BAO BITES:

• 250g plain flour
• ½ tbsp caster sugar
• ½ tsp fast-action dried yeast
• ¼ tsp table salt
• 20ml milk
• 100ml water
• ½ tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil
• ½ tbsp white vinegar
• ½ tsp baking powder

GOCHUJANG SAUCE:

• 1 tbsp BOMBOM Gochujang paste
• 1 tbsp golden syrup
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic - peeled and finely grated
• ½ tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil
• 1 tsp sesame oil

1. Mix together the flour, caster sugar, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the milk, sunflower oil, vinegar and water. Mix into a rough dough.
2. Tip the dough onto a clean work surface and knead for 10 minutes until smooth (or about 5 minutes in a food mixer using a dough hook). Put in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise until doubled in size.  Depending on the temperature in your kitchen, this might take several hours.
3. Tip the dough out and knock the air out of it. Press the dough with your hands into a rough rectangle about 1cm thick. Sprinkle the baking powder over the surface of the dough and knead again for 5 mins (2 minutes in the food mixer).
4. Pinch off small pieces of dough (you want little balls about the size of a Lindt truffle)*.  Flatten into a rough circle and then pull the edges into the centre and pinch to make a ball. Roll the ball under caged fingers against the worktop to create a nice smooth shape. (*If you have digital scales and like uniformity – each dough ball should be about 12g)
5. Place each dough ball on a small square of parchment paper (you should end up with around 30 balls) Cover with a damp tea-towel and leave to double in size again.
6. Fill a medium size saucepan with water and bring to the boil.
7. Place your dough balls (on the parchment paper squares) into bamboo steamers with plenty of space in-between (you should fit about 4-6 in each depending on the size of your balls/steamers).
8. Place the steamer(s) on top of the pan and steam for 4 minutes.  Remove from the pan but leave the lid on the steamer for another 4 minutes before removing.
9. Keep going until all of your buns are steamed.
10. For Gochujang sauce, put all of the ingredients in a small pan and bring to the boil, mixing constantly.  Reduce the heat and let the sauce bubble away for a few minutes until nice and thick.
11. Cook your chicken nuggets / veggie bites / favourite fried chicken recipe.  Cut into bite sized pieces (to fit the size of your buns) and toss in the sticky gochujang sauce.
12. Slice the buns in half (I found that a small serrated cheese knife was the best tool for this job).
13. Add a generous spoonful of Kimchi Mayo to the base of each bun followed by a piece of BBQ chicken and finally pop on the lid.  Fix everything together with a cocktail stick.