Homemade Momofuku steam buns - a success story!

That is correct, folks. You are looking at homemade goodness there. No 2-for-nine-bucks business here tonight.

I followed the recipe in the Momofuku cook book almost to a T and had very nearly perfect results. What they don't tell you? The pork is very salty, the homemade pickles are very salty and the hoisin is very salty. And when you combine all three, it can be a little overwhelming. Next time, I'll cut back on the salt rub and probably give the pickles a good rinse before serving.

Otherwise, I tip my hat to the great Chang on this one. The steam buns were perfect - light and fluffy. My friends were just eating them plain they were so tasty.

As it turns out, "dehydrated nonfat milk powder" is not a common ingredient in Korean cooking, and I couldn't find it easily at the HMart. I subbed equal parts non-dairy coffee cream powder (which is a little sweet) and took out 1 TBS of sugar from the dough recipe  and they were just fine!

Chang's recipe also does not come with instructions for if you do not have a dough hook and stand mixer. I just kneaded the dough very gently (since the dough hook instructions call for gentle and slow mixing) and had great results.

I also tucked a tiny rectangle of parchment into the fold of the steam buns to keep them from sticking. It worked really well. 10 mins in the steamer, and they were perfect!

I served them with a huge bowl of pineapple fried rice - so big a batch, it cracked my cheap $1 bowl from Target. Oh well... it was pretty for it's single use.

Dreaming? of leftover buns!! The recipe says it will make 50, but I ended up with 42. And after feeding 8 people, had 15 buns leftover.