Matthew Gray's Baked Manapua Recipe

Friends, have fun with this recipe. Stuff the manapua with literally anything you like; Chinese char siu (sweet roast pork), curry chicken, kalua pork), lobster, vegetables of your choice, ham & egg, garlic shrimp, pizza filling (cheese, pepperoni, etc.), or any sweet of your choice -- sweet potato, yam, pumpkin, brown sugar, peanut butter & jelly, caramelized apples, raisins & walnuts --- you get the picture... just let your imagination guide you. You will need to pre-cook, then cool (in fridge overnight) your filling for ultimate success, ok?

Just follow the bun recipe below, stuff with anything you enjoy, and have fun eating them! Just be sure to refrigerate whatever filling(s) you choose before stuffing and baking.

Ingredients for the bun itself:

1 pkg Rapid Rise yeast
1/4 Cup lukewarm water
1 1/2 Cup room temperature milk
1/2 Cup sugar (I'm a huge fan of organic coconut palm sugar)
4 large eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract (vanilla gives the manapua an interesting sweet essence that goes well with both savory and sweet fillings)
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 tsp salt (I use kosher salt)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
4 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
2 Cups cake flour
1 egg, beaten with a teaspoon of water, for brushing top of manapua

Procedure:

Take 1/4 cup warm water, a pinch of sugar and yeast package, combine in a small bowl and allow to stand until foamy.

In a large bowl place sugar and pour in room temperature/warm milk. Mix with wire whip until sugar is dissolved.

Add two cups of cake flour and mix well.

Add salt, baking powder, beaten eggs, melted butter and vanilla extract and mix well.

Add yeast mixture and mix well.

Slowly add the remaining 4 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour. Combine well, but do not knead excessively to avoid gluten formation.

Allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size. (It takes me ~2 1/2 hours in my kitchen, usually on top of my fridge)

Punch down, cut into ~24 pieces and form dough balls. Allow dough balls to rest for about 15 minutes.

Roll out each dough ball to a disk ~4" in diameter.

Place ~1 heaping Tbsp of pre-cooked and cooled filling into center of disk, pinch closed and twist.

Set filled dough ball on 2" square of waxed or parchment paper (to avoid sticking), twisted side down. Place bun on a cookie sheet spaced evenly.

Place in a warm, moist place to rise for about 30 minutes. (I suggest you bring a pot of water to a boil, pour it into a bowl and set in the bottom of your oven, and then place the buns on a higher rack to rise).

Remove buns from oven. Remove the bowl of water. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Brush tops of manapua with beaten egg yolk.

Bake in 350 degree F oven for approximately 22 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool on a rack.

Serve hot, warm, room temp, or freeze to retain freshness. Frozen manapua may be reheated by wrapping with a paper towel and microwaving for about 1 minute.