Chinese Hot Dog Buns Recipe

What Are Chinese Hot Dog Buns?

I remember as a child, my father used to take me to the local Chinatown bakery and buy me these Chinese hot dog buns to eat for lunch or breakfast.

At around $1 a piece, they were considered a bargain and was good enough to keep me satiated for a few hours.

I have many fond memories of these buns growing up and I’m sure many of you guys also share the same memories as me.

These Chinese hot dog buns also known as Hong Kong hot dog buns are soft, and savory, with just the right amount of sweetness thrown in to round everything out.

Compared to western style hot dog buns, Chinese style buns tend to be on the sweeter side which I tend to enjoy more as it balances everything out. You get both saltiness from the hot dogs that is encircled by the sweetness of the hot dog buns, and to finish things off, usually these buns are either topped with toasted sesame seeds to add a nice little crunch to it or some bakeries will opt for some mayonnaise and parsley as a topping on top, further elevating it’s flavour.

Regardless, I think you’ll enjoy this Chinese hot dog bun recipe as much I do! Here’s what you’ll need to make these Chinese hot dog buns.

Ingredients

Tangzhong:

• Water 125 ml
• Bread flour 25 g

Dough:

• Bread flour 300 g
• Milk 100 ml
• Egg 1 (room temperature)
• Instant yeast 5g
• Unsalted butter 20 g
• White sugar 40 g
• Salt 2g
• Milk powder 6 g
• Sesame seeds
• 1 egg for egg wash
• melted butter for glazing
• 10 hotdogs

How to Make Chinese Hot Dog Buns

To make the Tangzhong, in a small sauce pan, add in your water and bread flour and mix everything well together. Heat this mixture over low heat while constantly stirring everything to prevent it from burning and clumping up. Try to break apart any flour bits that you see.

Continuing stirring the mixture until it becomes nice and thick. It should take you a good several minutes of cooking the Tangzhong before it arrives at a thick consistency.

 

Once the Tangzhong is ready, remove it from the stove, and transfer it to a small bowl or dish. Cover it with plastic wrap, making sure to press down on the plastic wrap so that it touches and engulfs the Tanzhong to prevent it from drying.

Chill the Tangzhong in your fridge for at least 20-30 minutes or likewise you can make the Tangzhong overnight and use it the next day as well.

Once the Tangzhong has cooled down, we can start making our dough.

In a large mixing bowl add in your flour, sugar, salt, milk powder, instant yeast, an egg, and the Tangzhong and turn on the stand mixer and let it mix for a few seconds to mix all of your dry ingredients together.

 

Then turn back on your stand mixer and let it mix, while slowing adding in your milk to the dough.

Continue kneading everything for another 3-4 minutes and then add in your butter to the dough.

Let the stand mixer run for another 8-9 mixtures until the dough becomes nice and smooth.

You can check and see whether or not your dough is done kneading by applying the window pane test.

Take a small piece of the dough and then stretch it out until it becomes somewhat translucent.

If the dough doesn’t tear, then your dough has been sufficiently kneaded. If it tears on the other hand, you will need to continue kneading it.

Once done, transfer the dough to a lightly oiled large bowl. Using a spatula try to shape the dough into a round ball. I’m using a spatula because the dough will be very sticky and difficult to handle. You can however apply a little oil or water to your hands and try to shape it that way, however I prefer to keep my hands clean🤣

Cover it with plastic wrap or a towel and let it proof in a warm place for about an hour until it’s 2-3x in size.

Now while waiting for our dough to proof, we’ll cook our hotdogs ahead of time.

In a large or medium sized pot, cook your hotdogs in boiling water. Usually the hotdogs will start to float to signal they are done cooking. Once done, drain the hotdogs and let it cool-down in the kitchen before use.

Once the dough has finished kneading, transfer it to a floured countertop. Punch out all of the gas in the dough and then shape it into a round ball.

Then weigh the dough. We’re going to divide it into 10 equal pieces hence why we weigh out the dough.

Next, we’re going to divide the dough into ten pieces and weigh out each piece.

You can of course skip this step if you want to eyeball it and don’t care whether or not you get equal portions.

Once you’ve divided and weighed out each piece, we’re going to start shaping our dough into round balls.

To shape your dough, there are various methods, however I will share with you my method of doing it.

Take 1 piece of the dough, and then using one hand, slide the dough downwards towards the center while the other hand will help rotate the dough around and pinch the bottom.

We will then follow up by turning the dough over once it starts to resemble a ball and pinch the ends of the dough to seal it.

Now, place the dough on your countertop and using the palms of your hands, rotate the dough in a circular motion until the dough resembles a round ball.

Tip: Cover the round balls that you have shaped with either plastic wrap or a towel to prevent them from drying out while you are shaping the dough.

Once done shaping the 10 pieces, let the dough rest for about 10-15 minutes to relax the dough.

Then take each piece of the dough, apply some flour to it to prevent it from sticking, flatten out the dough and roll it out.

Afterwards start rolling the sides of the dough from the long end to the other side so that it resembles a long strip or log.

Pinch the ends to seal it and then roll the strip until it becomes longer (about 12-14″ long or about 2x the size of the hotdog you are using)

Now take 1 piece of hotdog and wrap the strip around the hotdog in a circular motion, making sure to tuck the ends inside of the dough.

Repeat this process for all of the other pieces.

Once done, place all of the hot dog buns onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

Then cover it with plastic wrap or a towel and let it proof in a warm place for about 40 minutes. If you don’t have a warm place, you can place the buns in your oven with a bowl of hot water.

Once the buns have finished proofing, preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C).

Now we’re going to apply an egg wash to the buns.

To make the egg wash, simply take 1 egg and whisk it for about 30 seconds.

Apply the egg wash to your buns then sprinkle some sesame seeds on top then bake the buns in your preheated oven at 350°F (180°C) for about 12-15 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Once the buns have been baked, apply some butter on top as a glaze.

Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.S)

Can I use dry active yeast instead of instant yeast?

Yes, absolutely! If you’re using dry active yeast make sure that you proof the yeast in a warm liquid such as water or milk in our case along with some sugar. You should see the yeast foam up at the top and produce a very yeast like smell. If you see this, that means your yeast is good to use.

How long can I store the buns for?

You can store the buns in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Make sure that you reheat the buns either in a microwave or the oven if you stored them in the fridge or freezer to give them back their nice soft texture.

How come my dough is not rising?

There could be a number of reasons such as the following:

• Your yeast is dead. Check if your yeast is still alive by adding 1 tsp of yeast, along with 1 tsp of sugar in 1/2 cup of warm water, give it a good mix, then let it sit for 10-15 minutes. If it starts to foam at the top with a very yeasty smell then your yeast is still alive.
• Your environment is too cold. Yeast rises best in a warm environment
• You mixed in hot water with the yeast and killed it.
• You didn’t knead the dough sufficiently enough. Use the window-pane test to check if your dough has been kneaded properly.

I don’t own a stand mixer, can I hand knead the dough?

Yes, you can, however, do realize that the dough is sticky and will be more difficult to knead by hand, that is why it is strongly recommended that you use a stand mixer to make life easier for you . Furthermore, you may need to spend a little more time to knead it compared to using a stand mixer, however, it is definitely possible to hand knead it.