Macau Pork Chop Bun

Macau Pork chop bun, plus how to make piggie buns!

PIGGIE BUNS

* Bread flour 210g
* Water, 143g (68%)
* Sugar, 2g (1%)
* Salt, 4g (2%)
* Yeast, 2g (1%)
* Lard -or- ghee, 4g (2%)

Mix the flour and the water into a rough shaggy dough. Cover, and set aside to autolyse for 40 minutes.

Pull the dough into a rough 'log' shape. On one side of the log, add the salt and the sugar. On the other side of the log, add the yeast. Fold each side in, and then incorporate/knead by smearing against the work surface and then rolling it all up. After about five minutes, add the lard. Continue for another 2-3 minutes until the lard is incorporated and the work surface is no longer obviously 'oily'.

Slap the dough 300 times: get up to about shoulder height, slap against the work surface, fold the edge over, twist 90 degrees, repeat. You could also use a stand mixer on speed 4-5 here. Once at the stage shown at 3:07, fold into a ball. Cover, ferment for one hour.

Half way through fermenting, fold the dough three to four times.

Dust the dough, dust the work surface. Weigh the dough, split into three even pieces. Fold each into a ball: fold the edge in and over, pinch closed the craggily side, ‘seal’ by continuously twisting against the work surface. Move onto a tray, let it sit 15 minutes to relax the gluten.