In a medium bowl, gently stir together warm water, warm milk, sugar and yeast. Set aside in a warm area (room temperature) and let sit for 10 minutes.

In a separate large bowl, whisk together the flour, xanthan gum (if using), baking powder and salt. Set aside for now.

Add the activated yeast mixture to the dry ingredients and mix with dough hooks on low speed until the mixture starts to come together well and is no longer sticking to the edges of the bowl (about 2 to 3 minutes).

Using your hands, form the dough into a ball and place dough ball into a clean large bowl.

Cover that bowl with food safe plastic wrap and set aside in a warm area (room temperature) for 30 to 60 minutes until it doubles in size.

Cut eight 4-inch squares of parchment paper and place on a large baking sheet.

Remove dough from bowl and place on a lightly floured surface (using extra gluten-free flour).

Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to a ½-inch thickness.

Use a 3 ½-inch cookie cutter to cut circles out of the dough. You should get 8 circles out of the dough.

Place dough circles onto the squares of parchment paper.

Lightly brush the tops of each bun with a small amount of olive oil then fold each bun over creating half circle shapes.

Cover the baking sheet with food safe plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes in a warm area (room temperature) to allow buns to rise a bit more.

Take each bun, still on parchment paper, and place the bun with parchment paper into a bamboo steamer.

Place about ½ inch of water into a deep frying pan or wok.

On the stovetop, bring the water to a boil on high heat then reduce heat to medium.

Place the bamboo steamer into the deep frying pan or wok. Ensure the water isn’t touching the buns.

Place lid on the steamer and let the buns steam over low-medium heat for 12 minutes.

After 12 minutes, carefully remove the lid from the steamer.

Remove buns (with parchment paper) from steamer and repeat the steps to cook the remainder of the buns.

Allow buns to cool completely before storing leftovers.