Hope you kama`aina's appreciate...

[justleesa]

Naturally I did a little search and most recipes use fridge biscuits

This one, which I found at AlohaWorld.com sounds right
Bao:
1 package Active dry yeast
1 3/4 C Lukewarm water, 110 to 115 degrees in temperature
1/2 C Sugar
1 Tbsp Salad oil
1 tsp Salt
5 1/2 C Flour
12 3-inch squares Oiled brown paper (from sacks)
Cooking Instructions:
Soften yeast in lukewarm water. Add next 3 ingredients, stirring until dissolved. Add flour, a cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Work dough with hands, if necessary. Knead 5 minutes on floured board. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl; turn dough over, greased side up. Cover and let rise in a warm place free from drafts, about 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in bulk. Punch down. Cut dough into 12 pieces.

Shape into balls and flatten to 3-inch circles. Place 1/4 cup filling in center and bring edges of dough together, pinching to seal. Place sealed-side-down on oiled paper. Cover and allow to rise 45 minutes or until doubled. Place on rack in steamer. Drape a clean dry dishcloth over steamer and secure with cover bringing ends of cloth on top of lid. Steam over medium heat for 25 minutes. Makes 1 dozen

 

[kidspot]

Sounds very good Leesa Thanks for the recipe -

Aloha, Tim

 

[kidspot]

Here's the recipe we tried tonight

1 yeast cake
1 c. warm water
1 tsp sugar
set aside to bubble, then add to the following:

5 c. Hot water
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 c. shortening
3 tsp. Salt
10 c. flour plus additional 7-8 c. flour

Manapua

Combine ingredients including extra flour until it has a firm, yet slightly “sticky” feel to the dough. Break off dinner roll size pieces and roll into 6" round “pizza” like pads. Place 1/4" meat in the center of the “pizza”. I find shredded shoyu chicken to work well, but you can also use sweet & sour pork, kalua pork/turkey. Traditionally charsui pork is used.

Take up the edges of the pizza and pinch together so that the meat is encased in a “ball” of dough.

allow to rise for 30-60 minutes.

Steam for 20-25 minutes, or bake after glazing with butter for 20 minutes.

Enjoy

Cinnamon Rolls (original recipe this bread was intended for ... very goooood)
Start about 4pm, knead every hour until 9pm. Divide and make into cinnamon rolls. Grease pans, sprinkle with Brown sugar, raisins, nuts, etc. Divide dough and spread on greased flat surface. Spread with butter, cinnamon and sugar, drizzle with syrup or jam. Roll up and cut into wedges. Place in pan. Remove from draft and bugs. Let raise overnight. Bake in morning at 350* for 15-25 minutes depending on size of roll. About 5:30 am.

Starting to rise...

Baked and ready to eat...

and the left over dough makes wonderful cinnamon rolls

P.S. Out of this batch of dough we made 20 Manapua, 15 cinnamon rolls and 2 loaves of bread. You could make 45 cinnamon rolls out of the whole batch

 

[kidspot]

gotta add a couple of comments to the above...

1) we had the cinnamon rolls for breakfast this morning ... sooooo good.
2) we let the dough raise 5x before making the manapua last night, it is too "airy" and the humidity caused it to flatten out a lot more than we wanted. Next time I would not let it raise over and over, to give the bread a more solid feel.
3) shoyu chicken makes really good filling and is easy to make. (recipe to follow for non-locals)

Shoyu Chicken for manapua filling:

2 cups Aloha Shoyu (ok, you can use Kikoman if you must)
2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
3Tbsp minced/crushed garlic
1 medium onion sliced into wedges
1 Tbsp sesame oil
10 Chicken thighs

Place all ingredients into a crockpot or slow cooker (stock pot works over low heat as well) except the chicken. Stir till sugar is disolved. Add chicken (liquid should just cover the chicken) cook on low heat till meat starts falling off the bones.

Remove chicken from broth and pull out the bones (the meat will probably be off most of the bones already) Shred/dice the chicken into pieces. Leftover chicken can be served over rice.

If you are not using the recipe for Manapua, only cook till the chicken is completely cooked, serve over rice (Diamond G calrose rice of course)

Aloha, Tim