The Chinese Hot Dog Bun. The Asian bakery classic, the food of my childhood, and the inevitable result of years of cultural assimilation.
As I got older, I came to realize how…actually disappointing these Chinese hot dog buns often are. After a long car ride from Chinatown, a cold hot dog of questionable origin wrapped in bread that has gone slightly soggy is not good eating. Very quickly, the hot dog bun went from being all I wanted from the Chinese bakery, to the last thing I wanted…replaced by the likes of the much more palatable coconut buns and pineapple buns.
Until this past weekend (when we baked these suckers), I hadn’t had a hot dog bun in over 10 years. After my mother discovered her cousin’s brilliantly easy Asian milk bread recipe, however, it was time to revisit this classic, and really do it up right.
As I see it, there are three main problems with the typical Chinatown hot dog bun:
1. The quality of the hot dog: not good.
2. The dough is usually wrapped around an uncooked hotdog before baking. The result? A total lack of flavor and a rubbery texture.
3. If they put them out in the morning, and you get there at 3:00 in the afternoon, you’ve already lost.
Alas, the Chinese hot dog bun was long overdue for redemption. In our version, you choose what brand of hot dogs you want to use. We sear them before they get wrapped in dough, and it makes all the difference. The result is a what I’ve always wanted a hot dog bun to be.
One can also get pretty creative with this concept, add some ingredients and make some cool hot dog recipes – maybe just some foreshadowing but for now, on with it!
Chinese Hot Dog Buns: Recipe Instructions
In the bowl of a mixer, add the heavy cream, milk, egg, sugar, cake flour, bread flour, yeast, and salt (add it in that order). Using the dough hook attachment, turn on the mixer to “stir.” Let it go for 15 minutes, occasionally stopping the mixer to push the dough together.
After 15 minutes, the dough is ready for proofing. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and place in a warm spot for 1 hour. The dough will grow to 1.5X its original size. Check out our original milk bread recipe for photos of this process!
In the meantime, heat a tablespoon of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the hot dogs, and allow them to crisp slightly and get some color on them. Set aside on a plate to cool.
After the hour of proofing, put the dough back in the mixer and stir for another 5 minutes to get rid of air bubbles. Dump the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut into 12 equal pieces.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Take each piece of dough and roll it into a 10-12 inch rope, keeping the middle thicker than the ends.
Roll the rope around a hot dog, tucking in the ends. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet (keep the buns 2-3 inches apart).
Repeat until all the buns are assembled.
Cover the baking sheet with a kitchen towel and allow the buns to rise in a warm place for another hour. The buns should close to double in size.
Brush with egg wash, and bake the buns for 14 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking.
Remove from the oven to a cooling rack and immediately brush your Chinese hot dog buns with sugar water. This last step gives them that signature Chinese bakery shine.
Enjoy these Chinese Hot dog buns!
Chinese Hot Dog Buns
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup heavy cream (160 ml, at room temperature)
- 1 cup milk (plus 1 tablespoon, at room temperature; total 250 ml)
- 1 large egg (at room temperature)
- 1/3 cup sugar (75g)
- 1/2 cup cake flour (70g)
- 3 1/2 cups bread flour (500g)
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast (11g)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (7g)
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 12 hot dogs
- Egg wash: whisk together 1 egg with 1 teaspoon water
- Simple syrup: 2 teaspoons (8g) of sugar dissolved in 2 teaspoons hot water
Instructions
- In the bowl of a mixer, add the heavy cream, milk, egg, sugar, cake flour, bread flour, yeast, and salt (add it in that order). Using the dough hook attachment, turn on the mixer to “stir.” Let it go for 15 minutes, occasionally stopping the mixer to push the dough together.
- After 15 minutes, the dough is ready for proofing. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and place in a warm spot for 1 hour. The dough will grow to 1.5X its original size.
- In the meantime, heat a tablespoon of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the hot dogs, and allow them to crisp slightly and get some color on them. Set aside on a plate to cool.
- After the hour of proofing, put the dough back in the mixer and stir for another 5 minutes to get rid of air bubbles. Dump the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut into 12 equal pieces.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Take each piece of dough and roll it into a 10-12 inch rope, keeping the middle thicker than the ends. Roll the rope around a hot dog, tucking in the ends. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet (keep the buns 2-3 inches apart). Repeat until all the buns are assembled.
- Cover the baking sheet with a kitchen towel and allow the buns to rise in a warm place for another hour. The buns should close to double in size. Brush with egg wash, and bake the buns for 14 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking.
- Remove from the oven and immediately brush the buns with sugar water. This last step gives them that signature Chinese bakery shine.
Hi, I am wondering why the baking time for your hotdog bun is only 14 minutes, while the ham & cheese is 20-24 minutes?
The dough recipes for both are exactly the same with 12 buns, except the fillings. Thanks.
Hi Susan, the ham and cheese are wetter/more moist fillings than the hot dog, which is dry after being cooked already, but you’re right that there is a larger discrepancy here. I think that we realized that there was a variation in the ovens that we had here at our home in NJ and in our home in Beijing. I will have to re-test the hot dog buns again at some point, but figure somewhere between 15-20 minutes, depending on your oven!
Great recipe and easy to follow!
Made this today for my husband who used to eat them a lot as a kid and everytime we get to visit Hong Kong.
He said they taste good, but something was not quite right….
The saussages I used were not “trashy” enough 😂
So next time he’ll get trashy ones and I’ll have the good saussages 😉
Hahaha funny how sometimes that nostalgic flavor isn’t necessarily about homemade or from-scratch things; it’s all about “trashy” sausages!
Can I let the though rise overnight in the fridge?
Hi Kaisi, you can proof the dough in the fridge overnight (tightly covered) after you have kneaded it for the first 15-20 minutes. Then the next morning, let it come back up to room temp, knead for 5 minutes, and proceed with the recipe.
Can The dough be frozen
I have never done it before, Chris.
Hi Chris, we have never frozen the dough before baking, so not sure if that would work.
Love this but for some reason, mine don’t ever get this brown. Perhaps I need more Egg wash? Or higher temp? Please advise!
Hi Kristen, it could be that your oven runs a bit colder than you think it does. Get an external oven thermometer to get more accurate temperature readings than that of your oven. Try increasing the baking temperature by 25°F!
Can you substitute the hot dog with Lap Cheurng? If yes, should you remove the casing before wrapping?
Hi Eva, if you’d like to use lap cheung, we recommend trying this recipe: https://thewoksoflife.com/chinese-sausage-buns/.
I was wondering if it can be baked with the milk bread instead? I haven’t seen any recipes like that.
Hi Eva, this recipe is actually based on our milk bread recipe!
Delicious and easy!
Lovely!
Thank you Steve!
I’ve made your milk bread a few times now and now feel ready to try your either recipes with this milk bread such as this one!
If I want to make the dough the night before, at which step do I put it in the fridge? After assembling the sausages into the bread, just before the second prove?
Then bring to room temperature the next morning before doing the second prove?
Thanks in advance 😀
After the first proof, you can refrigerate it overnight (tightly covered). The next day, let the dough come back up to room temperature on the counter, knead it for 5 minutes to punch the air out, and proceed with the recipe!
Is it possible not to use heavy cream? Can I substitute with using more milk?
Hi Tiffany, the fat in the heavy cream is what gives this bread its softness and richness, so I wouldn’t substitute it.