Tau Sar Bao with red bean paste filling makes a delicious breakfast or snack. Add some powdered green tea to make Matcha Anpan.

Author : Linda Ooi

Course : Snack

Cuisine : Chinese

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Prep Time 2 hrs 30 mins

Cook Time 12 mins

Total Time 2 hrs 42 mins

Servings : 10

Calories : 175kcal

Ingredients

1¼ cups red bean paste (300g)
Red food coloring (optional)

Dough

2¼ cups bao flour or all-purpose flour (300g)
2 tbsp sugar (28g)
¼ tsp salt
1½ tsp baking powder
1½ tsp active dry yeast
2/3 cup warm low fat milk (about 110˚F / 43˚C) (160ml)
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Instructions

Sift flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle. Fill well with warm low fat milk and yeast. Gently stir the water with a spatula to dissolve the yeast.
Then mix to form a soft dough. With clean hands, knead dough in the bowl for about 5 minutes. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Add vegetable oil and knead to get oil incorporated into dough. Remove from bowl and continue to knead on a flat surface for another 8 to 10 minutes until dough is nice and smooth.
Put dough back into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise in a warm place for 1 to 1½ hours or until double in size.
Prepare 10 pieces of 2x2 inch wax paper on a large platter.
When dough is ready, remove from bowl. Gently punch down and divide into 10 equal portions. Form into balls and flatten into disks of about 3 inches in diameter. Add a rounded tablespoon of red bean paste in the middle of dough. Gather up the sides to seal.
Place seam side down onto wax paper. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover with plastic wrap and allow prepared buns to rise for another 15 minutes.
Prepare a steamer and allow water to come to a boil. Mark buns with a red dot using a toothpick dipped in red food coloring, if desired.
Place buns in steamer, place lid on, and steam for 12 minutes. Remove lid carefully to avoid water from dripping onto buns.
Serve immediately.

Notes

Leftover steamed buns may be kept in the freezer. When required, re-steam frozen buns for 8 to 10 minutes.

Nutrition

Calories: 175kcal

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We had a guest over for lunch this weekend and not wanting to turn on the oven, I decided to make some steamed buns instead. It was time to use some of the flour. I started with the Tau Sar Bao and while I was at it, I decided to recreate the Matcha Anpan I ate in Kamakura, Japan some years back. I made a second batch by infusing the dough with matcha which gave the buns a really nice color.