Baked BBQ Pork Manapua Recipe
Friends, you can stuff the manapua with literally anything you like; Chinese char siu (sweet roast pork), curry chicken, kalua pork (Hawaiian smoked pork – I probably already sent you the recipe for this), 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, raisins & walnuts — just let your imagination guide you. 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
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- 1/4 Cup lukewarm water
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- 1 1/2 Cup room temperature milk
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- 1/2 Cup sugar
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- 4 large eggs, beaten
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- 1 tsp vanilla extract (this is optional, however, vanilla gives the manapua an interesting sweet essence that goes well with both savory and sweet fillings)
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- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
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- 1/2 tsp salt
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- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
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- 4 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
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- 2 Cups cake flour
- 1 egg, beaten for brushing top of manapua
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- Take 1/4 cup warm water, a pinch of sugar and yeast package, combine in a small bowl and allow to stand until foamy.
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- In a large bowl place sugar and pour in room temperature/warm milk. Mix with wire whip until sugar is dissolved.
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- Add two cups of cake flour and mix well.
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- Add salt, baking powder, beaten eggs, melted butter and vanilla extract and mix well.
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- Add yeast mixture and mix well.
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- Slowly add the remaining 4 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour. Combine well, but do not knead excessively to avoid gluten formation.
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- 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)
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- Punch down, cut into ~24 pieces and form dough balls. Allow dough balls to rest for about 15 minutes.
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- Roll out each dough ball to a disk ~4″ in diameter.
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- Place ~1 heaping Tbsp of filling into center of disk, pinch closed and twist.
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- Set filled dough ball on 2″ square of waxed or parchment paper, twist side down. Place bun on a cookie sheet spaced evenly.
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- Place in a warm, moist place to rise for about 30 minutes. (I’ll 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 to rise in there)
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- Remove buns from oven. Remove the pan of water. Pre-heat your oven to 350. Brush tops of manapua with beaten egg.
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- Bake in 350 degree F oven for 22 minutes.
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- Remove from oven and cool on a rack.
- Serve hot or freeze to retain freshness. Frozen manapua may be reheated by wrapping with a paper towel and microwaving for 1 minute.
The Best Way To Experience Hawaii is to Eat It!
