Buns {Bao Zi 包子} featuring fluffy wrappers and delicious fillings are a popular food in China, especially northern China. People enjoy them as breakfast or as side dish. I am going to show you all the tips & tricks you need to know in order to wrap buns easy and classic.

What to prepare before wrapping the buns?

First is to make a basic and yummy Yeast Dough for buns

This dough recipe produces about 20 buns, perfect for a 12-inch two-tier bamboo steamers. Each bamboo steamer holds about 10 buns.

You will need all-purpose flour (organic preferred), active dry yeast, cane sugar (organic unrefined preferred), a splash of avocado oil and a pinch of Himalayan pink salt.

Yeast Dough For Chinese Buns {Easy Yummy Way} — Yeast Dough for Fluffy Buns

For the active dry yeast, make sure you dissolve them in ample water into a smooth paste before adding to the flour. This is one of the essential tips for soft and fluffy buns.

Read more about how to make a perfect yeast dough effortlessly here.

Second is to prepare delicious Bun Fillings

Savory pork fillings buns and sweet yummy red bean paste buns are among the two popular buns.

Last but not least is to prepare Bun Wrappers

In my “Homemade Bun Wrappers” post, I explained there are two ways of making bun wrappers at home. Either use a rolling pin and roll the wrapper one by one, or use a stand mixer or pasta machine to roll a dough sheet and then cut into 4.5-inch diameter rounds.

Homemade Chinese Bun Wrappers — Homemade Bun Wrappers

How to wrap buns {Bao Zi} easy and classic?

Step One is to place the wrapper on your less dominant hand palm and then add bun filling

Place one wrapper in the middle of the left hand (or the less dominant hand ) and add about 1.5 tablespoonful of fillings in the middle of the wrapper.

How to Wrap Buns Step Two is to pleat the wrapper

While your left hand (or the less dominant hand) hold the wrapper with the filling in the center, your right hand pleat and pinch the outer edge of the wrapper, starting from the lower right corner.

Step Three of How to Wrap Buns is to rotate and pleat in a full circle

Continue to pleat and pinch counter-clockwise. When you are almost halfway through, rotate the wrapper on your left hand clockwise. This way, it is easier for your right hand to pleat the uncovered area.

Continue to pleat and pinch in a full circle until you form a small opening on the top.

Step Four is to close out the small opening

Use your right hand fingers to pleat and pinch the edge of the small opening continuously in a circular motion. This will help close the opening gradually and leave a tiny circular top on the tip of the bun.

Hooray! You’ve just successfully wrapped a classic bun.

Like buns {Bao Zi} and dumplings {Jiao Zi}? Remember to check out below recipes too:

How to Wrap Buns {Bao Zi} Easy Classic Way?

Yield: Buns {Bao Zi}

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Active Time: 40 minutes

Additional Time: 1 minute

Total Time: 6 minutes

Difficulty: easy to medium

Buns {Bao Zi 包子} featuring fluffy wrappers and delicious fillings are a popular food in China, especially northern China. People enjoy them as breakfast or as side dish. Learn all the tips & tricks to wrap buns easy and classic.

Materials

For Easy Fluffy Yeast Dough:

660 g all-purpose flour, unbleached organic, see notes
360 g water, see notes
12 g dry active yeast
15 g cane sugar, organic
1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt
20 g avocado oil

Tools

For Making Bun Wrappers:

Chinese Rolling Pin
Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer with Pasta Maker attachment
Manual Pasta Machine

Instructions

Place the wrapper on your less dominant hand palm and then add about 1.5 tbsp bun filling in the center.
While your left hand (or the less dominant hand) hold the wrapper with the filling in the center, your right hand pleat and pinch the outer edge of the wrapper, starting from the lower right corner.
Continue to pleat and pinch counter-clockwise. When you are almost halfway through, rotate the wrapper on your left hand clockwise. This way, it is easier for your right hand to pleat the uncovered area.
Continue to pleat and pinch in a full circle, until you form a small opening on the top.
Use your right hand fingers to pleat and pinch the edge of the small opening continuously in a circular motion. This will help close the opening gradually and leave a tiny circular top on the tip of the bun.