Pav bread , a soft and fluffy dinner roll from Indian Subcontinent. In some parts of India, it's also known as "Ladi Pav". Though i make pav bhaji at home regularly, i never tried pav bread on my own until very recently.

Once i had started to make pav bread at home, i realized how soft and delicious homemade pav breads are!!! It's way better than the store bought ones and more importantly we know what goes into the bread.

Here in the recipe, the tangzhong method of bread making technique is used. Before making this pav bread, I baked coconut buns once using the Tangzhong method and the bread was so soft and delicious. Ever since, I've been using the Tangzhong method for many breads.

What's the Tangzhong method ?

Tangzhong is one of the bread making methods which originated in Japan. In this method, roux is used to make soft and fluffy bread.

What's roux and how is it prepared?

Roux is flour and milk or water or fat cooked together until it becomes a thick sauce like consistency or dough like consistency depends on the recipe. Roux is used in various cuisines for different purposes. It mainly used to thicken the sauce.

Here in baking, we use a part of flour and liquid to make roux. The roux locks in the liquid during the entire process of bread making and doesn't evaporate, therefore the baked product has more moisture in it and gives such a soft and fluffy bread. This is my understanding from what I have learned about Tangzhong method so far.

Flour

I have used unbleached all purpose flour here for making pav bread. No need for bread flour or self rising flour for making these soft and delicious dinner rolls.

Yeast

Yeast is the key ingredient for making any type of yeasted breads. Here i have used instant yeast which can be easily mixed with other ingredients without proofing. If you're a beginner in baking, i would highly recommend to use instant yeast so you no need to worry about proofing the yeast.But you can use the regular dried yeast also in the recipe.

To proof the dried yeast, add it in the luke warm water along with some sugar and let it set aside for 5-10 mins. Once it's foamy, it's good to use.

Whatever the yeast you're using, make sure it's fresh!

Related: How to make Vada Pav

Milk Powder

Adding milk powder gives the great flavor and color to the pav bread. But it's totally optional, i have tried this recipe without milk powder many times and it turned out pretty good.

Related: How to make Tutti Frutti Bun

If you have tried various methods and still are not satisfied with the outcome of homemade pav bread or if you're a beginner in baking and don't know much baking technique, then i highly recommend this method. I'm not exaggerating, it works like a charm every time!!

Home made Pav bread

Preparation Time : 2 hrs | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Makes : 12
Recipe Category: Bread | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
All purpose flour - 2 & 1/2 cup
Sugar - 3 & 1/2 tsp
Salt - 3/4 tsp
Curd - 1/4 cup
Milk Powder - 2 tsp(optional)
Instant yeast - 1 & 1/2 tsp
Butter - 3 tbsp
For the flour roux
All purpose flour - 8 tsp
Milk - 1/2 cup

Procedure

First let's make the flour roux, for that, take the all purpose flour and milk in a sauce, whisk it until all mix together well.

Then put it in the low heat, continuously whisk & cook till it becomes thick dough.

Remove from the flame,transfer the flour roux into a bowl,cover it with cling wrap(if you're using for later) and let it cool completely. Next for the dough, add the flour,sugar,salt,milk powder and yeast in a bowl. Mix it well.

Make a well in the center and add the prepared flour roux, butter,curd and mix it all together until it looks crumbled.

Next add 1/2 cup(approx) of water and make a slightly sticky dough.

Transfer the dough on to the working surface and kneed it for 10 mins until it becomes soft and non-sticky. It should pass the window pane test(That means you can able to stretch the dough without breaking such that the light can pass through it).

Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover it with cling wrap, let it rise for double in size. It takes 1 to 1&1/2 hrs approx.

Once the dough is doubled in size, punch down the extra air and cut the dough into 4 equal parts.Take each part of dough and make three balls out of it.

Keep the dough inside your palm and roll into smooth balls.

Do the same for the remaining dough and place it on the greased baking sheet. Cover it with cling paper and let it rise again for 30- 40 mins.Preheat oven at 350F. Once the dough doubled in size, brush it with milk on top and place it in the oven & bake it for 20-22 mins mins.

Remove from the oven and brush the top with melted butter on the top. Let it cool completely on wire rack.

Tasty and soft Pav bread is ready to serve. Now that pav bread is ready, next check out on

While preparing the roux, make sure to stir it continuously, it tends to clump together at the bottom quickly.
Cool the roux completely before use it in the dough.
Kneed the dough for 10 mins is must to get that soft , smooth & non-sticky dough.
Even without milk powder also, it turns out fine.

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Thursday, November 15, 2018