Steamed Buns

The recipe (from here):

500 gm flour (super white flour or Pau flour)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp (6g) instant dry yeast
2 tbsp shorterning or vegetable oil
250 ml lukewarm water

Method :
1. Mix all the dry ingredients together (flour,baking powder,salt,sugar,yeast and shortening) in a bowl and then add in the water and mix well until it forms a dough.
2. Keep kneading the dough until it doesn't stick to your hands.
3. Divide the dough into two small doughs and knead again until the dough texture is smooth.
4. Leave the dough to rise double the size, covered with a wet cloth. (around 30mins - 1 hour)
5. When the dough has risen , punch the dough to let the air out. Knead the dough into small balls (half size of a baseball) and fill with your choice of fillings (e.g. red beans fillings,beef or chicken curry fillings,tuna).
6. Place a small piece of paper as a underlayer of each buns. (This is to prevent the buns from sticking to the steaming pot)
7. Leave all the buns to rise again for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile you can prepare the steaming pot.
8. Steam the buns for about 10 minutes , and ready to be served.

Guess which step I missed?

7. Leave all the buns to rise again for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile you can prepare the steaming pot.

Yup, that one. Smart, aren't I? The moment I'd done a batch, I hurried them into my steaming wok. Hurried them like they'd evaporate if I hesitated 2 seconds. Hurried like there's a deadline which if missed the world would cease to exist. I want to bang my head against the wall.


They look really UGLY, and aren't as fluffy as I remember they ought to be, but they are edible. Heck, they are more than edible - just not fluffy. Gah! I need to do this again next weekend!

14th June, 12:30am edit:
I consulted my bestfriend's husband, who has had some formal culinary training, on dough-rising matters. In addition to always include step 7 which I missed, he said, instead of punching the dough (step 5 of the recipe), I ought to press it gently, to rid it of the big air bubbles and preserve the tiny ones. Press it GENTLY. Not punch it all over. Definitely not karate punch it from every direction!