Now let’s cook
Bao. Same bun, new tenant from the kazan: lamb braised the way sirne is, three hours in its own juices and not a drop of water.
Ingredients
- 525 g plain wheat flourwhite wheat flour, called all-purpose in the US
- 1½ tbsp sugarwhite granulated sugar
- 1 tsp dry yeastbaker’s yeast, dried
- 215 ml waterplain drinking water
- 50 ml milkcow’s milk, which goes into the dough together with the water
- 2 tbsp sunflower oila neutral-tasting oil
- 1 tsp baking powdera raising agent for dough
- 43 g fine saltordinary table salt
- 1400 g lambboneless lamb from the neck or the breast
- 100 g lamb tail fatfrom the tail of fat-tailed sheep: it lines the bottom of the cold kazan, and the meat braises on it (caul fat can be used instead)
- 440 g onionyellow onion, cut into half-rings
- 70 g parsleyfresh parsley, chopped finely and mixed with the onion (coriander leaves work too)
- 363.2 g white cabbagea head of white cabbage, separated into whole leaves that cover the vegetables like a lid
- 6 g allspice berrieswhole dried allspice berries
- 2 bay leavesa dried bay leaf
- 1.2 g ground black peppersprinkled over the meat with the salt
Method
Stir the yeast and a pinch of the sugar into a tablespoon of warm water until dissolved. In a large bowl, combine the flour, the rest of the sugar, the baking powder and 3 g of salt. Pour in the yeast mixture, the milk, 1 tbsp of the oil and 200 ml of water and bring everything together into a dough. If it feels dry, add a little more water.
Turn the dough out onto a floured worktop and knead for 10–15 minutes, until it is smooth. Transfer it to an oiled bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave it for 2 hours to double in size.
While the dough rises, start on the meat. Peel the onions and slice them into half-rings. Wash and dry the parsley, chop it finely and toss it with the onion.
Cut the lamb into large pieces. Keep back a pinch of the 40 g of salt for the onion, then rub the rest into the meat with the black pepper so that every piece gets its share.
Separate the cabbage into leaves. Lay thin slices of tail fat over the bottom of a cold kazan, then add the lamb, the allspice and 2 bay leaves. Spread the onion and parsley over the meat and sprinkle it with the pinch of salt you kept back. Cover everything with cabbage leaves so that no gaps remain, press down lightly with your hands and close the kazan tightly with its lid. Do not add water.
Set the kazan over a high heat. Once the meat at the bottom starts to sizzle, turn the heat down as low as it goes. Braise the lamb for 3–4 hours, until soft: young lamb needs 3 hours, older lamb 4. The thickest part of a piece should reach at least 63 °C.
Knock back the risen dough and roll it into a log about 3 cm thick. Cut the log into 18 pieces, shape each into a ball and let them rest for 2–3 minutes. Roll the balls out into ovals 3–4 mm thick and brush them with oil. Lay an oiled chopstick across each oval, fold the dough in half over it and gently slide the chopstick out.
Sit each bun on its own square of baking paper and move them to a tray. Cover with a tea towel and leave somewhere warm for 1 hour 30 minutes, until the buns have doubled.
Bring the steamer up to a medium-high heat and steam the buns for 8 minutes, until puffy. They will not all fit at once, so work in batches.
Lift the lamb out of the kazan, pick out the bay leaves and the allspice berries and pull the meat into pieces. Mix it with the braised onion and a spoonful of the juices from the kazan. Open each bun, lay a piece of cabbage leaf inside and the lamb on top. Serve warm.
