Floss buns

These are good lunch sack mainstays. I would have to put the picture later because I have not uploaded them onto the computer.

Dough:

5-6 cups flour

4 tsp. yeast

1 cup milk

1 cup water

1/3 cup + 1 tsp. sugar

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tsp. salt

Warm milk until heated through, do not boil. Add water to milk and let rest for five minutes. Add a teaspoon sugar and yeast to milk-water mixture and proof for five to ten minutes. With a hand beater, add oil, salt, and sugar to mixture until well combined. Add flour and using a stand mixer (with dough hook attachment), knead until dough comes off the side of the bowl (This would probably take around five minutes on low setting.) Take dough and put in a well-greased bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least eight hours (or until doubled.) Punch down dough. Divide dough in two. Roll each half into logs and divide each log into 16 rolls.

Filling:

2 lbs. pork or chicken

4 cloves garlic

1 medium-sized onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 medium-sized carrot, diced

light/dark soy sauce

sugar

salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp. oil

Put garlic, onion, celery, carrots, and meat in a pot with enough water to cover meat. Cook until meat is tender. Set aside the meat. Pass the broth through a cheesecloth and set aside. Loosen the meat into shreds by hand or by pulling them apart with a couple of forks. Season the shredded meat with soy sauce, sugar, salt and pepper, according to your taste. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Heat oil in a nonstick pan (medium heat), tilting pan so that oil covers the whole pan. Fry seasoned meat with about a quarter cup of reserved broth. Press on the meat so that shreds of meat will further break down into smaller threads. When liquid has evaporated, lower the stove setting to medium low. Stir constantly until meat has dried and broken down into very small fine threads (resembling carpet threads. This would take about forty-five minutes to an hour.)

Note: chicken meat breaks down faster than pork and requires less cooking time

You don't really need to put in the celery and carrots (mirepoix? I'd stick in a bay leaf but some people catch the scent and think it smells funny) while tenderizing the meat, however, it's not bad to have homemade broth handy (and, why waste perfectly good broth?)

To assemble:

Take a piece of dough and roll. Flatten and put a spoonful of filling. Gather sides of dough and seal by pinching. Place on a cookie sheet (sealed side down.) Make sure there is over an inch of space between each roll. Let rest for half an hour and bake in a preheated oven at 400F for about twelve minutes.

If these don't disappear fast enough, you can put them in ziplock bags and stick them in the freezer.