Steamed bread is bread prepared by steaming rather than dry baking, giving a soft, moist crumb and a pale, tender crust. The classic examples are Chinese mantou and bao, staples across East Asia, where the gentle moist heat gelatinizes starch without forming a hard crust. Controlled steaming time, dough formulation, and proofing determine volume, softness, and surface smoothness, and the method needs no oven, only a steamer over boiling water. It suits lean doughs particularly well, producing a clean wheat flavour and a pillowy texture that pairs with both savoury fillings and sweet accompaniments.