I have gone through all sorts of recipes for Siopao dough but have not been completely satisfied with results until today. Today, I have filed away my Siopao dough recipe! If like me, you have tried several recipes for the dough, you'd notice that the ingredients are pretty much similar to each other except for minor differences in measurements or brands of flour or leaveners. There is a good reason why most recipes are similar and that is because, for the majority of the recipes, the ingredients work. I had focused my attention on the ingredients for the dough (and this is very important too), when all along, the secret to the soft and fluffy goodness is ...
Today's siopao dough ingredients are:
5.5 c. bread flour
.75 c. sugar
2 packets yeast
1.5 tsp. salt
.25 c. lard
1 c. water
1 c. milk
For the bola-bola filling, I tossed together ground pork, minced shrimp, green onions, minced garlic, cornstarch, eggs, salt, and pepper. (Familiar? Think egg rolls.) On the side were quail eggs and chorizo.
I had pre-cooked the filling so that I need not steam longer than necessary to cook the dough.
Rolled filling with chorizo and quail eggs inside.
Pre-cooked bola-bola filling.
Risen dough. After the dough ingredients were mixed together, I had doubts on whether I had the hydration done right as it was on the dry side. After rising, I had even more doubts on getting a workable dough. (Notice the lip that developed on the lower right side of picture.)
The formed siopao ready to be cooked.
Success!