Can low-gluten flour be used to make buns?

Low-gluten flour can also be used to make buns, but in general, it is best to use medium-gluten flour to make buns, because medium-gluten flour is more fully fermented during the fermentation process, so the buns will taste better. If there is no medium-gluten flour, it is okay to use low-gluten flour temporarily. During the fermentation process, you can add yeast powder or use old dough for fermentation.

Is it better to use high-gluten flour or low-gluten flour to make buns?

1. High-gluten flour

It has a high protein content, so it will form more gluten. Generally, high-gluten flour is chosen for making bread. Therefore, the bread made will be tough and chewy.

2. All-purpose flour

Medium-gluten flour has a semi-loose texture, and its gluten strength and viscosity are relatively balanced. It is generally used in Chinese dim sum and is suitable for making steamed buns, dumplings, sesame cakes, sesame balls and other noodle snacks that are soft but chewy.

3. Low-gluten flour

The protein content is low, so less gluten is formed. It is often used to make cakes and biscuits, which are very soft and crispy. Two additional pieces of knowledge are needed. The first one is gluten-free flour. Flour contains gluten. After the gluten in the flour is extracted, the white noodle soup left behind is the gluten-free flour after drying. People usually like to call it clarified noodles. Extra high-gluten flour - 14% moisture, more than 13.5% crude protein, a type of flour usually used to make gluten and fried dough sticks.

Do I need to add baking powder when making buns?

You don’t have to use baking powder, you can use fresh eggs instead. The reason why steamed buns look fluffy is the effect of baking powder; just a small amount can not only make the dough soft but also make it whiter in color.

Methods and steps:

1. Mix baking powder and dry flour in proportion and set aside. (The ratio is 5 grams of yeast, 5 to 8 grams of baking powder and 10 grams of sugar per pound of flour. Mix the baking powder into the flour.)

2. Dissolve dry yeast and a little sugar in water, and knead into dough with the flour in step 1. Note: The water temperature should not exceed 35℃. It is best to use 35℃-40℃ warm water to knead the dough in winter.

3. After cutting the dough into steamed buns, let them stand and rise for half an hour. (The proofing temperature is 32~35℃ with a certain humidity; it can also be proofed in a steamer with the water in the pot under the steamer heated to about 35~40℃.)

4. Put the proofed steamed buns into the steamer and steam them until cooked. (The steaming time is generally about 20 minutes) Raw material ratio: 1 jin or 500g flour, 2.5 or 12g baking powder, 3~5g dry yeast, 250~285g water

How to make buns at home

400g all-purpose flour, 5g dry yeast, 5g baking powder (optional), 5g sugar, about 250cc warm water

Key point: When making Chinese pastries such as steamed buns, dumplings, and bean buns, you cannot use flour with too high gluten content. The flour you use to make bread cannot be used to make dumplings.

In addition, you don’t have to add baking powder and sugar to the ingredients. Baking powder mainly plays a role in foaming, that is, it makes more bubbles appear in the pasta.

(Baking powder is divided into two categories, one of which is double-effect baking powder. Double-effect baking powder does not contain alum, so there is no need to worry about excessive aluminum. If you are worried, you can completely not add it, and you can still make a good dough.)

In cold weather, using baking powder to make dough and adding some white sugar can shorten the fermentation time and the effect is better.

How to make yeast dough

1. Let’s make the most important fermented dough first. Put the dry yeast powder in a small bowl, dissolve it with 30-degree warm water, and set it aside for 5 minutes to activate it.

Key point: The most favorable temperature for yeast reproduction is 30~40 degrees Celsius. Below zero degrees Celsius, yeast loses its activity; when the temperature exceeds 50 degrees Celsius, the yeast will be scalded to death. Therefore, the best temperature for rising dough is around 30 degrees Celsius.

2. Put flour, baking powder and sugar into a bowl and mix them evenly with chopsticks. Then pour in yeast water, stir it into lumps with chopsticks, and knead it repeatedly into a ball with your hands. Finally, cover the basin tightly with a wet cloth. To prevent the surface from drying out, place it in a warm place and let it stand until the dough becomes larger and there are a large number of small bubbles in the dough. This process takes about an hour.

Key point: It is very important to knead the dough repeatedly in this step. It is not a simple matter of mixing all the ingredients evenly, but kneading the dough as much as possible. The purpose is to allow the protein in the flour to fully absorb water to form gluten, thereby preventing the loss of carbon dioxide produced during the fermentation process and making the fermented dough fluffy and porous. Therefore, this step is very important and cannot be sloppy. Also, don't make the dough too hard.

3. Check the time to see if the dough has risen. Its volume has expanded to twice its original size and a honeycomb-like structure has appeared. Don’t rush to use it. Continue to knead the dough with your hands to squeeze out the air inside, then cover it with a wet cloth again to allow the dough to expand again.