May Chow's thoughts on bao

• How to make your own May Chow bao

• 7 favourite bao venues in Sydney

May Chow, former chef at Hong Kong's influential Yardbird restaurant, branched out on her own a few years ago with Little Bao – the bun shop that stole Hong Kong's heart. Good Food caught her for five quick-fire questions ahead of Good Food Month.

What are the biggest mistakes people make when attempting bao at home?

Making bao might seem counterintuitive for a western baker. It's a quick-rise bread that's aimed to limit air bubbles. Therefore, it's important to knead dough until glutens form and the dough tightens, but keep kneading it until it softens again, which actually breaks down the gluten. Then you have to fold and roll out the dough thinly several times to minimise all the air bubbles. At Little Bao, we roll out and fold 10 times to break down all air bubbles, and also it layers the ingredients so, when it rises, the air bubbles are small, tight and uniform.

Favourite fillings?

For a traditional bao, my favourite is the Shanghainese soup pork bao buns that are super crisp on the bottom. Xiao Yang sheng jian guan (Yang's Dumplings) in Shanghai might be my favourite ever.

What sets your steamed buns apart?

We have refined our recipe to be both soft but still have structure, which is bounce. We re-envision ours as a Chinese burger, so we veer away from the more traditional gua baos or other types of Chinese buns.

Dave Chang has been credited with popularising the steamed bun – have you tried one? What do you think of his version?

I think his original pork belly bao is simple and satisfying. His concept has a deeper meaning for me because it inspired and made it cool for us Asian-American chefs to further explore our identities through food. We all grew up along the lines where we were picked on as kids when your mom sends you off with fried rice instead of a tuna sandwich. Now Asian food is so celebrated in all shapes and forms.

How many buns does Little Bao serve a day?

We are a 20-seat restaurant open for dinner only. We sell approximately 200 baos per night.

Good Food Month presented by Citi is filled with events during the month of October. Head to goodfoodmonth.com for more.