Kalapao

Name: Kalapao
Prep time: 48 h
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 48 h 20 min
Yield: Makes 8 buns
Cuisine: Laotian
Ingredients: 25g/1oz/2 tbsp caster/superfine sugar; 3g/½ tsp fine/table salt; 5g/1 tsp vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing; ½ white onion, finely diced; 40g/1½oz/3 tbsp water; 10g/2 tsp fresh yeast; 170g/6oz/scant ¾ cup milk; 300g/10½oz/2¼ cups plain/all-purpose flour; 2 eggs, hard boiled and chopped into quarters; 5g/1 tsp nam pla (Thai fish sauce) or soy sauce; 100g/3½oz/scant ½ cup minced/ground pork; 1 sweet Chinese sausage, cut into 8 pieces; 4 cloud-ear mushrooms, chopped; 2 spring onions/scallions, chopped; a pinch of freshly ground black pepper; 5g/1 tsp fresh yeast; 60g/2¼oz/scant ½ cup plain/all-purpose flour

Preparation info

Makes
8
buns

Difficulty
Medium
Ready in
49 hr

Appears in

Slow Dough, Real Bread

By Chris J L Young

Published 2016

About

I have happy, diesel-scented memories of eating kalapao for pre-sunrise breakfasts at truck stops in Laos, while waiting for a songthaew bus-truck to fill up with enough people to ferry me and my backpack to the next dusty town. This type of steamed bun seems to have originated in the wheat-growing regions of northern China before spreading far and wide under various names. Here’s my stripped-down, back-to-basics version.