Caramelized Onion Bao

I've had a recipe in my trial folder for a long time now. It was from a Cooking Light magazine and it was Ming Tsai's recipe for a vegetarian Chinese steamed bun (here's a link where someone has it posted, I'm too lazy and it's long). My husband and I are very fond of steamed buns, although when we made them before we used some frozen bread dough or something like that. I have always had an aversion to making things with yeast doughs, they haven't ever turned out for me. But I decided that I wanted to try this recipe. When we went grocery shopping yesterday I got all of the ingredients.

I set out this afternoon to make them. I couldn't find the Chinese Black Vinegar at our supermarket, so I had to substitute some vinegar that I had on-hand. I got the filling made, and then set out to make the bread dough. This time I made sure to check the temperature of the water before I put the yeast in. The kneading and resting went well. I filled the buns as directed and let them rest in the refrigerator for two hours before I cooked them. The buns turned out in perfect form. The bread dough was perfect. The problem was the filling. I know that I didn't have the exact vinegar called for in the recipe, but the filling turned out PUNGENT. I still smell like it. My stomach is upset for sure. So I think I'll keep the recipe for the bun and experiment with other fillings. Or I might adjust the filling recipe, and try to get some black vinegar on my next trip to the Asian market.

Anyway, the important part is that I made a yeast dough, and lived to tell about it. Woohoo!! :)