Pepper Bun

Ingredients

The dough

• 500 gplain flour
• 300 mlwarm water
• 7 gdried yeast
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• 1 tablespoonsugar
• 2 tablespoonsoil

The filling

• 600 gminced pork
• or diced pork shoulder
• 2 tablespoonswhite pepper
• 1 teaspoonblack pepper
• 2 tablespoonssoy sauce
• 1 tablespoonrice wine
• 1 teaspoonsugar
• 1 teaspoonfive spice
• 2garlic cloves, crushed
• a large bunch of spring onions
• chopped, about 300 g

To finish

• 1egg, beaten
• or a little syrup
• 3 tablespoonswhite sesame seeds

To bake

• a very hot oven
• a pizza stone if you have one
• or a heavy baking tray

Directions

1. Preheat it thoroughly before baking. It also keeps the pork properly juicy. Warm the water gently in a jug. Stir the yeast and sugar into it. Let it stand there for ten minutes. The yeast should foam up visibly.
2. Discard it and start again if not. Put the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the yeast water and the oil. Bring it together into a dough. Knead it for about ten minutes. It should become smooth and elastic. Put the dough in an oiled bowl.
3. Cover it and leave it somewhere warm. Give it about one whole hour there. Put all of the pork in a bowl. Add the white and black pepper. Add the soy sauce and rice wine.
4. Add the sugar, five spice and garlic. Do not reduce it by much at all. Work it all together thoroughly. Work it in one direction as you mix. Cover the filling and refrigerate it. Give it at least thirty full minutes. Chop the spring onions just before filling.
5. Cut spring onions release water fast. Mixed in early they make a wet filling. Chop them at the very last moment. Mix them in just before wrapping. Divide it into about twelve pieces. Roll each one into a smooth ball. Roll each of the balls into a disc.
6. Make the middle thicker than the edges. Thin edges seal together more easily. Mix the spring onions into the pork. Put a large ball of filling on each disc. Fill them generously rather than sparingly. But do not overfill past sealing. Pleat the dough as you go round. Pinch the top firmly closed shut. The seal must be entirely complete.
7. Twist the top to close it fully. Turn the bun sealed side downward. Flatten it gently into a round. That keeps it closed on the stone. Brush the tops with egg or syrup. Press them down into sesame seeds. The seeds must be pressed in firmly. Press the top firmly into the plate. Let them rest for fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes is enough for it. Heat the oven as hot as it goes.
8. Put the stone or tray in to heat. This needs the hottest oven you have. Preheat the stone for a full thirty minutes. A cool stone gives a pale soft bottom. Set the buns on the hot stone. Set them sealed side downward. Work quickly so the oven stays hot. Cooking them takes about twenty minutes. Bake them for about twenty minutes. The pork must cook right through.
9. Lift one to look at the bottom. It should be dark brown and crisp. Bake them for longer if there is. The inside is full of hot juice. Serve them straight from the oven. They keep a day in a sealed box.

Technique

• Two tablespoons of white pepper and three hundred grams of spring onions are both correct rather than mistakes. The pepper is what makes the bun what it is, and the spring onions are structural rather than a garnish — they almost equal the meat in volume and release the moisture that steams the filling and keeps the pork juicy.
• Chop the spring onions and mix them in at the last moment before wrapping: cut spring onions release water fast, and mixed in early they make a filling too wet to seal. The seal must be complete, since juices escape through any gap and those juices are the point of the bun — pleat and twist the top closed, then turn it sealed side down and flatten it gently.
• The traditional oven is a barrel-shaped clay one and the buns are slapped onto its inside wall, which is extremely hot; vendors reach in with practice and long sleeves, and it causes real burns without that. No home kitchen has one, but the hottest oven you have with a pizza stone preheated a full thirty minutes approximates it — the result is different but good.

Substitutions

• A heavy baking tray stands in for a pizza stone, which holds heat like the clay wall so the bun bottom crisps against it; a pale bottom means it was not hot enough.
• Diced pork shoulder stands in for mince and gives a chunkier filling.

Variations

• White pepper is the same berry as black with the outer skin removed before drying, which makes it hotter, more pungent and more earthy.
• Roll each disc thicker in the middle than at the edges, which supports the weight of the filling while thin edges seal more easily.
• The inside is full of extremely hot juice that can badly burn the mouth, so bite carefully and let the steam out first.

History

A Fuzhou-style oven bun brought by mainland migrants; Taipei’s Raohe Street night market queue made it a signature Taiwanese snack.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pepper Bun?

Pepper Bun is a street food from Taiwan: peppery pork and scallion bun slapped onto a clay-oven wall and baked crisp. A Fuzhou-style oven bun brought by mainland migrants; Taipei’s Raohe Street night market queue made it a signature Taiwanese snack.

How long does Pepper Bun take to make?

Pepper Bun takes 1 hour plus rising of preparation and 20 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 12 buns. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Pepper Bun?

Yes, within limits. A heavy baking tray stands in for a pizza stone, which holds heat like the clay wall so the bun bottom crisps against it; a pale bottom means it was not hot enough. Diced pork shoulder stands in for mince and gives a chunkier filling.

What is the most important thing to get right in Pepper Bun?

Add the sugar, five spice and garlic. Do not reduce it by much at all. Work it all together thoroughly. Work it in one direction as you mix. Cover the filling and refrigerate it. Give it at least thirty full minutes. Chop the spring onions just before filling.