Pork Floss & Ba Kua (Pork Jerky) Buns

Just a few days back, a good friend of mine bought me a packet of seaweed pork floss and a packet of Ba Kua(BBQ pork jerky) each. Thank you so much EP! I was totally delighted as the pork floss and Ba Kua was really yummy! First of all, I have not tasted seaweed pork floss before and after eating it then I realize what I have been missing out! As for the Ba Kua , it was excellent too! It's flavorful, tender and very lean (cannot find any white fatty part)! Furthermore, it was not badly charred but nicely BBQ too. Both really good eating on it's own of course, but when combined with bread, it's another level of "delicacy", haha!

Then my friend gave me the idea of making buns with them, so I tell myself, why not! ;D I searched through 孟老师的100道面包 to find a suitable bread recipe to go with the pork ingredients and decided on a hot dog bun recipe. I doubled the original recipe to accommodate the variety of buns I want to bake. I also baked some mini hot dog buns just to try out the original recipe.

Ingredients for Potato Bread:
Set A:
220g Bread flour
80g cake flour
30g caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp instant active yeast
140ml ice cold water
40g egg yolk
60g mashed potato
Set B:
30g unsalted butter, room temperature
Filling:
1 to 3/4 cup Seaweed Pork floss
1/2 cup of transparent mayonnaise
1 to 1&1/2 slices Ba Kua (BBQ pork jerky)
4 mini hot dogs
1 tbsp ketchup

Method:

• Mix all ingredients in Set A in a large mixing bowl to form a soft dough. Knead the dough till it is not sticky, about 20 minutes or more.
• Add the unsalted butter in and continue to knead till the dough is shiny and elastic. To test if the dough is ready, pull a small piece off and stretching it with your fingers. If dough is very elastic and pulls to almost see through without breaking, then it's done.
• Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and allow to proof for at least 90 minutes.
• Punch out the air in the dough and divide it into 10 equal portions. Two of the portions, divide into 2 again, this is for the mini hot dogs, if you are using normal size hot dog then this step can skip. Roll into balls and cover to let rest for 5 minutes.
• For the hot dog buns, take one of the dough balls and roll flat into a disc. Place the hot dog in the center and seal the edges. Roll it nicely so that the dough cover evenly. Using a kitchen sears, snip 3 slits all the way through the hot dog but not the dough and twist 3 sections so that the inside of the hot dog is facing upwards, like a flower when done. Drizzle some ketchup over the top of the bun.
  
• For the Ba Kua buns, roll the dough ball into a flat oval, place the Ba Kua at one end and start rolling it up in the dough and seal the edge.
• For the pork floss, roll the dough into a flat oval disc and roll up from one end without any filling and seal the edges tightly.
• Place all the buns on a parchment lined baking tray and cover to proof for another 25 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 180. Brush the surface of the buns with egg wash.
  
• Bake the buns in the oven for 18 minutes or till light golden brown. When done, remove the buns from the tray and cool on the rack.

• To assemble the pork floss buns, use a sharp knife and slice length wise down but not all the way through. Spread 1 tsp of the transparent mayo evenly on the cavity sides. Then spread another 1 tsp of mayo on the surface top of the bun and sprinkle generously the pork floss over the top of the bun to cover the mayo.

Note: I will not be posting the recipe for the transparent mayo since the recipe does not originate from me.

Turns out the pork floss buns tasted the best! The bread was super soft and goes really well with the mayo and pork floss, Ichiban! The mayo has really moisten the pork floss and not at all soggy so it makes the bun really easy to eat and tasty! The Ba Kua buns were great too, the oven heat did not dry out the meat as I baked mine @ 170°C for 15 minutes then increase it to 180°C for the last 5 minutes.

I know, in the midst of the swine flu going on now, we should be extra careful on our pork in take. Just be watchful of uncooked meat. And sometimes, you just can't let good food go to waste! For my case, these yummy pork floss and Ba Kua! So next time when you have some left over pork floss or Ba Kua, don't let it seat there in your pantry to dry up. Try to make some yummy buns for your family to enjoy, I'm very sure they will appreciate it very much! ;) Oink-oink! (Oops!)