The Ultimate Guide to Making Perfect Mantou (Chinese Steamed Buns)

If perfection had a bread/bun form, it would have to be these soft, fluffy, chewy and aromatic milk mantous. I've made dozens of mantous to develop this detailed guide full of tips and tricks for how you can create them yourself.

Mantou is something I grew up eating. Whenever my grandparents visited us, they would bring us a big bag of mantou, and we will eat that as breakfast sandwiching different things like egg, pork floss, braised beef, sausages, or even cheese.

I've been trying to make it in the past few years, and it's a lot more difficult than I thought. My mantou usually came out wrinkly, deflated or doughy (would stick on my teeth when eating). After lots and lots of experimentation, I finally developed this recipe that I'm very satisfied with. Therefore, I hope you all can try this out as a guide to create the perfect mantou at home.

Why You Should Try This Recipe?

• You will learn how to make delicious mantou with a perfectly smooth surface.
• This recipe provides step by step pictures with easy to follow instructions.
• Mantou freezes and reheats well, you can always make more and enjoy later.
• I include secrets and tips learned from others as well as from my own experimentation. If you've struggled with getting the perfect mantou, these tips may get you there!

Ingredients You'll Need

Step by Step Instructions

Step 1 - Make the Sponge the Day Before

Mix milk, water, sugar, yeast and 100g of flour and stir until smooth. Cover and let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before storing in the fridge for 8 - 24 hours. This overnight sponge is the secret of making better tasting mantou.

The liquid should be similar to your body temperature, I usually mix hot water into cold milk and the temperature will be just right.

Step 2 - Make the Dough

Method 1 - Using a stand mixer (preferred method)

Add baking powder and oil into the sponge and mix well before pouring into a stand mixer. Add the rest of the flour (reserve around 40g) and knead at around the medium low setting for 8 minutes. When the dough is done kneading, it should be sticky and stretchy.

Transfer the dough onto a working surface, hand knead the reserved flour into the dough (you can do it in 2-3 batches) and knead until the flour is all incorporated. The dough should be firm and the surface should feel a bit moist when you touch it. It doesn't need to be very smooth.

Method 2 - Knead the dough by hands

Add baking powder and oil into the sponge and mix well before adding the rest of the flour. Mix them all together until the liquid is absorbed before transferring onto a sturdy working surface. Form the mixture into a dough ball and knead for 5 minutes. Cover the dough to rest for 5 minutes and then knead for another 5-7 minutes.

To knead the dough, push/smear the dough downwards and away from you with the heel of your palm before rolling it back in (see picture below for reference).

Step 3 - Shaping Mantou

Method 1 - Using pasta maker (faster and yields a smoother surface)

Cut the dough into half and cover the part you are not working on. Flatten the dough with a rolling pin so it can fit through the pasta maker. Set the pasta maker to a thickness setting of 1 and roll the dough through it.

Fold the dough in half, roll it through the pasta maker again and repeat this step about 6-7 more times until you get a smooth surface. Flour the dough whenever it gets moist so it's easier to pass through the pasta maker.

Brush the surface of the dough with a bit of water, roll it up tightly into a log beginning from the straighter edge. Roll the log a few more times to make it a little bit longer or until it reaches your desired width.

Trim the two ends and cut the log into 4-5 pieces, reserve a little piece of dough (about the size of a cherry) to be the "rise time indicator". If and when the cutting flattens the dough pieces, shape the flattened edges back to their original height. Place each piece of dough on a piece of parchment paper. Repeat the same steps with the rest of the dough that was laid aside earlier.

I highly recommend using a pasta maker to shape mantou, it's so easy and fast, and the result is amazing. I have a Marcato Atlas 150 that works very well. And you can use it to make delicious homemade noodles.

Method 2 - Rolling with hands

Reserve a little piece of dough (about the size of a cherry) to be the "rise time indicator" (This will be explained in the next section) and divide the rest into 8-10 pieces.

Take one piece of dough while covering the rest to prevent them from drying. Roll the dough into a log before folding it back (like step 2 in the picture below) and roll it out again. Repeat this 3-4 times. This step is to eliminate the air bubbles, so you need to roll it harder to squeeze the bubbles out.

Drip a drop of water onto your surface and place the dough on the drop of water. Form a loose cup with your hand, cup the dough and roll it in a circular motion over your work surface in order to form it into a ball. Place the dough between your two open palms and move one hand forward while moving the other hand back in order to shape the dough to be a bit taller.

Step 4 - Proofing

Place the mantou in your steamer. Fill a pot with 2 cups of water. Heat it up until it's warm to touch but not steaming (around 105°F/40°C) before placing the bamboo steamer on top of the pot to proof.

The proofing time usually ranges from 30 - 50 minutes. If you have a two layer steamer, switch half way as the bottom layer is a bit warmer than the top layer.

The best way to tell if the buns are ready to be steamed is to put a small piece of dough (the "rise time indicator" mentioned earlier) in a small cup, like a cough syrup cup, draw a line on the outside of the cup to indicate the height of that piece of dough and place it in the bamboo steamer with your mantous. That dough-in-a-cup will help you see exactly when the dough doubles in size.

Another way to tell if it's ready is when you gently squeeze the side of the mantou, the texture will feel like that of a marshmallow and the dent will slowly bounce back after you squeeze it. However, I still found that using the dough-in-a-cup method is more accurate.

Step 5 - Steaming

Turn the heat to medium and bring the water to a boil (no need to replace the water or remove the steamer). When the water is boiling, reduce the heat to medium low and steam for 18 minutes if your steamer has two layers (and 15 minutes steamers with one layer). Ideally, the heat is just high enough that wisps of steam are coming out from one part of the steamer. If steam is rushing out from all sides, then your heat is too high.

Once it's done steaming, turn off the heat and remove the steamer from the pot, open a tiny crack for 2 minutes to let the heat escape slowly before removing the lid.

Tips and Tricks

• If you prefer to make it in one day, let the sponge sit in room temperature for 30-60 minutes. If your room temperature is high, chill the sponge in the fridge for 30 minutes before using.
• Baking powder makes the mantou fluffier and whiter, if you prefer your mantou to have more of a bite then just omit the baking powder. Don't replace it with baking soda.
• Some stand mixers or bread machines can handle firm dough (like in this case) better. In these cases, you can add in the flour all at once and knead for 8-10 minutes instead of incorporating the last portion of flour by hand-kneading.
• When shaping the mantou, try to do it as fast as you can, so the dough won't start rising and create air bubbles, as that would result in a wrinkly surface after steaming.
• If you are shaping mantou with hands instead of using a pasta maker, you can store the part of the dough you are not working with in the fridge (covered) to prevent the dough from beginning to rise and creating air bubbles.
• Depending on the flour you use and the humidity in your home, you will need to slightly adjust the ratio of flour and liquid. The dough should be firm but the surface should feel a bit moist when you touch it.
• If you are using a stainless steal steamer, wrap the lid with a cloth, otherwise the water droplets might drip onto the surface of the mantou and create a bumpy and rubbery surface.
• Make sure there's no gap between the steamer and the pot, and the diameter of your pot is either same or slightly wider than your steamer.
• Mantou taste the best when it's warm. To heat up, simply steam for 5 minutes (or 10 minutes from frozen) and it will taste just as good as when it's fresh. You can do this in a vegetable steamer or an instant pot.

Recipe FAQs

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