Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Pav (Bread) for a good cause

For a while now I have been wanting to make pav ( an Indian version of bread).Pav refers to a simple and humble version of bread that is made in India and is sold at bakeries all over, in addition you have "Pav wallahs " as they are known in Bombay, go from street to street on the bicycle selling this bread in addition to other goodies from their bakeries like nankhatai (an Indian cookie). This bread is used for a lot of fast food/ street food goodies  like Vada pav (Vada is spiced potatoes dipped in batter and fried and placed between (Pav) bread with some spices/chutney to further spice it up) and Pav bhaji ( a  yum combination of bread and mixed vegetables served with a dollop of butter) Pav is different from the regular dinner roll as it is not very sweet and tends to have a more chewy quality to it, I often feel it resembles the ciabatta bread but has a softer feel to it.

Pav-Rustic Indian bread

Ning  from Heart and Hearth tagged me to participate in a very worthwhile event by  Breadline Africa.This tag served as a motivation for me to get around to making this pav. This tag is also a challenge, and the challenge is to do something that you do not do normally, and baking this pav definitely qualifies on two levels, one I have never baked pav before, so it is definitely  different from my usual baking. Additionally I never bake with all purpose flour , but this time I decided to make an exception, I thought this tag provided the perfect excuse to bake with all purpose flour :-)   For pav recipes I used refered to Cham's recipe of pav here  and to Jugalbandi's recipe of pav here  and came up with a slightly modified version of my own which I give below.

I made two versions of this pav one completely with all purpose flour and the other partially with whole wheat flour and partially with all purpose flour. The breads turned out soft and perfect.The only thing I thought I would change was to make smaller pav the next time and keep them closer on the baking tray to get the squarish shape that pav is normally associated with. I thought both versions were very tasty but mostly I was relieved as I normally am after making bread, that the yeast did not fail to work and that the bread actually rose as it should :-) 

I would in turn like to pass on this tag to Divya  , Curry Leaf  , Navita , Karuna and Sukanya 

Pav- Rustic Indian bread


Ingredients and Method to make Pav/ Bread

All purpose flour pav
3 1/4 cups all purpose flour 
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup warm milk (or warm water, see notes below)
1 and 1/2 tsp sugar
3 tsp active dry yeast
2 Tbsp melted butter ( or oil for a vegan version)
a little additional butter (or for a vegan version, use non diary butter) to apply on top of the bread

For the whole wheat flour pav I substituted all purpose flour with 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour + 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour and proceeded in the same manner as below

Mix sugar and yeast in warm water and keep aside for a few minutes until it froths up

In a large mixing bowl, mix the all purpose flour and salt and keep aside.

Add the yeast  and warm milk to the all purpose flour and knead to make a soft and smooth dough.

Add melted butter (or smart balance) to this and knead some more until the dough is soft and non sticky and smooth. Knead totally for about 10 minutes

Place this dough in a greased container and keep covered with plastic wrap or tea towel and keep aside for the dough to rise (approximately one hour)

Grease a baking tray and keep aside.

When the dough has risen (should be double) punch it down gently and make equal sized balls with the dough and place it on the baking tray about 1/2 an inch apart.

Cover with a plastic wrap and let rise for another hour. 

Preheat oven to 375 deg F.

After the dough has risen the second time (notice that the bread is joined at the ends), place the baking tray in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes until the bread is baked to a nice brown color on top.

Remove from oven, when you tap the top of the bread it will be a little hard and sound a bit hollow, apply a little butter/smart balance on top and bake for another couple of minutes.

Remove, pull apart and serve with vegetables as pav bhaji or with soup or just enjoy one warm from the oven with a little butter or jam

Updated Notes
For a more authentic pav or a vegan version use only water and skip the milk.

42 comments :

anudivya said...

Usha this looks so good! Nice sheen on the outside and good texture from what I can see. Superb.

Thanks for tagging me. Will surely do it.

karuna said...

thnks for tagging. will try my best to do it.

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

pav buns look great.. it has come out perfect. i feel like having it now... :)

CurryLeaf said...

Perfect Pav buns.Where is bhaji to go with this?

Thanks for tagging me,but I had done the same tag before - Spicy Sweet Potato Rolls.I will be updating it with your link and will notify in my next post.

Thanks again

Trupti said...

Pav looks perfect Usha..better than mine :)

Unknown said...

Thats come out perfect Usha, I never tried baking bread , I am thinking to do it sometime soon :)

Unknown said...

they have come out perfect..am going to make this following your recipe..

Varsha Vipins said...

They look so delicious Usha..:)

Anonymous said...

The Pav looks perfect Usha! Great baking! :-)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for stopping by.
Usha,and thanks for tagging me dear. MY FIRST ever tag...how can I miss it..ofcourse its not a problem...I am not working nor do I have kids yet...so I don't think I have any excuse to not participate.

Also,on the same note..excatly how do I tag someone if I want to? I have no clue..I know this question might sound hilarious or silly! Is it that I just mention it and then comment on their blogs or something more???

Great JOB on the wonderful pavs!

Shama Nagarajan said...

pav looks perfect.......nice entry

Unknown said...

I love pav too, specially when they are as perfect as yours.

Cham said...

Wow, it just look perfect and soft! Next time i should subst with wheat flour too :)

vandana rajesh said...

delicious looking pav...can see the glazed look on it. As it was easily available in Mumbai never have tried baking it. Seeing urs makes me want to try it soon.

Pam said...

Beautiful bread for a wonderful cause. Great job Usha.

Premyscakes said...

wow, it looks great.

Finla said...

Wow they looks really yumm

Laavanya said...

These look so perfect & smooth and the glazed look on top makes it look so professional too.

Lore said...

Love their colour on top, gorgeous bread!

Vishali said...

Hey Usha,

the pav bread looks great.....i have just been postponing to make one :).....i will try it very soon....

Thanks for dropping by.

Vishali

Unknown said...

looks so soft and perfect usha nice entry for the good purpose

Vaishali said...

Yum, Usha, I just want to tear off a piece of that wonderful pav and dip it into something hot and spicy! Thanks for a delicious recipe.

AnuSriram said...

They look perfect and nice...

Jaishree Iyer said...

Pav looks perfect Usha.. Nice baking:)

Srikitchen said...

wow! looks delicious!

Bharti said...

They look lovely.

Amy said...

Mmmm I adore fresh breads, they look delicious!

Bharathy said...

Glad to note you have entered these perfect and yummy bread for a noble purpose :)
Love the soft pav bread.

Sunshinemom said...

Pav seems to be ruling since November! They look great, Usha!

Cynthia said...

I love baking bread so I am definitely going to try this.

Usha said...

Divya, Karuna and Mahimaa, Thanks!


Curry Leaf, the bhaji post follows...I seemed to have missed your post on this topic,will check it out :-)

Trupti, Roopa and Sowmya,Thanks!

Usha said...

Varsha and Sharmila, thanks for dropping by...


Thanks Navita, glad to know you plan to do the tag...yes that is pretty much how you do it,tag someone and let them know you have tagged them :-)

Usha said...

Shama and Simran, Thanks !

Cham, special thanks to you, your post on pav really motivated me to try mine...

Thanks for dropping by Vandana, when I visit Bombay I have the store bought one all the time too, it is really easy to get over there!

Crochet Fun Hub said...

Lovely little buns....

Usha said...

Pam, Premyscakes and Happycook, Thanks for visiting, hope to see you here again !


Laavanya, Lore and Vishali, Thanks!

Usha said...

Rekha, Vaishali, Anu,Jaishree, Srilekha and Bharti, Thanks for dropping by and for your sweet comments :-)

Usha said...

Vegetation, Bharathy and Sunshinemom thanks for visiting :-)

Usha said...

Cynthia, thanks for visiting, do let me know when you try these :-)



Jackie, thanks for dropping by...

Anonymous said...

Hello Usha

I did try out ur pav yesterday but they didnt turn out to be soft at all , they were a bit hard..... i had reduced the proportion to 1 cup of flour & added 1 tsp yeast.....don know hwere did i go wrong..........would love to try these pav again .........can u help me in where did i go wrong.......the other steps i followed acc to ur recipe

Usha said...

Hi Pinky, the only reason this bread doesn't get the right texture is if the yeast fails. I have had some problems with yeast in the past...one tip when you dissolve yeast in warm water be sure to add sugar to it too. In about five minutes the yeast should froth visibly, then it means the yeast has activated correctly.Also do let me know if the dough rose in one hour and which flour you used...

Akila Ganapathy said...

Great recipe Usha. I modified slightly...i used 1 3/4 cup APP, 3/4 cup whole wheat flour an 3/4 cup of oat bran. It tasted yum and had a slighly rough texture. Next time i will use 1 cup whole wheat and 1/2 cup oat bran. Healthy!

Myvegfare said...

hi, usha your pav is looking great i must try the way you have made it..., looks so inviting, i have book marked it

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