Soft chewiness on the inside and crispy crust on the outside. Along with the juicy meat creates a balance of textures and complimentary flavors.
There’s something about bread and meat! In many different cultures, we can find some sort of stuff buns. They are steamed, baked, pan fried and deep fried! Soft chewiness on the inside and crispy crust on the outside. Along with the juicy meat creates a balance of textures and complimentary flavors. A complete bundle of comfort food in the palm of your hand! This delicious snack won’t last long on the serving platter.
Notes: I’ve designed this recipe to use bread flour to make a chewy and sweet bread. However, it will work with AP flour too. You’ll need to add in addition to the AP flour. You can definitely use regular yeast; you’ll need to mix it into the warm milk separately and let it bloom for 15-minutes. If you don’t have plain yogurt, you can substitute with milk or buttermilk. As long as you have the same amount of liquid, you’re good to go! Also, if the dough is on the dryer side, add 1 tsp of water or milk at a time to not over wet the dough. And if you are not planning on using the dough immediately, you can do a cold rise process in the refrigerator for 24-hours. After the initial rise, this dough can be frozen and used later. Very versatile and can be used as steam buns, pizza dough, sticky buns, and loaf bread, etc.
Recipe (Makes 16)
Dough
4 cups bread flour
4 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp instant/bread machine yeast
2 eggs room temperature
½ cup milk room temperature
¾ cup plain greek yogurt/yogurt room temperature
1 tbsp butter room temperature
Filling
1.5 lb ground beef
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp chicken bouillon
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ green cabbage finely chopped
1 whole red onion chopped
3 tbsp EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
Method
Preparing the dough...
Grab a large bowl or use a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add the flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Mix to combine.
In another bowl mix all wet ingredients eggs, milk, and yogurt together.
Let’s combine the dry and wet ingredients. Pour half the liquid mixture into the flour bowl and begin to combine. Add another half of what’s left and begin kneading. Now add a little at a time and check to make sure it’s not getting too wet. You may not need all the liquid or you may need to add additional liquid. This part varies. Should the dough not come together because it’s still dry, add 1 teaspoon of water/milk at a time and knead. Do this until the bowl is clean and the dough forms a tight ball and the bottom of the bowl is clean.
Add in the softened butter and mix on low speed until the butter is well incorporated into the dough. It will look funny at first, but will be smooth after a few minutes of kneading.
Knead for 10-15 minutes if doing by hand. If using the mixer, place speed on 3 and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.
Cover dough tightly with cling wrap and a dish towel. Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 45-60 minutes. Or throw it into the instant pot on yogurt function for 30 minutes!
After the dough has doubled in size, gently knead the dough to release air bubbles. Shape back into a smooth ball. At this stage you can place the dough into the refrigerator for later use or freeze. Remember to defrost if removed from the freezer or if from the fridge, let dough come to room temp for at least 20-minutes.
Divide into 16 equal balls. And wrap meatballs into the dough. Do the same for all 16 dough balls.
Prepare a pan with 1-2 tablespoons cooking oil (any kind is fine). Set heat to medium to warm up. Once oil is ready, reduce heat to medium low.
Flatten the dough and meatball with the palm of your hands. Gently pressing from one hand back to the other until you have a diameter of 4-inches.
Place in the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes per side. Try to get a golden brown color.
Preparing The Meat Filling…..
While the dough is rising, let’s begin making our filling!
Chop up red onion and cabbage and sauté on medium-high or medium with EVOO until softened. Let the mixture cool.(This process will prevent our pancakes from getting too wet when cooking. This is an important step to keep the dough from being gooey.)
Place ground beef, cooled cabbage and onions, garlic, salt, sugar, soy sauce, chicken bouillon and black pepper into a larger mixing bowl.
Divide into 16 equal meatballs and set aside.
When the dough is ready, wrap meatballs inside and keep as a ball until cooking.
