Guest Post - Class Recap of Bao Buns

A fantastic and thoroughly enjoyable evening course at Morso Vegan in Bath making Bao Buns and Baozi; these Chinese fluffy steamed white bread buns are a popular street food here in the UK and just like pasta, tapas, sushi, tacos, Indian and other street food, these buns can easily be made and eaten on the same evening - albeit with a little preparation and confidence.

This is was the inaugural course at Morso Vegan, our hosts Matt and Georgia had everything prepared ready for the evening group (of 8) to make the most of the time available from the "get go". After a warm welcome by Georgia with a hot or cold drink, Matt led off with a demonstration of the Baozi Vegetable filling. We then cooked our own Baozi filling tasting as we went to ensure the correct balance of flavour and texture, importantly ensuring all fluid had evaporated, otherwise soggy buns!

While allowing all these fillings to cool, Matt demonstrated the preparing, shaping and proving of the Bao bun dough into its traditional butterfly folded shape, ready to re- prove then be steamed. Faithfully we repeated this process, doing our best to recreate the filling, pleating and twisting the beautiful traditionally shaped round Baozi buns, leaving them covered in bamboo steamers whilst preparing the Char Sui Jackfruit filling for the Bao and Matt preparing the final filling of (very) Sticky Chill Tofu.

In a flurry of activity the buns were then steamed, filled and served with pickled vegetables, vegan mayonnaise and a deep fried garlic garnish. The table in the beautiful upstairs dining room was set for us to enjoy the buns and Baozi after the class has finished, and there is always enough to take home too, be it to share or maybe to save to enjoy at leisure.

Certainly it helps during the demonstrations to talk through ingredients used, their availability, where we can find alternatives catering for any intolerances as appropriate. Matt reminded us some sauces and pastes have slight differences between brands may be important for intolerances and preferences. We also discussed the preparing ahead, freezing options or alternate use for fillings and alternate fillings - Gyoza perhaps?

This was a fun, light, enjoyably creative evening, open to all with an interest in the type or style of food being prepared, my fellow students came from across the west and further afield, sharing experiences, tips and the evening together. Will I go back - yes please, there is so much on offer from evening, through half day to full day and weekend courses, now I wonder are there spaces on the Christmas Courses….

Find upcoming dates for our Bao Bun course here - it's one of our most popular courses!