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Korean Pork Buns

Corinn Blackwell

Fluffy bread bun filled with kimchi and pork.

Korean Pork Buns

Makes 8

Adapted from a Maangchi recipe I saw a few years ago (you can find her original recipe here). This hearty bun is filled with spicy kimchi and pork. It gives Chinese Pork Buns a run for their money and may become your new favorite. Add a few vegetable banchan or a salad and you have a meal.

Ingredients

Dough

150ml (0.75 c) milk, warmed slightly

4g (1 t) instant yeast

36g (3 T) water

1 egg

358g (2.75 c) All purpose flour

37g (2.5 T) sugar

4g (1 t) salt

21g (1.5 T) butter, melted and cooled

Pork Marinade

375g (about 0.75 lb) pork belly or shoulder, cut into cubes slightly larger than 0.25 in

1 T Shaoxing wine or soju

2 t soy sauce

2 t mirin

0.50 t fish sauce

0.25 t white pepper

Filling

45g (small handful) sweet potato starch noodles

7g (1.5 t) ginger, minced

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 - 2 cheongyang or serrano chili, minced

4 t sesame oil

350g (1.5 c) well fermented cabbage kimchi, chopped

2 t sugar

250g (1 large) potato, 0.25 in dice

5 t gochugaru

1 T soy sauce

1.5 t doenjang

0.50 t ground black pepper

0.25 t salt

220g (1 large) onion, .25 in dice

4 scallions, chopped

Slurry

1 T potato starch or corn starch

1 T water

Baking

1 egg

Sesame seeds, optional

Recipe Know-how

Dough

1.      Combine the yeast in the milk with a pinch of sugar.

  • Allow to sit 5-10 minutes or until foamy.

  • Once foamy, mix in water and egg to make a homogenous mixture

2.      Combine the flour with the sugar and salt in a large bowl.

  • Rub the butter into the dough until fully incorporated and all of the flour has been coated in the fat.

  • Add the liquid mixture to the flour and mix until a dough forms.

The dough should be soft and slightly tacky. If the dough seems dry, add another 1 T of milk to reach the right texture.

  • Knead 2-3 minutes or until the dough becomes smooth.

  • Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Allow to proof until doubled in bulk, 1-1.5 hours.

Make filling while the dough is rising.

3.      Punch down dough. Knead 1 minute. Cover and allow to rise a second time until doubled, another 1-1.5 hours.

This additional rise helps to prevent the buns from gaping away from the filling when baked.

Filling

4.      Combine pork marinade ingredients allowing to sit while the remaining filling ingredients are prepped.

5.      Bring a medium pot of water to a boil.

  • Add the sweet potato starch noodles. Cook according to package directions.

  • Drain. Rinse under cold water and squeeze well.

  • Place noodles into a small bowl.

  • Using kitchen scissors, cut the noodles into small pieces. Set aside.

6.      In a medium saute pan heat 1 t. vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook 2-3 minutes or until beginning to brown.

  • Add ginger, garlic, chilis and sesame oil. Cook 30 seconds.

  • Add kimchi and sugar. Cook 90 seconds.

  • Add potatoes, salt, pepper, gochugaru, doenjang and soy. Cook 10 minutes stirring occasionally until potatoes are just tender.

  • Add onion, scallions and noodles. Cook 2 minutes stirring frequently,

  • Add slurry. Cook 1 minute.

7.      Cool completely.

Rolling, Stuffing and Baking

8.      Place parchment paper on a baking sheet.

9.      Divide dough into 8 pieces.

  • Using no flour, roll each piece of dough into a 16cm (6 in) circle.

  • When rolling the dough, the edges should be thinner than the center. You should have a small hump in the center.

Using flour will hinder the dough from sealing well when closing.

10.  Place dough into your hand and lightly dampen the edges with water.

  • Using a 1/3 c measure, scoop a heaped cup of filling into the center of the dough.

11.  Pinch all of the edges closed to completely seal filling in. Flip dough onto work surface seam side down and gently roll to close seams.

Be careful when closing the dough as the filling will seem like a lot more than the dough can hold. As much as possible, you do not want the filling to get onto the edges of the dough as it will make sealing difficult.

Alternatively, the dough can be placed on your work surface and filled by bringing all of the sides together to close the bun.

12.  Place closed bun on baking sheet, seam side down.

  • Repeat will all remaining filling and dough. Ensuring there is about 2 inches of space between each bun.

  • Make egg wash with egg, 1 t water and a small pinch of salt, beat well.

  • Brush buns with egg wash. Reserve remaining egg wash.

13.  Cover baking sheet loosely with plastic wrap. Allow to rise 30-45 minutes or until doubled in size.

  • While buns are almost finished rising, preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F.

14.  Coat the buns a second time with remaining egg wash. Sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired.

15.  Bake 10-15 minutes or until golden brown on all sides.

  • Cool 5 minutes before serving.

16.  Serve with wasabi mayo for dipping.