I’ve been wanting to try making cute character Chinese steamed bread buns for a long time. After recently watching Toy Story 4, I figured I’d give it a shot. My basic recipe for mantou (Chinese steamed buns) is perfect for just four buns and fits in one bamboo steamer. You could easily double this recipe, stuff the dough with filling to make bao, or adapt the instructions to make your own fun characters. See below for my mantou recipe, and then keep reading for photos and instructions on how to make the Toy Story Aliens!
Mantou is a yeast-risen, Chinese steamed white bread. Stuff it with fillings and shape it into a ball, and it becomes a bao. You might be familiar with char siu bao, which can be found at dim sum restaurants. The bread is usually soft and pillowy, with a hint of sweetness. It’s important to note that you’ll need a bamboo steamer and some parchment paper for this recipe. I place mine on top of a frying pan of simmering water, and it works great. For more Asian food information, don’t forget to check out my food glossary.
Here’s my basic recipe for mantou, but keep reading below for photos and instructions on sculpting the characters!
Chinese Steamed Bread (Mantou)
Equipment
- bamboo steamer
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup warm water
Instructions
- Dissolve yeast in water.
- Whisk flour, salt, and sugar, in a mixing bowl.
- Add yeast water to your dry ingredients and lightly mix by hand.
- Knead by hand or use a dough hook in a stand mixer (I use a dough hook because this dough is fairly wet) until dough can be stretched thin without breaking and its surface is shiny and slightly tacky (not goopy or sticky).
- Cover and let rise for 2 hours.
- When dough is done rising, divide into four portions. You can customize your buns with food coloring or fillings as needed depending on what type of bun you are making.
- Place each bun on a square of parchment paper and place in a bamboo steamer.
- Steam for 15 minutes.
Making Toy Story Alien Buns
Make the mantou dough through step 5. Once the dough is risen, move it onto a well floured surface and cut off roughly one fifth of the dough for the eyes. Color the rest of the dough green, using either food dye or natural food coloring. I didn’t have enough matcha on hand to naturally dye the dough, so I did some drops of green and yellow food coloring.
Knead the dough until the color is evenly incorporated, adding flour as necessary if it gets sticky. Divide the green dough into four parts. Cut off three small triangles from each part for the ears and alien antenna, and shape the remaining lump into a bun. I had no problem just pressing the ears onto the buns, but if they won’t stick, dab a little bit of water onto the bun as glue.
Cut off small sections of the white dough for eyes. I didn’t feel like rolling out and using cookie cutters to get perfect circles (but you can if you want). Instead, I just rolled each eye into a small ball and then flattened it onto the buns.
Lastly, I used some black food coloring to dye a very small portion of the leftover dough. I rolled tiny balls for the pupils. Then, I rolled the dough flat and thin and sliced long strips for the alien smiles. I finished off any leftover black dough by making little “o” shapes for open mouths.
Steam and Eat!
Place each bun onto a square of parchment paper so they won’t stick to the steamer. Place in the bamboo steamer, cover it, and steam for 15 minutes. When they’re done, they’ll have almost doubled in size!
That’s it! Have fun with this recipe, adapt it for different characters, and get creative. Maybe I could make yoda ones for Star Wars? If you make something else with this recipe, send me a picture!