Pumpkin Pork Floss Mantou

Making breakfast for the family has become a routine for me. I seldom purchase off the shelf bread loaf or frequent any bakery unless necessary. And ever since I found a couple of good bread and pau recipe, making breakfast seems not all that troublesome or difficult now. All you have to do is twig the old trusty recipe a little or simply adding new ingredients to make it different. ;D This time I used the same mantou recipe which I so loved and added pumpkin to it. Simple as that, we got pumpkin mantou. ;) And just the other day I saw Vivian Pang adding pork floss in her mantou and thought I try it too. Result? Delicious! :)

Truth is, I actually had 2 failed attempts on making this steam pumpkin mantou before this. Nothing disastrous, but just kind of puffed up and then deflated right after I remove them from the steamer. :P *sigh* Suspecting that it might be the butter I added into the dough, I omitted it this time and it just turned out perfect. *phew!*

With the addition of savory pork floss was a superb idea! My kids loved it, even my picky eater. ;)) The pork floss I used has sesame and seaweed in it, so it's even more fragrant, yum. ;))

Ingredients for Pumpkin Pork Floss Mantou (Makes about 16 to 20):

Starter dough:

120g pau flour (original calls for plain flour)

1/2 tsp active instant dry yeast

80ml warm water

pinch of salt

Method:

Knead all the ingredients together till it comes together to form a soft, smooth dough. Chill in the fridge up to 6-8hrs before use.

Main dough:

100g starter dough (the other half can continue to chill up to 36 hrs before use)

1.5 tsp active instant dry yeast

300g pau flour

180g steamed pumpkin

20 ml water

40g caster sugar

1/4 tsp salt

Red Bean / Lotus paste filling

Method for Red bean / Lotus paste steam buns:

1. Place everything in a large mixing bowl except the butter and knead till it comes together. Once it forms into a dough, add in the butter and continue to knead for a good 5 to 7 minutes on the mixer or 10 minutes by hand till it is elastic and smooth.
2. Place the dough in a greased bowl and let proof till double in size. Punch out the air and divide the dough into 2 portions. Roll round and let rest for 5 minutes.
3. Take a dough portion and roll it out with into a big flat rectangular, about 20am by 30cm. Brush with water and sprinkle with about 1 cup of pork floss or how ever much you like.
4. Roll it up from the long side like a swiss roll and then slice it up into 8 or 10 equal portions. Place on a grease proof paper and let proof in the steamer (cold) for 10 minutes.
5. Start the stove fire, once the water boils, lower it to medium low and let steam for 8 to 10 minutes. Then turn off the fire and let the mantous stay into the steamer for another 5 minutes before taking them out.

The mantous turned out soft and delicious, definitely a keeper. In fact I made it again a couple days later but minus the steamed pumpkin puree. I made fresh milk mantou with pork floss and it was equally good. :)

Hope you all are a little more motivated and make it for breakfast tomorrow for your family. For sure a home made breakfast is more more healthy and wholesome then those outside. :))

Ooops, duty calls! Got to go, so I have to stop here and come back again with another post soon.

Have a good week ahead all!