Pork Lard Radish Mixed Grains Buns

Taste: Savory; Cooking Method: Steaming; Time: Half an hour; Difficulty: Easy.

Detailed Steps for Cooking Pork Lard Radish Mixed Grains Buns

Prepare various mixed grains or use high-gluten flour directly; the black whole wheat flour in the picture was not used due to the large amount of other flours;

Combine flour, yeast, 5g salt, and appropriate warm water in a bread maker, start the kneading program for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth; if you don’t have a machine, kneading by hand is also possible; adding salt increases the gluten strength as I used medium and low-gluten flours;

The dough will expand during fermentation and may overflow the bread maker, so I transferred the dough to a large airtight container for the initial fermentation in a warm place;

While the dough is fermenting, prepare the filling: wash the radishes, leaving the skin on as it contains high mineral content; you can use other types of radishes as well;

Grate the radishes, boil in a pot of cold water over high heat for 8 minutes until fully cooked;

Remove the cooked radish, let it cool to a tolerable temperature, chop into fine pieces on a cutting board, then squeeze out excess juice;

I weighed the pork lard, 137g, not a lot but more fragrant than 300g of minced meat; chop the pork lard into small pieces;

In a pan, add some oil, sauté the chopped spring onion until fragrant, then add the pork lard and stir-fry until golden brown, releasing some fat to increase the oil content; remove from heat, add soy sauce for color and flavor; radishes absorb oil, so more oil than usual is needed;

Combine the radish filling with the pork lard, add salt to taste, mix well and set aside;

The fermented dough should be 2-2.5 times its original size, with even and fine air holes;

Take out the dough, knead on a floured surface for 5 minutes to make the dough fine again, roll into long strips, and cut into evenly sized pieces;

Flatten the dough pieces, roll into round skins with slightly thinner edges and thicker centers, place an appropriate amount of filling on each skin;

Shape the buns as desired;

Place the shaped buns on a steamer lined with oiled cloth, I made 22 large buns and used both a steamer and a steaming pot; let them proof for about 20 minutes;

When the buns have become rounder, you can choose the “Steam” function for 25 minutes; with a steaming pot, use high heat, steam for 20 minutes after the water boils;

After the time is up, let the buns sit in the steamer for 5 minutes before removing to prevent the surface from becoming wrinkled due to sudden cooling.