Pav (Ladi Pav)
Pav, soft, spongy and fluffy Indian bread which is similar to dinner rolls, popular in Mumbai. They are usually served with many Indian street food items like Pav Bhaji, Vada pav, Misal Pav, Dabeli, etc. This pav recipe is eggless and uses plain flour (maida) and yeast to achieve the softness and fluffiness. They are easy to make at home and taste better than store bought ones. Kneading the dough by hand is the only process that requires little hard work but that’s worth it when you are leaving outside India and wanted the same taste of pav like you get from the bakery in India.
| Ingredients: |
| 3/4 cup Warm Water |
| 1½ teaspoons Sugar |
| 1½ teaspoons Active Dry Yeast |
| 2 cups Maida (plain flour) |
| 1/2 teaspoon Salt, or to taste |
| 2 tablespoons Butter (salted or unsalted) + for brushing the pav |
| 2-3 tablespoons Milk, for brushing the pav |
Directions:
- Take warm water (NOT HOT) in a small bowl. Add sugar and yeast.
- Mix well.
- Cover the bowl and let the mixture rest for 10 minutes (for yeast proofing).After 10 minutes, you can see the frothy layer on the top, that means yeast is activated.
- Take maida (plain flour) in a large bowl.
- Add salt, activated yeast mixture and butter.
- Mix well and knead the dough.
- Dust the kitchen counter with flour. Transfer the dough on that and knead it for 10 minutes. This step is important to develop the gluten and make the soft pav. The dough turns sticky while kneading, you can add more flour as needed (add up to 1/4 cup flour, don’t add too much flour). You can also grease your palms with butter while kneading.
- Grease your palms with butter and knead the dough for a few seconds. Transfer it to the same bowl. Cover it with a cling wrap or a cover the bowl with a plate and let it rest for 1 hour in a warm place.
- The dough will increase to almost double in size after 1-hour. Remove the cling wrap.
- Punch the dough to remove the incorporated air.
- Knead the dough again for 4-5 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 8-9 equal parts.
- Grease the aluminum baking tray with butter(a 8-inch square pan or a 9-inch round pan). You can also use round tray to bake the pav.
- Take one part of dough and fold it from sides to the center and make a smooth ball. Put thAT ball in the tray. Make remaining balls from the dough and place them in the tray. Keep some space between them as shown in the picture. Cover the tray with cling wrap or another tray and let them proof for 1-hour in warm place.
- After an hour, you can see the pav has almost doubled in size. Remove the cling wrap carefully. Brush the pav with milk gently.
- Bake it in a preheated oven at 450F (232 C) for 12-14 minutes or until the top surface is golden brown. Remove the pav from the oven (the top surface of pav will be hard but it will turn soft as they cool down). Grease them with butter.
- Remove them from the tray (they will be easily come out). Let them rest on the cooling rack for a while. Pav buns are ready for serving.
- As you can see they look like ladi (tiles).
- Pav buns are lightly browned from sides after baking.
Tips and Variations:
- HOW TO MAKE SOFT PAV – Kneading the dough for 10 minutes is a must process to make the soft pav as it develops gluten in the dough.
- KNEADING PROCESS -You can also knead the dough using a food processor or dough kneading mixer. Knead the dough only for 4-5 minutes on medium setting if you are using a dough mixer.
- FLOUR – You can use the half amount of whole wheat flour and half amount of maida for this recipe but the pav will be less soft and less fluffy.
- STICKY DOUGH – If the dough turns too sticky, add some dry flour and grease your palms with oil/butter while kneading the dough.
- STORE – They stay good at room temperature for 2-3 days.
- CLIMATE/WEATHER – If you live in a cold climate, keep the dough and pav buns for proofing in warm oven or any other warm place.
Taste: Soft and mild salty
Serving Ideas: Serve pav with mixed vegetable bhaji or batata vada or spicy missal as missal pav.