Pav Bread (Eggless) | Bombay Pav (Step by Step Pics)

Pav bread always reminds me of Pune days, nostalgic memories. Vada pav, pav bhaji, dabeli, chats are the delicious available street food in Mumbai and Pune. None can resist the yummy flavors they add with toasted bread. Pav bread is the poor man's bread and so is made with only basic ingredients. I have always used store brought breads to recreate them at home. However, I had always wished to try this sometime at home from scratch.The shops generally use dalda in making these breads instead of butter but I have used butter as dalda is not healthy.This recipe is adapted from here and Lakshmi Nair's travel cookery show.I made a very small batch as it was trial and error but to my surprise it came out really good.You can always double the ingredients and make larger batches. My oven has a issue with the browning and so didn't get a golden brown color but the bread was pillow soft and spongy. I made dabeli with it and everyone loved it. Stay tuned for the dabeli recipe :)

Preparation time(including proofing) ~ 2 hours
Baking time ~ 8 -12 mins
Serves~ 9 small buns or 6 large 
Ingredients
all purpose flour(maida) 1.5 cups
active dry yeast 1 1/8 tsp
sugar 1tbsp
butter 1.5 tbsp
salt 1/2 tsp
leuk warm water 1/2 cup + 2tbsp

Method

• Mix yeast with leukwarm water and sugar. Wait for 5 mins and let it rise.
• In a bowl,sift all purpose flour and salt.Add the yeast mixture.Knead for 8-10 mins until gluten sets in.Then finally add the butter knead again for 2-3 mins. Place in a clean bowl and cover it with a clean damp cloth. Leave for proofing for an hour.
• After an hour, make equal sized balls (40 g each) and place it in a baking tray with space in between ,leave for second proofing for 45 minutes.

• Towards the end of second proofing, pre heat oven to 450 degrees F or 232 degrees C.
• Place the tray after second proofing in the oven and bake at 450 degrees F for 8-10 mins.(mine was done in 12 mins)

• Brush the top immediately with butter to keep the crust soft. Leave to cool and then use for making pav bhaji,dabeli and vada pav.
• Enjoy soft spongy pav bread!!

NOTES
* Gluten sets in means when the dough becomes very elastic and becomes like a membrane thin. For better understanding ,see my post on wheat bread here.
*  The oven temperature may vary as per ovens, brands etc. So keep a watch from the 8th minute onwards.
* My oven had an issue in getting the golden brown color but the bread came out super soft and spongy.

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