Healthy Black Sesame Mantou Recipe
Mantou or Chinese steam buns are commonly eaten all over Asia. It is delicious by itself or with various fillings such as Peking duck, custard, pork belly (for gua bao, or Taiwanese pork belly bun),taro paste, azuki bean paste ect. I have made many different varieties of mantou over the years but my kids ALWAYS request this healthy black sesame mantou recipe. They love the nutty-ness from the black sesame and the delicate creamy flavor it gets from the milk.
If you have a stand mixer like a KitchenAid then this recipe is a cinch but if not, no worries, you can hand knead the dough for a good arm work-out. I was hand kneading the dough for years until my in-laws bought me a stand mixer as a gift. It was their way of encouraging me to keep making healthy meals for everyone.
Warm Breakfast in the Winter
During the colder months my kids love having something warm for breakfast. Sometimes, I would make the dough the night before and store it overnight in the fridge. In the morning, I would roll out the dough and steam the mantous freshly. However, ever since my daughter started elementary school I can’t get up early enough to freshly steam. The quick fix is that I steam them the previous day and store the mantous in the fridge in an air tight container. The next morning, I wrap the mantou with a damp papertowel and zap it in the microwave for 45 seconds. Voila! Fresh mantou!
These little guys are nice and portable for my kids to bring in the car to eat on their way to school.
How this Black Sesame Mantou Recipe is Healthy
- Reduced sugar- after researching and trying out dozens of mantou recipes, I found most used 25-30 grams of sugar! My recipe uses 15 grams of sugar which makes the mantou delicately sweet but not dessert like.
- Substituting wheat flour- 1/3 of the flour in this recipe is whole wheat pastry flour to add some fiber. Pastry flour keeps the mantou fluffier then regular whole wheat flour which makes the mantou dense. I still like to keep most of the recipe all-purpose flour because let’s face it, white carbs taste good and a 100% whole wheat mantou does not.
- Oatmilk- I use oatmilk in this recipe to keep it vegan and cholesterol free. You can use any milk that you like though.
- Avocado oil- adds monounsaturated fats (good fats) to lower cholesterol.
- Black sesame is super healthy! See below.
Black Sesame Health Benefits
Black sesame not only gives a pleasant nutty taste to the mantou but provides a lot of good macrominerals and antioxidants. Manganese, magnesium, copper, calcium, copper and iron are the main nutrients in black sesame and is important to cellular function and preventing cellular damage. Also, the monounsaturated fat content reduces cardiovascular disease and improves skin health (more info here).
Ingredients
- Black sesame seeds
- Whole wheat pastry flour
- All-purpose flour
- Milk of choice
- Water
- Sugar
- Baking powder
- Active yeast
- Neutral tasting oil
Instructions
- Heat water in a microwave for 40 seconds. Add it into a cup with the cold milk. This makes the perfect temperature to bloom the yeast. Add oil, sugar and yeast to the milk cup. Let sit for 5-10 minutes, if the yeast is good then the mixture will get frothy.
- Add all the dry ingredients in a big bowl and combine (flours, ground sesame, and baking powder).
- Use the dough hook for your stand mixer and turn it on #2 and add all the milk/yeast froth to the dry ingredients slowly. Alternatively, add the milk a little at a time to the dry ingredients and combine with your hand or a wooden spoon. When all the wet ingredients are added, knead the dough for 8 minutes until a smooth ball is formed. My kitchen’s humidity measure was 54% when I made this batch of mantou but you may need to add more milk depending on the humidity of your kitchen. If the dough is too dry and shaggy, add some milk (doesn’t need to be warm) a tsp at a time until a smooth ball forms.
- Let the dough rise in a warm spot, like near the stove, for 1-2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size.
- Roll the dough into a 8×10 rectangle.
- Fold top top and bottom of the dough in, then fold the sides in to make a square package. We are doing this to make a nice uniform mantou shape.
- Roll the dough flat again into a 8×10 rectangle.
- Roll the dough into a log, like you would a swiss roll cake.
- Cut the mantou into 5 equal pieces.
- Cut out 5 pieces of parchment paper and place a mantou on top. Arrange the mantous on a steamer filled with 1.5 inches of COLD water (we don’t want to use boiling water because the mantous will do a second proofing/rise while the water is heating up).
- Cover the steamer and turn on the stove onto medium heat. The time is takes to bring the water to boiling and steam the mantous takes my stove about 20 minutes. Once your water is boiling, steam the mantous for 15 minutes. When mantous are done steaming, don’t open the lid for a few minutes. This will prevent the mantou from shrinking.
Enjoy your fluffy, nutty, and healthy mantou!
Healthy Sesame Mantou
Ingredients
- 50 grams water
- 122 grams milk Can be regular whole milk, coconut milk, oat milk
- 15 grams sugar
- 1/2 tsp active yeast
- 1 tbsp neutral tasting oil avocado oil, rice bran oil, olive oil
- 100 grams whole wheat pastry flour
- 200 grams all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 15 grams ground black sesame
Instructions
- Heat up water in microwave for 40 seconds. Combine with cold milk in a bowl or large cup.
- Add sugar, yeast, and oil to milk/water. Let sit for 5-10 mins until a yeast froth forms.
- In the meantime, combine grounded black sesame seeds, all-purpose flour, whole wheat pastry flour, and baking powder in a large mixing bowl.
- If using a stand mixer: use the dough hook attachment and set mixer to #2 speed. Add the yeast/milk slowly to the dry ingredients. Let the mixer run for 8 minutes. If the dough is too dry, add a tsp of milk (does not need to be warm) at a time until dough forms into a smooth ball.
- If kneading by hand: after combining all the dry ingredients thoroughly, make a dent in the middle of flours and pour the yeast mixture. Combine with hands and knead for 8 minutes forming a smooth ball. If dough is too dry, add 1 tsp of milk (does not need to be warm) at a time till a smooth ball forms.
- Put a plastic wrap, warm wet dish towel or a large pot lid over the bowl and let the dough rise somewhere warm for 1-2 hours or until the dough doubles in size. Can also be left in the fridge covered overnight to be steamed the next day.
- After dough has risen, put on a flat work surface and rollout dough into a 8×10 rectangle. Fold the top and bottom of dough inwards. Then fold the sides of dough inwards to make a neat package. Roll the dough again into an 8×10 rectangle.
- Roll dough up long ways (like a Swiss roll cake) and cut dough into 5 equal pieces. Cut up 5 pieces of parchment paper and place mantous on top.
- Fill a steamer with COLD water and put mantous inside, put a lid on top. Set stove to medium and when the water comes to a boil, set your timer to steam the mantous for 15 minutes. After mantous are cooked, turn off stove but don't open the lid for a couple of minutes. Enjoy!