Pork Char Siu Bao Recipe
At first glance, it would seem like these two delights have nothing in common, like Bert and Ernie. But once you get to know them, it becomes apparent that they just work together. Two very different cultures, Cantonese and German, together producing complimentary flavors of plum and blackberry, gently cloved with five spice and a special wheat yeast. Slightly caramelized malts contribute to the honey bbq profile of the pork. A bright and bold combination, brought back to earth with bready undertones.
Our Blackberry Weizenbock recipe is a strong fruit forward refresher. Not sweet, but balanced toffee malts wait their turn, for when the blackberry glow fades, the solid foundation of our Oktoberfest Brewing Extract lingers.

Ingredients

Char Siu Filling
  • ¾ cup hoisin
  • ½ cup soy sauce
  • ½ cup rice wine
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1 T sugar
  • 1T garlic, minced
  • 1T ginger, minced
  • 1T five spice
  • 6 scallions, chopped
  • 2 tsp five spice
  • 2-3lbs pork butt, boneless
Buns
  • 1 package dried yeast or 1 cake fresh yeast
  • 1 cup lukewarm water
  • 2 ¼ cups AP
  • 2 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 2 T vegetable oil
  • ½ cup boiling water
  • 2 T sesame seed oil

Directions

Filling
  1. Combine first 9 ingredients in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Place in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add pork to bag; seal. Marinate in refrigerator preferably overnight, but at least 2 hours, turning occasionally.
  2. Place pork and marinade in an electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
  3. Remove pork from slow cooker using a slotted spoon; place on a cutting board or work surface. Cover with aluminum foil; keep warm.
  4. Add broth to sauce in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 30 minutes or until sauce thickens. Shred pork with 2 forks; combine with sauce.
Buns
  1. Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water.  Add 1 cup of AP flour. Mix thoroughly and cover.  Let rise 1 hour, until bubbles appear.
  2. Dissolve sugar and vegetable oil in ½ cup boiling water.  Stir well.  Cool until lukewarm.  Pour into yeast mixture.  Add remaining AP and WW flour.
  3. Knead dough on lightly floured board until smooth.  Put into large, greased bowl in a warm place.  Cover with a damp cloth.  Let rise until it doubles, about 2 hours.
  4. Divide into 2 portions.  Knead first portion for 2 minutes.  Repeat with 2nd.  Roll each into 12 inch long and 2 inch wide logs.  Cut into 12 pieces (24 total).
  5. Flatten each piece with palm of hand.  Roll with rolling pin into 3 inch rounds.
  6. Place 2 T of filling in center of each round.  Gather dough up around the filling pressing and pulling the edges of the dough.  Twist the top to fully cover the filling.
  7. Cut 2-inch square wax paper sheets and line bottom of buns.  Place in steamer with a 1 inch space between buns.  Steam in batches for 15 minutes ensuring water does not contact buns.
Both the leftover Char Siu and finished buns can be frozen for later.  Add 5 minutes of steaming for frozen buns.