Chinese Flower Rolls (花卷)
Chinese flower rolls are steamed buns layered with filling, usually scallions for savory buns and sesame paste for sweet buns. Their intricate shape makes them look complicated, but flower rolls are quite simple to make. These are a flavorful spin on plain steamed buns, or mantou (馒头) and can be eaten at any meal or as a snack.
Ingredients
The full recipe is below, these are some notes about the ingredients.
- Milk: Use whole milk for the fluffiest buns ever. Water will work, and nondairy milks will probably work (though I have not tried this) but the buns may not be as soft.
- Yeast: Flower buns are leavened with yeast, and it’s important the yeast is alive. If you are unsure whether your yeast is active, test it by stirring it into the water and waiting 5-10 minutes. It should bloom, or foam slightly. If it doesn’t, your yeast is probably dead and will not work.
- Sesame paste: Chinese sesame paste is made of completely of ground, toasted sesame seeds and is different from tahini. If you cannot find sesame paste, you can also use tahini, but the flavor will be different.
- Brown sugar: Traditionally brown sugar is used and it helps give the filling a dark brown color, but you can substitute white granulated sugar.
Shaping the Flower Rolls
This is just one of many ways to shape flower rolls. Feel free to experiment!
1. Roll the dough into a rough rectangle and spread on the filling (I used sesame paste for the example). Fold the dough into thirds.
2. Cut roughly 2.5 cm/1-inch strips from the folded dough. It’s ok if the strips are not all the same size.
3. Take two strips of dough around the same size, and place the smaller piece on top of the bigger one. Gently stretch them both a bit and use a chopstick to make an indent down the long axis of the dough.
4. Remove the chopstick from the dough and drape the dough over the chopstick.
5. Holding the two ends of the dough, give it a twist (or two, if your dough is pliable and long enough).
6. Press the chopstick straight down onto the twisted dough, creating a bun shape. Don’t press too hard, as that could break the dough. Carefully pull out the chopstick and place the bun onto a piece of parchment or into the oiled steamer.
Tips
- The dough will feel stiffer than many bread doughs and that’s normal. It should still be soft and pliable when rested. Adjust the amount of milk accordingly, starting with just under the amount called for.
- Adjust proofing time based on the temperature: longer when it’s colder, shorter when it’s warmer. Use visual cues (dough size) to guide you.
- Don’t overproof the dough, especially during the 2nd rise. Well-proofed dough should spring back slowly when poked. If it springs back too soon, it is underproofed—let the dough rise longer. If it doesn’t spring back, it is overproofed—steam it right away but the texture won’t be the same.
- If the dough resists during shaping, let it rest/move on to another piece to let the gluten relax.
Chinese Flower Rolls (花卷)
Course: GuidesCuisine: ChineseDifficulty: Easy16
flower rolls30
minutes15
minutes1.5
hoursIngredients
- Dough
500g all-purpose flour
300-310g water/milk, warm (95-99 °F/35–37 °C) during winter
7g (2¼ tsp or 1 packet) instant or active dry yeast
5g (1 tsp) salt
10g (1 tbsp) sugar
- Sesame Filling (for half batch of dough)
150g (5 tbsp) sesame paste
40g (4 tbsp) sugar
- Scallion Filling (for half batch of dough)
4 bunches scallions, chopped
½ tsp salt
Directions
- Making the dough
- By hand, in a mixer, or in a bread machine: Mix all the ingredients together and knead until the dough comes together into a smooth ball. If kneading by hand, you can let the dough rest for 5-10 minutes after it forms a rough ball, then continue kneading.
- Let the dough rise, covered, for about 1 hour until it is puffy (though not necessarily doubled).
- Shaping the rolls (refer to images in post)
- Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll it into a rectangle about 1 cm/½ inch thick. If you are making both flavors, cut the rectangle in half.
- Spread the filling on the dough in an even layer, going all the way to the edges. Fold the dough into thirds.
- Cut the dough into 2.5c m/1 inch strips.
- Take two strips of dough and place the smaller piece on top of the bigger one. Gently stretch them both a bit and use a chopstick to make an indent down the long axis of the dough.
- Remove the chopstick from the dough and drape the dough over the chopstick. Holding the two ends of the dough, give it a twist or two.
- Press the chopstick straight down onto the twisted dough, creating a bun shape. Don’t press too hard, as that could break the dough. Pull out the chopstick and place the bun onto a piece of parchment or directly into the oiled steamer.
- Steaming
- Let the buns proof for 10-20 minutes after shaping. Well-proofed dough should spring back slowly when poked.
- Place the steamer over a pot of room temperature water and turn the stove on to high heat. Once the water starts boiling, turn down the heat to medium and steam for 15 minutes.
- After steaming, turn off the heat and let the buns sit in the steamer for 15 minutes to prevent collapse. Serve warm and enjoy!
Notes
- See post for shaping images and more details.
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