ChinesePork floss bread rolls (rousong mianbao)
Soft milk-bread buns spread with mayonnaise and rolled in fluffy pork floss
Every Chinese bakery, from Taipei to Guangzhou and the Chinese bakeries of Singapore, has a tray of pork floss buns, and they are a favourite thing for parents to buy at the school gate: pillowy milk bread with a sweet-savoury coat of mayonnaise and rousong, the dry, fluffy shredded pork. Children pick at the floss first. Home-baked, they make a weekend project and freeze well. They contain gluten (wheat), milk and egg. Chef's tip: let the buns cool completely before the mayonnaise goes on, or it melts and the floss turns soggy.
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Serves
- 8
- Per serving
- 280 kcal
Ingredients
For the milk bread
- 10 ½ oz strong white bread flour
- 1 oz caster sugar
- ⅛ oz instant yeast
- ⅛ oz salt
- ¾ cup milklukewarm
- 1 eggbeaten; half for the dough, half to glaze
- 1 oz unsalted buttersoftened
For the topping
- 4 tbsp mayonnaise
- 2 ⅛ oz pork floss (rousong)
- 1 spring onion (optional)finely sliced
Tick what you have; the rest goes in the basket.
Method
0/8 doneStep 1: Mix 10 ½ oz strong white bread flour, 1 oz caster sugar, ⅛ oz instant yeast and ⅛ oz salt in a large bowl. Add ¾ cup milk and half of ½ egg and bring together into a shaggy dough.
Step 2: Knead for 8 minutes, then work in 1 oz unsalted butter and knead 5–7 minutes more, until the dough is smooth, elastic and stretches thin enough to see light through without tearing.
15 minStep 3: Cover and leave in a warm place for about 1 hour, until doubled in size.
60 minStep 4: Knock back, divide into 8 and shape into tight ovals. Set on a lined tray, cover loosely and prove for 40 minutes, until puffy and a gentle poke springs back slowly.
40 minStep 5: Heat the oven to 350°F (325°F fan). Brush the buns with the rest of ½ egg and bake for 14–15 minutes, until deep golden and they sound hollow when tapped underneath.
15 minStep 6: Cool completely on a rack. Topping warm buns is the common mistake: the mayonnaise slides off and the floss goes limp.
30 minStep 7: Spread the top and sides of each bun thinly with 4 tbsp mayonnaise, then roll in 2 ⅛ oz pork floss (rousong), pressing gently so it sticks. Sprinkle with 1 spring onion.
Step 8: Eat the same day, or freeze the plain buns for up to a month and top after thawing. Topped buns need an ice pack in a lunchbox.
KrazyBadal
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