I honestly have no great idea where to place this category (or if it even really belongs to this blurb), as most traditional style pastries tend to be steamed. However, a lot of the Chinese bakeries (typically Hong Kong/Taiwanese-style) are really an amalgam of Chinese goods and American/European style baking styles (and in the Bay Area even further additions of cultural mixing).
An interesting thing to note is that for some bakeries, a lot of the baked breads use a baking technique called Tangzhong/Water Roux starter. With this technique, the water roux is able to hold more gas during fermentation and keep more moisture in the bread while reducing the hardness, gumminess, and chewiness of the bread. Compared to bread baked without this technique there is no significant difference in cohesiveness and springiness. We also see this technique in Japanese and Korean bakeries in the bay area as well in things like Hokkaido Milk Bread.
Some common steamed buns (note, a lot of steamed buns are probably found in the take home dim sum places than at the bakery):
Mantou: Pretty much the basic fluffy steamed bread made of wheat. Typically the mantou are steamed with bleached white flour, but there are whole wheat variants available as well.
BBQ pork buns: Steamed bun with bbq pork fillings that appear to have a craggly mountainish appearance.
Big bun: A rather large steamed bun filled with pork, eggs, and other ingredients such as shitake mushrooms.
Custard buns: Usually a round bun filled with sweet yellow custard.
Some baked goodies:
Pineapple bun: This baked bun does not contain any pineapple fruit, rather the cookie crust on top appears like the pineapple rind. At a few bakeries or Hong Kong style cafes, the pineapple bun can be served with an icy block of butter is added to a hot bun giving it a great texture (crackly top, soft warm bun, and buttery notes) and probably even more distress to your doctor…
Baked bbq pork buns: These are the baked variant of the steamed bbq pork buns. They look like a brown dinner roll-like exterior with the same bbq pork interior. There are some baked bbq pork buns with a crispy top akin to a pineapple bun/melon pan.
Cocktail/Coconut bun: The cocktail bun is an elongated oval bun with a coconut based filling.
Mooncakes: Most traditional mooncakes have a thick, tender pastry skin with a sweet, dense filling. The filling may consist of lotus paste, red bean paste, or other variants. Salted egg yolks may be present as well, as the yolk appears as the symbol of the full moon. These pastries are commonly found during the Mid-Autumn festival but can appear year round.
Egg tart: This egg custard tart is likely influenced by both the British and Portuguese baking traditions. The tart has two types of outer crust: a cookie/short crust or the flakey, puff pastry crust. The smooth custard filling in the middle is quite eggy. A variant from Macau is the Portuguese tart/pastel de nata that has a carmelized custard in the center.
I’ve read that the Chinese baking tradition is derived from Russian bakery cafes in Shanghai’s French Concession during the International Settlement days. Russians fleeing the revolution and ending up in Shanghai tended to settle in the more tolerant French Concession and some opened bakeries and cafes there. The Chinese, like the Russians, were treated as an under class in the American and British quarters, and the more sophisticated and mobile of then also favored the French Concession, where the two groups tended to bond. Chinese learned to appreciate, then to recreate, the pastries they encountered in Russian cafes, later bringing this new culinary skill to Hong Kong when fleeing still another revolution.
And there are some possible mixing there as well. And I didn’t really want to call the thread Cantonese bakeries cause … its such a mix now haha. Look at Paris Baguette and Tous Les Jours, are they French bakeries? Yeah but also Korean. My pastry history knowledge isn’t that great either
Separately, should this discussion be called Regional Cantonese Baked Goods Roundup if its only focusing on the Cantonese style baked goods? And isn’t Cantonese sufficient (versus Regional Cantonese) since Canton is a region?
Can some of these foods be identified with a subregions (Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, etc.), and would such a distinction be useful for baked goods?
Are there major differences in Hong Kong and Taiwanese techniques or ingredients (certainly dishes)?
More generally, on other pages in this collection, would further regionalization lend insights, or are the categories of food the last level where the meaning lies?
Haha, that’s why I could never really figure out what to title this. A lot of the bakeries are borrowing ideas from one another.
I think you can attribute the Portuguese Tart towards Macau (and yes, its from Portugal cause well Macau was a Portuguese colony) and the Egg Custard towards Hong Kong/Guangzhou though I’m rather hazy on some of the other items’ history.
From what I can tell, the tangzhong method seemed to be popularized from a Taiwanese baker from a book called 65 C something something bread doctor. So probably the same branch, just certain sweetness ratios might differ a bit.
I was hoping someone would have a good answer since I don’t haha.
Oh yes there are variations within Cantonese. Shantou food (Chiu Chow) is different from Shunde food. I was just saying they can all broadly classify under the Cantonese umbrella.
Hmmmm I personally don’t really eat moon cakes lol so not the best person to ask.
Kee Wah at Dublin and Cuppertino does HK style/Cantonese style moon cakes.
I recently walked right next to Golden Gate Bakery and they’re open for mooncakes too (same with most of the Chinatown bakeries) and they’re usually Cantonese origin so they’ll be Cantonese style.
Sheng Kee is a Taiwanese bakery chain and they have some Taiwanese style mooncakes.
But honestly I think the easiest is at the super market like Ranch 99. They have the durian ones and the snow skin mooncakes.
Edit: Koi Palace use to have their own, not sure if they’re still selling them, but just noticed that https://www.hlpeninsula.com/mooncake2020 is selling their own mooncakes.
In the video, the 5-Nut with almonds, walnuts, olive kernels (?), sesame seeds, pumpkins seeds and pork looked interesting as did the Fujian-style with dried shrimp, mushrooms and scallions.
Eastern Bakery at 720 Grant SF has 4 or 5 with unspecified mixed nuts.
I haven’t really ever seen savory mooncakes from the bakeries, though I think I saw some at 99.
I’m reading this blog:
They mention “And of course if you are ever in San Francisco, then go to Golden Gate Bakery and get the Smashed 5 Nut Blend with one yolk.”
Sounds kinda like that 5 nut one you’re talking about with Eastern Bakery as well.
Anyone have any insight into Vietnamese moon cakes? I recall reading that they were somewhat different but I haven’t tried one. Does anyone know of a place near SJ perhaps?
Okay, I basically don’t eat mooncakes so please don’t sue me.
According to KK back in uh… 2004. Golden Gate Bakery also had some sort of savory roast pork moon cake. So they had savory ones at least! Unfortunately due to the pandemic, I haven’t really gone inside any of the places recently. I did walk by GG Bakery last weekend and there was a tiny slit thats cracked open where you can buy pastries. Think its only moon cakes right now but not sure on the flavor as I was not near the front of the shop.
And some older topics that aren’t as far reaching as 2004 lol:
Reading the savory topic, @sck had one from Koi Palace but I’m not too certain on what they have at the moment. Covid has thrown places around right now @_@
The Eastern Bakery ones are really good, and they have many other interesting baked goods that are hard to find elsewhere. They could use the business too.
I remember nuts and double yolk, but that’s it. Since I’m not coming into the office now and I live deep in the East Bay, I haven’t been there since early March.
Well I feel dumb lol. Could’ve actually explored my own link that I posted.
@zippo1 Eastern might be your best bet for variety I think. That’s a really generous list. There’s a bit of Vietnamese there so I’m a little curious if they do any variants that might be more Vietnamese style?
