White bread rolls (pav)

The 'pav' is an accompaniment to some specific Indian dishes. It is essentially a white bread roll but is softer, lighter in texture and, in an undefinable way, is absolutely fantastic. I couldn't find this texture in the regular supermarket rolls here and so I attempted it at home.

It is quite a long process but is not difficult - just requires some advance planning. :)

Ingredients

350 gms white bread flour ( you can use all purpose flour) + a bit more for dusting and forming the dough 

2-1/2 tsp Dried active Yeast

3/4 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

3 tbsp butter (I used unsalted so adjust the salt accordingly if using salted butter)

50 ml lukewarm water

275 ml milk (I used whole milk)

Method

Add the yeast and sugar to the lukewarm water and leave aside to froth for 10-15 minutes, preferably in a dark place.

Warm the milk and add the butter to it. Mix it well till it melts.

When the yeast froths up, add it to the milk and butter mixture, Add the flour bit by bit to this, combining everything together, forming a sticky dough (If the dough is too sticky to work with, add some more flour to help bring it together).

On a clean work surface dust some flour, transfer the dough onto the surface and knead well for 8-10 minutes to form a smooth dough. Dust a bowl with some flour and place the dough in it. Leave the dough to rise for 1 hour in a warm place.

After an hour the dough would have risen to almost double in size. Punch the dough a couple of times to remove the air and give it a quick knead.

Make 12 equal size balls from the dough. Grease a baking tray with some oil or butter and place the dough balls on the tray. 

Leave equal space between the dough balls as these will expand.Cover the tray and leave to  rise for about an hour. 

Preheat the oven to 170 C. After an hour the dough balls will have risen and stuck together. Place the tray, uncovered, in the oven and bake for 30 minutes and they are ready!

Freshly baked pav tastes good just own it's own too! :)