Steamed Bread

Steamed bread is the staple food in the wheat growing areas of northern China. Steamed products refer to products such as steamed buns, steamed rolls and steamed cake made using mechanical processing. Three styles of steamed bread in China and in east and south-east Asia are northern, southern and Guangdong styles. Key steamed bread quality parameters include specific volume, spread ratio, skin smoothness, color and texture. Northern and southern style steamed bread is made from a simple formula: wheat flour, water, and yeast or sourdough. Guangdong style steamed bread also uses other ingredients such as sugar and fat. Weather damaged wheat makes poor quality pan bread, noodles and steamed bread. This chapter briefly introduces ingredients used widely in steamed bread making and discusses their applicability to steamed bread production. It describes each stage of dough preparation and related equipment in terms of its function and influence on steamed bread quality.