Steaming Dough

The idea of steamed breads has held a weird fascination for me ever since my introduction to dim-sum – the Chinese midday and afternoon snacks that are eaten with tea – during snatched Soho lunch-breaks. Drew Smith, my first real employer and editor of The Good Food Guide, would enthusiastically act as courier, taking me off to vast eating palaces, like the Chuen Cheng Ku in Wardour Street and New World in Gerrard Place, and guiding me through the contents of the rattan steamer baskets piled on chrome trolleys and pushed up and down by bored-looking waitresses.