Bao Buns: Question

[ktmoomau]

Ok, so an odd question- I was maybe a bit, uhh, ambitious in my purchase of frozen Bao Buns at the Lotte.  I now have quite a number.  And I have found, when I put them in the instant pot for the number of minutes they say to steam them- that when they come out, they are of course annihilate your mouth hot, but when they cool to the point you can eat them, I feel they have lost some of their texture and the skin becomes too firm on the outside due to drying, and I feel like there should be some way to temper this.  I am looking for a solution as I would like to make the rest of them for my family reunion, but will need to be able to serve a number of them at a somewhat correct eating temperature.  In China, as I recall when we got them on the street to go, they put them in plastic baggies- I assume coated in some oil because they didn't stick?  I have about two weeks to run some tests, but would love advice if anyone has figured out a solution for this quandry.  I have tried googling and it seems pretty pointless as all the recipes for making bao dough call for plastic wrap so it skews the search results.

[MsDiPesto]

I wonder if you could sous vide them? Just heat them to the desired temperature. 

[ktmoomau]

4 hours ago, MsDiPesto said:

I wonder if you could sous vide them? Just heat them to the desired temperature. 

That is an interesting thought, and I like that it doesn't require using a range or oven, as range and oven space is at a premium at our family reunion, and you have to be a very important dish to really get priority. 

[dcandohio]

On 8/16/2019 at 5:07 PM, ktmoomau said:

Ok, so an odd question- I was maybe a bit, uhh, ambitious in my purchase of frozen Bao Buns at the Lotte.  I now have quite a number.  And I have found, when I put them in the instant pot for the number of minutes they say to steam them- that when they come out, they are of course annihilate your mouth hot, but when they cool to the point you can eat them, I feel they have lost some of their texture and the skin becomes too firm on the outside due to drying, and I feel like there should be some way to temper this.  I am looking for a solution as I would like to make the rest of them for my family reunion, but will need to be able to serve a number of them at a somewhat correct eating temperature.  In China, as I recall when we got them on the street to go, they put them in plastic baggies- I assume coated in some oil because they didn't stick?  I have about two weeks to run some tests, but would love advice if anyone has figured out a solution for this quandry.  I have tried googling and it seems pretty pointless as all the recipes for making bao dough call for plastic wrap so it skews the search results.

After you cooked the Bao in your normal way, perhaps covering them with a hot, damp (well-wrung) towel might work.  The towel might provide just enough steam and moisture to keep your skins from toughening up.

Now I’m craving Bao buns.