XO sauce
XO sauce is a Hong Kong condiment of dried scallop and shrimp, chilli, aromatics and oil, cooked rather than fermented, whose restaurant and home versions differ widely.
Modern adaptation
Bo lo bao
Hong Kong-style pineapple buns have soft yeast dough beneath a crisp, sweet pastry topping.
A crisp-topped bun
Bo lo bao is a Hong Kong-style bun with a sweet pastry top over soft yeast bread. Its name refers to the crust's appearance; this recipe contains no pineapple.
Sources for this section
A named Hong Kong making technique
Hong Kong’s December 2024 intangible-cultural-heritage inventory lists Pineapple Bun Making Technique as item 5.34. It distinguishes the yeast-bread body from its separate pastry covering. Recognition here concerns a making practice; it does not establish who baked the first bun or prescribe this particular chef’s quantities.
The official description includes ingredients that differ from ArChan Chan’s measured version. This page keeps her eight-bun dough and refrigerated topping intact. Heritage recognition is not a reason to combine separate formulas or add pineapple to a bread named for its crust’s appearance.
Sources for this section
At the café table
The Hong Kong Tourism Board describes Kam Wah Cafe’s pineapple bun as light bread with a sugary, flaky top, served with a slab of butter. Its account places the bun among cha chaan teng foods such as milk tea and egg tarts, eaten at breakfast or as a snack.
The butter is a serving choice rather than a fruit filling. The source-specific version here offers butter optionally after baking; its quantities and dough remain unchanged. A café description establishes a food setting, not a precise origin story for every bakery’s bun.
Sources for this section
Passing on the craft
The Intangible Cultural Heritage Office’s Meet the Masters programme scheduled pineapple-bun workshops with Man Fuk-on at the Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage Centre in January 2024. Placing a named practitioner and a making technique together shows how the craft is presented for public learning.
That programme listing records scheduled workshops, not evidence of every participant’s attendance or a recipe test. It supports a contemporary cultural context while leaving the earliest attestation of bo lo bao unresolved.
Sources for this section
History
Hong Kong's heritage inventory records the pineapple-bun making technique; the first attestation is not established.
Ingredients
Yield 8 buns · Scaling: source batch only
Caster sugar
60 g
Instant dry yeast
5 g
Water
150 mL
Tepid for dough; plus ½ tsp for topping and a little for sprayingEgg
1 whole
For doughEvaporated milk
15 mL3 tsp as recorded
2 tsp for dough, 1 tsp for toppingLard
90 g
60 g for dough, 30 g for topping; at room temperatureBread flour
300 g
Baking soda
1.2 mL¼ tsp as recorded
Cake flour
70 g
Plus extra for dustingIcing sugar
50 g
Egg yolks
2 whole
One for topping and one for glazeButter (optional)
Amount not stated
For serving; amount unspecifiedMethod
Risks and precautions · Standard risk
Contains wheat, milk and egg.
Do not taste raw dough or topping; raw flour and eggs can contain harmful germs. Wash hands and surfaces after handling them.
Use oven protection when handling hot trays.
- Mix caster sugar, yeast and tepid water; leave about 5 minutes or until bubbling. Stir in the beaten egg, 2 teaspoons evaporated milk and 60 g lard, then mix in bread flour.
- Knead for 10 minutes, cover with a clean damp cloth and rest 10 minutes. Knead another 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
- Cover in a bowl and let rise for 1–1½ hours or until nearly doubled. Deflate, divide into eight balls, place on a tray and cover with a clean dry cloth. Let rise about 1 hour or until doubled.
- For the topping, mix baking soda, cake flour and icing sugar. Add one yolk, 1 teaspoon evaporated milk, 30 g lard and ½ teaspoon water; mix just until combined. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Heat the conventional oven to 200°C. Divide the topping into eight pieces, flatten each into a thin disc on a lightly floured surface and place one on each bun.
- Lightly spray the buns with water and brush the topping with the remaining beaten yolk. Bake for about 15 minutes or until risen and golden. Serve warm, optionally split with butter.
Conditions
Yield8 buns
Places
Hong Kong
Documented preparation · Country evidenceThe Hong Kong heritage inventory documents pineapple bun making; it does not establish a precise birthplace.
Related
More from Hong Kong
Related in the family
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Soft, lightly tangy steamed cereal bread documented across Benin and Togo. This page gives one measured rice-flour research method; maize-based Ablo and mixed-grain versions remain distinct traditions.
Alsatian kouglof
An enriched Alsatian yeast ring with raisins and almonds, kneaded with butter, proofed in a fluted mould and baked until browned.
Anpan
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Baghrir
Moroccan semolina pancakes made from a thin yeast batter, rested until foamy and cooked on one side until the surface sets with a honeycomb of holes. This source-specific batch makes sixteen 5-inch pancakes.
Belokranjska pogača
A round Slovenian flatbread scored in a grid and topped with caraway and coarse salt.
Biga
Biga is an Italian bread preferment of flour, water and a little yeast, usually a stiff unsalted mass of about 45 per cent water, fermented ahead and then mixed into the final dough.
Bolo do caco: pan-and-oven version
Sweet-potato wheat breads with fresh yeast, browned in a pan and finished in the oven. This is the bread component of Teleculinária's scrambled-egg dish.
Char Siu Bao (Wei Guo’s 14-bun recipe)
Fourteen fluffy steamed buns filled with cooked char siu and a thickened oyster-soy sauce.
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Sources
SBS FoodInspiration · Method
Pineapple bun with butter (Bo lo bao)Eight-bun dough and topping, proofing, refrigerated pastry and bake.
Cited in: A crisp-topped bun
Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage OfficeContext · Geography
Intangible Cultural Heritage Inventory of Hong KongPineapple bun making technique and its separate bread and pastry components.
Cited in: A crisp-topped bun
Intangible Cultural Heritage OfficeContext
Intangible Cultural Heritage Inventory of Hong Kong, December2024Item5.34 separates bread and pastry components; making-technique recognition.
Cited in: A named Hong Kong making technique
Hong Kong Tourism BoardContext
Kam Wah CafePineapple bun with butter in cha chaan teng breakfast/snack setting.
Cited in: At the café table
Intangible Cultural Heritage OfficeContext
Meet the Masters! Series2024Scheduled January2024 pineapple-bun workshops with ManFuk-on.
Cited in: Passing on the craft