Method:

• Mix boiling water with cold milk and sugar, allow to dissolve and then add your yeast. Mixing the refrigerator cold milk and boiling water gets you the perfect temperature for the yeast. Bloom for 5 minutes. This is only necessary for active dry and fresh yeast, instant can be added directly into your flour
• Mix flour, salt and sieve in baking powder
• Combine together and add oil. The dough should have a slight stick and should not be dry.
• Knead for 8 minutes by hand or standing mixer on medium-low speed
• Cover your dough and rest for 3 minutes
• After resting, form into a dough ball and cover with a damp towel - allow to rise for 2 hours (or cold rise in a fridge overnight if you want breakfast bao)
• After rising, roll out the dough until it's about 5mm thickness. If you go thinner, you'll get more bao, thicker and you'll get fewer
• Cut into circles, I used a 4" cutter and got 11 buns out of this recipe
• Lightly grease the surface of each circle and gently bend half way to form a semi circle
• Cover your folded bao buns and allow them to prove for another 20-30 minutes. This makes them puff up and I highly recommend this step
• Steam for 10 minutes, I had my steamer over a pan of boiling water on high heat. You can use a normal steamer, just place some grease proof paper at the base and allow an inch between each bao bun for them to rise