Chinese Buns

Can I get some GMBs up in here?!

GMB aka ‘gai mei bao’ are coconut-filled chinese cocktail buns. For some reason, the term ‘GMB’ caught on in our house, probably b/c everyone was too lazy to say the full name lol

I’m not a huge fan of Chinese pastries, however, I decided to make these buns because I wanted to test out my new kitchen gadget that C got me…

Meet… The Beast. C initially suggested ‘Bane’ from Batman… but no…

Anyhow, instead of kneading the dough by hand or with my little hand mixer, I decided to test out the dough hook. The bread turned out delicious and very similar to bakery buns (in my opinion)!

The filling on the other hand wasn’t so awesome. It just didn’t taste right… the initial recipe called for a lot of milk powder, but I figured that after it baked, you wouldn’t be able to taste it. Totally wrong… the filling was overpowered by milk powder with only a hint of coconut. That was a bit of a let down… So… I had to make another batch and try again.

The second attempt – Used the same dough recipe with a different filling recipe that I had tried before. Turned out much better. Threw in some wiener buns this time too (basically the bread dough wrapped around hot dog wieners)

I’m only going to post the bread portion here, but the original full recipe can be found here. I managed to make 10 GMBs + 10 wiener buns

Dough:

• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup softened butter
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, or more if needed

1) Place 1/3 cup sugar and milk in a small saucepan, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add 1/4 cup softened butter, and gently warm the mixture until the butter melts and the mixture is warm but not hot (no warmer than about 100 degrees F (40 degrees C). In a large bowl, stir together the yeast with 2 1/2 cups flour until well blended, and pour the milk mixture into the flour-yeast mixture. Stir in 1 beaten egg, and mix until the mixture forms a sticky, wet dough.

2) Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface, and knead for about 10 minutes, gradually kneading in 1 cup of additional flour or as needed to make a smooth, elastic dough. Form the dough into a round ball, place into an oiled bowl, and turn the dough around in the bowl a few times to coat with oil. Cover the bowl with a cloth, and allow dough to rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

3) Working on a floured surface, punch the dough down and divide it into 4 equal pieces. Cut each piece into 5 equal-sized dough portions (20 in total). With a floured rolling-pin, flatten each piece into a rectangular shape. Scoop about 1 tbsp of filling (scroll down for recipe) into the center of a bun. Pull and pinch the edges of the dough together to enclose the filling in the bun.

For wiener buns – omit the filling and wrap a wiener in the dough.

4) Place filled buns with the seam sides down, onto the prepared baking sheets. Cover buns with a damp cloth and allow to rise in a warm place 1 hour.

5) Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Egg-wash buns just before they go into the oven – beat an egg and brush buns with egg wash. (Optional – sprinkle with sesame seeds)

6) Bake in the preheated oven until the buns are golden brown – about 10 to 15 minutes.

Coconut Filling (don’t remember where this recipe came from b/c it was so long ago)

• 1 1/3 cups (325 ml) coconut flakes
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) margarine or butter, melted
• 1 large egg yolk

1. Process coconut and sugar in food processor until very fine and transfer into a small bowl
2. Stir in melted butter or margarine and egg yolk until paste-like consistency. Makes about 3/4 cup of filling.

As for the new gadget… I love it. Kneading dough is so much easier and clean-up is a breeze.

Been on a bread craze lately and can’t wait to try to make other things!