Saturday, April 17, 2010

Pav Buns

For those who do not understand what these pavs are, these are similar to hamburger buns. These are used in making a kind of street food where in lot of spicy vegetable gravy (potatoes are the main vegetable) is served with toasted buns in India. When I came to this country, we lived in a small city in Alabama where the Indian store wasn't very big and we definitely did not get everything that we use in an Indian kitchen. We couldn't get Pavs. Then, slowly adapting to this country and what I can get in a general grocery store, I started making Pav- bhaji using hamburger buns.

Using hamburger buns for Pav-bhaji or vada pav stopped 5 years back when I got the bread machine as a gift. But again, I now live in a city where the Indian store sells Pavs. But, nothing beats the freshly made pav at home with few ingredients.

When I think about which gadget I have used the most, it is undoubtedly my 'Bread Machine'. Come to think of it, with 2 kids, a full time job, there is no way I can bake so many yeast breads if I didn't have a bread machine. Have you ever wondered how long you can store the bread that you bought from the store? You can store it for almost 2 weeks whereas when you bake it at home, you'll have to use it up within 3 days unless you froze them. Do you know why? Lot of preservatives. That is one of the reason, why I never buy bread from the store. Those who love fresh baked breads, if you are into baking, do invest in a bread machine.


Ingredients:
Bread flour - 3 cups
Warm milk - 1 cup
Salt - 1 tsp
Sugar - 3 TBSP
Active dry yeast - 2 1/4 tsp or one pack
Butter - 2 TBSP melted
More milk - for brushing before baking.

Method:
In a bowl, take warm milk. Add sugar and yeast. Let it froth. Add melted butter, salt and slowly start adding the flour to make a smooth dough. Knead really well for 10 - 15 minutes. I just dump everything into a bread machine and let it do the work. After the kneading, take the dough on to lightly floured surface and divide the dough into 12 balls. Let the balls rest for 10 minutes covered with a clean kitchen towel. Roll the balls smooth and place in a greased 13 X 9 pan. I used a 11 X 7 pan. Place the balls and it is alright if they touch each other when they rise. Pavs are baked touching each other in the pan. Cover loosely with an aluminum foil and let it rise for 45 minutes or till the balls have doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Brush the buns with warm milk before baking. You could give an egg wash instead. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes are till the tops are golden and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped. Brush with some melted butter when still warm.

These are slit horizontally like bagels are slit and toasted with a little butter and served with the vegetable gravy. I'll post the recipe for bhaji or the vegetables some other day.
These buns are on way to Susan's 'Yeast Spotting' hosted here.

An Update: I used  a glass pan and used 325 F for baking. I should've mentioned that if you use aluminum pan, to use 350 F and if using glass or a dark non-stick pan, use 325 F. I apologize for that. Thanks to one of the readers 'Swapna' for giving me the feedback on this.

Happy Baking!! Pin It

26 comments:

  1. lovely pavs..looks delicious ...

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  2. This is an awesome recipe..gr8 click also ..was wondering if it could be kneaded by hand and still get the same result?

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  3. OK, now this is what I would like to bake next. I got my candidate :)

    Thanks for sharing dear.

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  4. Hummm... lovely and irresistable buns.. Love it!

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  5. Nice ones....and guess what I was thinking about posting it too(for baking from a book event) as I made these couple of times last month & my recipe was from some mag. but don't have pic.....

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  6. Buns look really nice Champa, these store bought buns do not match up to our home made pav buns..

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  7. Perfect pav dear......will try it soon:)

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  8. Wow! Wouldn't it be great to make our own pav buns at home..

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  9. I found your site recently and must say that this is a GREAT site with wonderful recipes. I have a question regarding Bread Machine. Is the Bread Machine used to mix the dough only or to bake it also? Can we mix the dough with hand or in a food processor? I am a novice to baking; any help is appreciated :).

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  10. Swapna, Thanks for visiting my blog and thank you for kind words. Bread machine can be used for both mixing the dough and baking. I usually don't bake in the machine itself since I don't like the shape of the loaf. They come out too big and short or wide. You can definitely make the dough by hand or by food processor. I recommend mixer with the dough hook rather than food processor. If you have time on hand and like to get some exercise for your hands, hand kneading is really good. I don't do it since I have the bread machine and it is easy. Hope this helps. Any questions, let me know and I'll try to answer to the best of my knowledge.

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  11. Pavs look beautiful and inviting :) Can we bake using the oven and not a bread maker?

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  12. Life is Beautiful,
    I did not bake these in the bread machine. I just made the dough in the bread machine and shaped into rolls and baked in the oven. Thanks for the comment.

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  13. Hello Champa (if I may call you so),
    I made pav buns yesterday and they turned out great :). However, the bottom was a little hard... maybe not hard, but crispier than the top. Any idea why? I have used a cooking spray to grease the pan instead of butter; would that have caused it? Anyway, This is the first time I have made any kind of bread and was very happy with the results :). Thank you soooo much for an easy and wonderful recipe.

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  14. Hi Swapna, Yes you may call me 'Champa'. I am glad you tried them and it came out good. Were you using a glass or dark coated non-stick pan? That can make the bottom brown faster. If you do use them, decrease the oven temperature by 25 degrees and bake for couple of minutes longer than what the recipe says. I usually check it at exact time and then decide if I want to bake longer or not. If you give me more details about what you baked in, I can help. Also, oven temperature varies. You have to make sure the oven temperature was not too hot. Hope this helps. Good luck to you with future baking projects.

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  15. Thank you Champa for the feedback. I used a glass pan, like shown in your picture (Pyrex). I will try it at 325F next time and see :).

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  16. Hi Champa,
    Iam new to your blog.....very good collection you have....wanted to make pav for a long time but coudnt get the recipe....will definitely try ur pav soon....just curious, have you posted the recipe for bhaji ? i couldnt find it here or have i missed out.....would be glad if you let me know :)

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  17. Hi Champa, the dough is shaped initially itself and needs to rest just for 10 minutes for the first time and not till double?

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  18. Suma,
    Yes. These do not need double rising. They come out perfect with the first one itself. If you are using regular yeast, then you probably will have to let it rise for longer than 45 minutes for it to rise.

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  19. hello champaji..i visited your blog since last two days and well...its superb. i just stop by this recipe of pav buns. having two question regarding this....can we use simple maida instead of bread flour as i hardly found bread flour in gujarat, india. i often found cake flour but not bread flour. and second is the quality of Active dry yeast is not so good in india...can we use instant yeast instead. do we need proofing it? i made a bread loaf with active dry yeast which was horribly flop on name of bread loaf :( ... will visit the same page soon...and urs blog too.... thanks

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    1. Meeta,
      Thanks for nice words. You can use all purpose flour or maida instead of bread flour. Instant yeast is fine too. Just use 2 tsp wherever the recipe says to use 2 1/4 tsp of active dry yeast. Watch it closely as it raises quickly too. No need to proof the instant yeast unless you want to make sure your yeast is good.

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  20. I tried these buns today and they were awesome :) Thanks Champa :)

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  21. I left a comment but I can't see it now. But, I loved this recipe and it came out so well. Thanks a ton Champa :)

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  22. Hi Champa,
    If I want to make these ahead of time but bake them freshly, what would be the best procedure? Where to take break?

    Thanks.

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    1. Swapna, you can parbake them and when they are cool, wrap them very well and freeze. You can take it out and let it thaw for about 40 minutes and then continue to bake till it gets brown. I usually parbake mine for 3/4 th of the entire baking time. You could bake these for about 11 - 12 minutes and then the remaining time (you might have to add few minutes more for the second baking).

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If you have a question and you leave it as a comment, I'll surely answer the question to the best of my knowledge. Thanks for visiting.