Breakfast Crystal Bao

Breaking Bao: 88 Bakes and Snacks from Asia and Beyond

Food & Wine Best Cookbooks of 2024 • New York Times Best Cookbooks of 2024

“Breaking Bao is the rare cookbook that stops you in your tracks. Visually arresting, thoughtfully researched, and both whimsical and grounded in serious baking expertise.”—New York Times

From acclaimed pastry chef Clarice Lam: a visually sumptuous pan-Asian baking book exploring an umami-rich array of baked goods, confections, and savoury snacks.

Breaking Bao is a culinary journey bridging gaps between Asian flavours and global techniques. It is a collection of recipes rooted in renowned chef Clarice Lam’s personal journey of self-discovery and the transformative power of embracing one’s heritage.

Here are 88 approachable recipes that are firmly rooted in classical French technique but travel far and wide. Dive into three chapters, exploring:

Bao: the fundamentals of baked, steamed, fried, or laminated buns and breads, from golden curry-filled donuts to Rice Dumplings filled with Hong Kong Bolognese to Vietnamese Cinnamon-Raisin Babka.
Cakes & Desserts: classics treated with a twist, such as Mango-Yakult Tres Leches Cake, Ovaltine Mochi Marjolaine, and Pandan-Lime Meringue Pie.
Snax: savoury and sweet treats, from Cantonese-Style Fig and Marzipan Mooncakes to Gochujang-Furikake Caramel Popcorn to Ramen Cheese Itz.

Featuring more than 100 stunning photographs by prominent food, lifestyle, and travel photographer Evan Sung, Breaking Bao is a visual feast as well as a go-to cookbook. For home cooks looking to expand their repertoires, these projects range from simple cookies and flavored popcorn snacks to lavish mille feuille and laminated pastries. With humour, whimsy, and respect for traditions, Lam invites readers into these pages to break barriers, bread, and bao, all at the same table.

ASIAN BAKING EXPERTISE: A daughter of parents from Hong Kong, Clarice Lam has been in the New York City restaurant industry for more than a decade and has garnered an impressive resume, working in Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery, Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Spice Market, as the executive chef at The Chocolate Room in Brooklyn, and as the opening pastry chef for Kimika, named one of 2021’s best new restaurants in the world by Condé Nast Traveler and a James Beard semifinalist for Best New Restaurant in 2022. Using the nostalgic flavours of her childhood with the techniques imparted to her in culinary school, she is uniquely positioned to create the go-to book on Asian-inspired baking.

KITCHEN SUPERSTAR: With 88 foolproof, well-tested recipes, including cakes, cookies, buns, mochi, mooncakes, donuts, and savory snacks, and more than 100 gorgeous photographs, Breaking Bao is your next great recipe book for the Hall of Fame section of your cookbook corner.

UNIQUE COOKBOOK: There are not many classically trained pastry chefs writing accessible books for use by home bakers. There are also very few baking books that meld multicultural flavours and techniques. Breaking Bao blends various cuisine staples from countries in Asia with hints of technique drawn from American, European, and traditional Asian baking.

Perfect for:

Home bakers of all skill levels
Asian cuisine and culture enthusiasts
Professionally trained chefs and bakers
Cookbook collectors and baking book browsers
Gift-giving for food lovers’ birthday, housewarming, graduation, or any occasion

Breaking Bao: 88 Bakes and Snacks from Asia and Beyond by Clarice Lam is available at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Indigo.ca.

Har gow, Chinese shrimp dumplings, had always been one of my favourite dim sum dishes, not because of the shrimp inside, but rather the wrapper, or the “skin,” as I call it. Visually, I loved how transparent it was and how cute all the pleats looked stacked on top of each other. Texturally, I loved the buoyancy of the dough.

One day, I was thinking about another Chinese dish: egg and chive pockets, which traditionally have vermicelli noodles in them, and how I wished I could feel and taste the noodles more. That led me to thinking how it would be more effective for my personal palate if the noodle was on the outside like a har gow, only bigger, so it feels more like a bao. And that’s how this dish came about, my friends.

YIELD: Makes eight 1 oz [26 g] bao

Crystal Wrapper

½ cup + 1 Tbsp [100 g] potato starch

3 Tbsp tapioca flour

¼ tsp kosher salt

1½ tsp vegetable oil

Chinese Bacon, Egg & Chive Filling

5 large eggs

½ cup [35 g] finely chopped Chinese garlic chives

1 Tbsp heavy cream or whole milk

½ tsp kosher salt

¼ tsp ground white pepper

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

½ cup [85 g] Chinese bacon cut into ¼ in [6 mm] cubes

Chili Crisp (page 76) or store-bought chili crisp, to serve (optional)

Soy sauce, to serve (optional)

To make the crystal wrapper, in a medium mixing bowl, add the potato starch and tapioca flour.
In a small pot, bring ½ cup [120 ml] of water and the salt to a boil. As soon as it boils, take it off the heat and pour it into the bowl with the potato starch.
Using a pair of chopsticks or a fork, stir the dough together until it looks like a shaggy mass. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for 5 minutes.
Add the vegetable oil to the dough and knead by hand until smooth, bouncy, and not sticky, about 5 minutes. Place it in an oiled bowl with plastic wrap directly on the dough and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, to make the filling, in a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, chives, cream, salt, and white pepper.
In a medium sauté pan, heat the vegetable oil over medium- high heat. Add the Chinese bacon and cook until browned on the edges, about 2 minutes. Add the egg mixture, lower the heat to medium- low, and scramble the eggs. Cook until just done. Transfer the scrambled eggs to a bowl and allow to cool completely.
Cut eight 3 in [7.5 cm] squares of parchment paper.
Roll the dough into an 8 in [20 cm] log. Cut at every inch [2.5 cm] to make eight equal [26 g] pieces. Lightly grease your work surface with a tiny bit of vegetable oil. Flatten each piece into a disc and roll it out into a 5 in [13 cm] circle as thin as possible without breaking. The dough should be thin enough that you can see through it.
Place about 3 Tbsp of filling in the center of a dough circle. Imagine a triangle shape within the circle, one point on top and two points at the bottom. Fold the edges of the circle up at your imagined points to form a triangle shape and pinch to seal. Place the dumpling on top of a square of parchment and repeat with the rest.
Prepare a two-basket steamer and bring the water to a rolling boil. If you don’t have a steamer set, fill a wok or large pot with 1 to 2 inches of water, then place the steamer baskets inside. Make sure there is at least an inch of space between the bottom of the basket and the water. If you don’t have two baskets, work in two batches. Place the bao into the baskets without overcrowding. Turn the heat down to medium to keep it at a simmer and steam for 10 minutes.
Remove the steamer baskets from the water and allow to sit, covered, for 5 minutes before serving. The skins will become transparent as the dumplings cool a little. Serve with chili crisp or soy sauce, if desired.

Pro Tips & Storage

Leftover cooked crystal bao can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

Uncooked crystal bao can be pre assembled and stored on a parchment- lined plate wrapped tightly in plastic wrap for up to 3 days in the refrigerator. Freeze them flat in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet or plate for at least 2 hours, before transferring them to a zip-top bag for up to 3 months. This will prevent them from sticking together.

If you can’t find Chinese bacon, you can substitute pork belly, lardons, pancetta, or thick-cut bacon.

They can be steamed straight from the refrigerator or freezer; it will take a few minutes longer.

Try filling these wrappers with Char Siu Carnitas (page 40), Dan Dan Filling (page 49), Hong Kong Bolognese (page 51), or Wild Mushroom–Boursin Filling (page 65).

Published with permission from Chronicle Books.