Chinese plain steam buns or Mantou (馒头) are one of my favourite type of bread. This dish is fun to make and can easily be changed into a vegan recipe to suit varied dietary requirements. Like the light of the haunting Halloween spirit (excuse the puns), here is how to make some cute and spooky buns.
When I think of Halloween, the first two things that pop into my head are ghosts and Jack-o’-Lanterns. Many of you will know from my travel story about the abandoned Japanese hotel; I’m not great with horror. With this in mind, my Halloween buns will lean more towards the cute side. For the ghost, I will make something similar to the well-used emoji ghost. For our Jack-o’Latern, I will be making a fat little pumpkin with eyes and an evil smile.
The bun making process is a bit like doing arts and craft with playdough. We will be making the dough from scratch; please factor in a few hours for the dough to rise when making these buns. I usually start making the dough before breakfast, so I will be able to make buns for lunch. My recipes all up should give you eight large buns, but if you divide them smaller, you will be able to get sixteen small ones.
Ghost Buns
This bun uses my basic mantou recipe. On top of the basic recipe, we will need either black gel food colouring, cocoa powder or edible charcoal powder to make the eyes and mouth. Alternatively, for the eyes, a lazy way out is using black sesame seeds. If I have it on hand, charcoal powder or cocoa powder is my go-to choice as I like my recipes to remain as natural and organic as possible. Here is how to make our little ghosts:
You will need:
- 300g plain flour
- 3g instant yeast
- 80g lukewarm water
- 80g lukewarm milk (vegan alternative: lukewarm water)
- 50g granulated sugar (set aside 1 teaspoon)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- A couple of drops of black gel food colouring or around a teaspoon of charcoal/cocoa powder
Making the ghost dough:
- Combine water and milk in a small bowl. Make sure combined liquid is lukewarm or slightly cooler in temperature. Too much heat will kill yeasts, and your dough will not rise. (See above image for reference)
- Add in 1 teaspoon of sugar and yeast then stir until sugar has dissolved. Set aside until small air bubbles start to form on the surface. Bubbles are a sign the yeast is ready.
- In a separate large bowl, mix flour, remaining sugar and salt.
- Add in wet yeast mixture to the dry ingredients while gently stirring with spatular or chopsticks. Mix until there is no liquid visible and the flour has formed stringy clumps. (See above image for reference)
- Use hands to knead flour mixture until it forms a smooth and soft dough with no visible dry flour in your bowls. The dough will be sticky at the beginning. You will know the dough is ready when your hands and the bowl are clean, and the dough no longer sticks to your hands. It’s ok for the dough not to be completely smooth as long as the dough has no visible dry flour clumps. (See above image for reference)
- Leave dough inside the bowl to rest and cover the bowl with a damp tea towel or cling wrap.
- Let dough rise for about 2 hours. Your kitchen’s temperature will affect the speed of which the dough will rise. If you wish to speed up the process, put your bowl in a warm water bath using either a larger bowl or the kitchen sink. Make sure the water isn’t hot or boiling, or you will cook your dough instead of rising it. The dough should double in size.
- Check if the dough is done fermenting by poking a hole in the dough. If the hole keeps its shape, then the dough is ready for the next step. If the hole bounces back or collapse, then you need to wait a little longer. Do not over ferment the dough, or you will need a longer time to get the air out.
- Dust some flour onto the work surface to prevent the dough from sticking and take out your fermented dough. Forcefully re-knead the dough until the surface is smooth again.
- Roll dough into a log and cut off both ends to square up the roll. We will be using the end portions to make facial features. Whilst we do not require a lot of dough for this, please make sure you have enough for the number of ghosts you want to make. (See above image for reference)
- Divide remaining log into any sized you want as long as they are even. I split mine into four.
Shaping the Ghost Buns:
- Take out one portion and divide it into thirds with one third smaller than the two others. Cover the rest (including the cut off ends) with a damp tea towel or cling wrap to prevent dough from drying out. (See above image for reference)
- Roll up each dough into a ball by tucking the outer edges into the centre about 15 – 20 times and then rolling it between your palms.
- Use a brush of water to stick the smaller sphere on top of one of the other spheres (like stacking a snowman).
- Using a rolling pin, flatten and roll your remaining dough sphere into a flat round wrapper. Make sure it’s big enough to cover the stacked spheres. (See above image for reference)
- Brush a thin layer of water over the stacked spheres and drape round wrapper over the stacked spheres until it covers the snowman like figure. (See above image for reference)
- To make the garment drape and fold creases on your ghost, use your fingers to brush gently down into the bottom of the wrapper. Lightly pinch the bottom of the wrapper to make the folds stay. (See above image for reference)
- Repeat steps 12 to 17 until all your portions (except the ends) are made into figurines. Make sure to cover each one back up with a damp tea towel or cling wrap to prevent dough drying.
- Take out the cut of off dough ends and add a teaspoon of charcoal or cocoa powder to the dough. Knead until the powder is mixed evenly into the dough (the colour should be evenly distributed) and the surface is smooth. If the colouring isn’t dark enough, add more until you reach the desired darkness. You may find the dough becomes dry, starts to crack or is not taking in the powder. If this is the case, add a few drops of water will help. Make sure not to put too much water or the dough will be sticky. If you are using black gel icing, your dough will get sticky and lumpy. Add a little flour to smooth it out.
- Roll with your fingers the black dough into a long thin thread. The thickness should be approximately 1-2mm.
- Brush a light layer of water onto the ghost figure at where you want the facial features. Trim black dough thread to the desired length needed to make eyes and mouth. Paste dough thread in on in the shape you want for the facial emotion and gently press in to help it stay. I find using a toothpick or ends of chopsticks helpful when trying to put on the finer things.
- Cut a piece of baking paper into a shape that is 1cm wider than the bottom of your ghost. Place your ghost onto it and then put both into your bamboo steamer or steaming plate. The paper will stop the bun from sticking to the container. Make sure to leave a big enough gap between each figure as they expand during steaming.
- Place boiling water into your steamer or pot and steam buns for 15 minutes. If you are not using a bamboo steamer, make sure to tie a tea towel around the lid of your pot. The towel will catch any water drops and prevent it from dripping onto the buns.
- Once buns are done steaming for 15 minutes, turn off your steamer or stove and let buns rest in the steamer/pan for 5 minutes. Do not open the lid during this process as you will collapse or wrinkle your buns!
- After 5 minutes of resting time open a small gap in the led or steamer and release the steam. Once the first wave of steam of totally gone, you can then open the lid. This slow-release will help make sure your buns adapt to the lower room temperature and ensure it stays smooth and in shape. Be careful not to get burnt by the hot steam.
Jack-O’-Lantern Buns
My Jack-O’-Lantern is a variation of the Ghost buns. This time for colouring, I used mashed pumpkin. This way, the pumpkin buns will taste and smell like pumpkin. When experimenting with this recipe, I found different pumpkins will hold a varied amount of moisture. This means the amount of flour needed to make the dough will vary each time. Here’s how to make the Jack-O’-Lanterns:
What you need:
- 145g mashed pumpkin
- 1/2 tablespoon water
- 300g plain flour (separate into 200g and 100g)
- 3g instant yeast
- 80g lukewarm milk (vegan alternative: lukewarm water)
- 30g granulated sugar (set aside 1 teaspoon)
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- A couple of drops of black gel food colouring or around a teaspoon of charcoal/cocoa powder
- A couple of drops of green gel food colouring or around a teaspoon of matcha powder
Making Jack-O’-Lantern dough
- Peel, deseed and chop pumpkin into 3mm thick slices then place into a microwavable bowl.
- Add a half tablespoon of water into a pumpkin, cover with a lid while leaving a small gap and microwave for 3 minutes.
- After 3 minutes take out the bowl of pumpkin then flip stir a couple of times to make sure the cooler pumpkins sit at the top. Place the pumpkin back into the microwave for another 3 minutes. Repeat this until all pumpkin pieces are thoroughly cooked through. Be careful not to be burnt by the steam or hot container.
- Take out cooked pumpkin and mash with a fork or masher until there are no large chunks. Set aside to cool down completely.
- Combine sugar and milk in a small bowl. Make sure combined liquid is lukewarm or slightly cooler in temperature. Too much heat will kill yeasts, and your dough will not rise. (See above image for reference)
- Add in yeast then stir until sugar has dissolved. Set aside until small air bubbles start to form on the surface. Bubbles are a sign the yeast is ready.
- In a separate large bowl, mix 200g of flour, remaining sugar and salt.
- Add in cooled down pumpkin mash and then wet yeast mixture to the dry ingredients while gently stirring with spatular or chopsticks. Mix until there is no liquid visible and the flour has formed stringy clumps. If the mixture is looking a little too wet add a bit more flour from your 100g of the remaining flour. (See above image for reference)
- Use hands to knead flour mixture until it forms a smooth and soft dough with no visible dry flour in your bowls. The dough will be sticky at the beginning. You will know the dough is ready when your hands and the bowl are clean, and the dough no longer sticks to your hands. It’s ok for the dough not to be completely smooth as long as the dough has no visible dry flour clumps. If the dough sticks to everything, especially your fingers, add more flour from your remaining 100g of flour until it is no longer sticky. Make sure to add the flour in small batches to prevent going overboard and getting a cracked or stiff dough. (See above image for reference)
- Leave dough inside the bowl to rest and cover the bowl with a damp tea towel or cling wrap.
- Let dough rise for about 2 hours. Your kitchen’s temperature will affect the speed of which the dough will rise. If you wish to speed up the process, put your bowl in a warm water bath using either a larger bowl or the kitchen sink. Make sure the water isn’t hot or boiling, or you will cook your dough instead of rising it. The dough should double in size.
- Check if the dough is done fermenting by poking a hole in the dough. If the hole keeps its shape, then the dough is ready for the next step. If the hole bounces back or collapse, then you need to wait a little longer. Do not over ferment the dough, or you will need a longer time to get the air out.
- Dust some flour onto the work surface to prevent the dough from sticking and take out your fermented dough. Forcefully re-knead the dough until the surface is smooth again.
- Roll dough into a log and cut off both ends to square up the roll. We will be using the end portions to make facial features. Whilst we do not require a lot of dough for this, please make sure you have enough for the number of pumpkins you want to make. (See above image for reference)
- Divide remaining log into any sized you want as long as they are even. I split mine into four. (See above image for reference)
Shaping Jack-O’-Lantern Buns:
- Take out one portion and cover the rest (including the cut off ends) with a damp tea towel or cling wrap to prevent dough from drying out.
- Forcefully re-knead the dough until smooth and then roll up each dough into a ball by tucking the outer edges into the centre about 15 – 20 times and then rolling it between your palms to form a sphere. (See above image for reference)
- Use the edge of an icing knife or scraper (or something with a thin vertical edge) and create vertical pumpkin indents. The indents are made by pressing the blunt knife edge vertically against your rolled sphere. (See above image for reference)
- Once all desired pumpkin creases are done, gently press sphere between palms to slightly flatten it out to look like a pumpkin. (See above image for reference)
- Repeat steps 16 to 19 until all your portions (except the ends) are made into pumpkin bodies. Make sure to cover each one back up with a damp tea towel or cling wrap to prevent dough drying.
- Take out the cut of off dough ends and add a teaspoon of matcha powder to the dough. If you would like facial features on your Jack-O’Latern, only use one end and leave the other. Knead until the powder is mixed evenly into the dough (the colour should be evenly distributed) and the surface is smooth. If the colouring isn’t dark enough, add more until you reach the desired darkness. You may find the dough becomes dry, starts to crack or is not taking in the powder. If this is the case, add a few drops of water will help. Make sure not to put too much water or the dough will be sticky. If you are using gel icing, your dough will get sticky and lumpy. Add a little flour to smooth it out. (See below images for reference)
- Divid green dough into even portions. The number of pieces is double your amount of pumpkins.
- Knead each dough portion into a small sphere.
- For half of these flatten out the sphere until it is about 2mm in height. Using the edge of a scraper or icing knife, create small indents to create leaf shapes. Alternatively, if you have a leaf shape fondant cutter, you can use this too. (See above image for reference)
- For the remaining green spheres, Slightly elongate the sphere to look like a pumpkin stem.
- Brush a light layer of water onto the top of the pumpkin at where you want the leaves and stem. Place leave and stems at the desired spot and gently press down to secure it on. (See above image for reference)
- If you would like to create facial features, repeat steps 19 – 21 of Ghost bun recipe.
- Cut a piece of baking paper into a shape that is 1cm wider than the bottom of your pumpkin. Place your pumpkin onto it and then put both into your bamboo steamer or steaming plate. The paper will stop the bun from sticking to the container. Make sure to leave a big enough gap between each bun as they expand during steaming.
- Place boiling water into your steamer or pot and steam buns for 15 minutes. If you are not using a bamboo steamer, make sure to tie a tea towel around the lid of your pot. The towel will catch any water drops and prevent it from dripping onto the buns.
- Once buns are done steaming for 15 minutes, turn off your steamer or stove and let buns rest in the steamer/pan for 5 minutes. Do not open the lid during this process as you will collapse or wrinkle your buns!
- After 5 minutes of resting time open a small gap in the led or steamer and release the steam. Once the first wave of steam of totally gone, you can then open the lid. This slow-release will help make sure your buns adapt to the lower room temperature and ensure it stays smooth and in shape. Be careful not to get burnt by the hot steam.
These buns take time to perfect. With a bit of practice you will get the hang of how soft and hard the dough should be for moulding. The type of flour and instant yeast you use will also affect the outcome. My advice would be make it a couple of times to get to know your ingredients.
I like to eat these buns dipped in condense milk. If you are not a fan of sweets then eat them as is. I hope you enjoy these spooky character buns. Have a happy Halloween!
