Cornflour ‘Nest’ Buns

窝窝头

English: Cornflour ‘Nest’ Buns

Chinese: 窝窝头

Pinyin: wo wo tou

Literal: Nest nest head

No other single food epitomises Northern Chinese cooking quite like wowotou (窝窝头). Northern cuisine traditionally relied on coarse grains, millet and wheat, reflecting a region where simplicity, practicality, and subtle flavours took precedence over extravagance. Wowotou represents this culinary heritage. In its most basic form, these buns require just two ingredients—corn flour and water—and during hard times, that’s often all they were.

For many older Northerners, wowotou fell out of favour as they became a painful reminder of the famine and scarcity that came with the political upheavals of the 20th century.  As prosperity grew and diets diversified, the humble wowotou quietly disappeared from restaurants and street vendors, but the buns are making a slow comeback in the modern food scene of China. Young generations are starting to embrace traditional foods and artisan practices, fascinated by a rural past that seems so abstract in modern Chinese megacities like Beijing. To urban dwellers, an agrarian lifestyle feels like ancient history, yet it lingers on the table in foods like these.

The name wowotou translates to ‘nest head’ in English, a clear nod to its unusual shape. Shaped like small, hollow mounds, these striking yellow buns stand tall and proud on the plate. Despite sharing the same fundamental ingredients as American cornbread, wowotou couldn’t be more different. They are dense, gritty and earthy, rather than fluffy and moist. Western palates accustomed to refined grains and pillowy white bread may find wowotou buns hard-going.

Nowadays, chefs often throw in red dates, pumpkin or nuts to the dough to add a bit of sweetness, but this recipe is for the original. It is a celebration of the wowotou—a straightforward, unembellished staple that embodies Northern China’s spirit of resilience and simplicity.

Makes 8 buns

Ingredients

160g fine corn flour

20g coarse corn flour

50g flour

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon yeast

150ml boiling water

20ml warm water

20ml milk

1 teaspoon salt

Method

  1. Add the fine and coarse corn flours to a large mixing bowl. Pour the boiling water over the flours and use chopsticks to mix until the mixture forms large lumps.

  2. Add the plain flour, sugar, yeast, warm water, and milk to the bowl. Bring the mixture together into a dough and knead for about 2 minutes. After 1 minute of kneading, add the salt and continue until the dough is smooth.

  3. Shape the dough into a ball, cover with a towel, and let it rest in a warm place for about 30 minutes.

  4. Once the dough has rested, place it onto a chopping board and divide it into eight equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball. Using your index finger, press into the center of each ball and gently rotate while stretching the dough to form a hollow center. The shape should resemble a small helmet or nest. Avoid making the sides too thin, as this will cause the bun to split and lose its shape.

  5. Place each shaped bun onto a small square of parchment paper and transfer them to a steamer. Leave the buns in the steamer for about 10 minutes to rise slightly.

  6. Steam the buns for 15 minutes. Serve warm. If needed, you can re-steam them later or freeze them after cooking for future use.

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