Recipe for Masala Bread

Today’s recipe is for Masala Bread. It is an Indian-style bread that incorporates herbs and spices and tastes absolutely delicious. Pair it with butter, and you will be good to go!

I lived in Bangalore, India, for many years before moving to Germany. Like many other Bangaloreans, I, too, enjoyed and savoured the cakes and fresh bread from Iyengar Bakeries that dot every other street in Bangalore.

After moving to Germany, I have always missed the masala bread I relished in Bangalore. Although Germany can easily be called the bread capital of the world with supermarkets loaded with varieties of bread, Indian bread like Pav, Masala Bread, Aalu bun, etc., are hard to find even in Indian stores. So, when I crave any of these Indian delicacies, I make them at home.

Masala bread is quite easy to make. All you need is refined flour and herbs like mint, coriander, dill, etc. You can even add dry fenugreek ( kasuri methi). The rest of the ingredients are basic everyday ingredients available in every kitchen.

This bread has Indian flavours and is best when accompanied by a cup of chai.

To make masala bread, you need a small bowl to mix sugar, yeast and water. You can knead the dough on the kitchen counter or in a big mixing bowl. I have used Parat, commonly used in many Indian kitchens to knead dough for roti. I used finely chopped herbs, ginger, garlic, and chillies in the recipe. I used my food processor for this. For baking, you need your regular baking tray. Grease and dust it with flour before placing the bread, or use baking paper. It’s your choice.

You can read about all the equipment I use in my kitchen in my article: Setting Up My Indian Kitchen in Germany.

Now, let’s start with Masala Bread recipe:

Ingredients needed for making Masala Bread:

1. All-purpose flour: 500 gms
2. Instant dry yeast: 7gm, OR fresh yeast: 21gm
3. Greek Yoghurt: 150 gm
4. Oil: 2 tablespoons
5. Finely chopped mixed herbs (Coriander, Mint and Dill): 2 cups
6. Sugar: 10 gm
7. Salt: 10 gm
8. Finely Chopped ginger, garlic, and green chilli paste: 2 tablespoons
9. Water: For kneading

Method for making Masala Bread:

1. Activate the yeast by combining it with sugar and 1/2 cup water. Let it rest for 2 minutes.
   
   
   
2. Combine flour and salt.
   
   
   
3. Then add the mixed herbs and ginger, garlic & green chillies. Mix.
   
   
   
4. Add yoghurt. Also, add the yeast mix. Knead.
   
   
   
5. Add oil and knead for 5 minutes. Cover and rest the dough in a warm place for 1 hour or until it doubles in size.
   
   
   
   After resting, the dough should look like this:
   
   
   
6. Divide the dough into about 12 equal-sized portions. If the dough is too sticky, use dry flour. Round them and place them on a greased and dusted baking tray or baking paper.
   
   
   
   If you wish to make kulchas, roll and flatten them. Then, place them on the baking tray.
   
   
   
7. Rest for about an hour in a warm place for an hour. The dough will rise again.
   
   
   
8. Preheat the oven to 200 deg C for 10 minutes. Now, bake the buns at 200 deg C for 30 minutes. The kulchas need about 7-8 minutes of baking.
   
   
   
9. Once done, remove the tray. Brush butter on the surface and let the bread cool on a wire rack.
   
   

Masala bread is ready. It is soft, spongy, and absolutely delicious. Enjoy it with butter and a cup of hot chai.

Below is a picture of the masala buns I made in India a few years ago.

Some notes for my readers in Germany:

1. You can make this bread with Pizzamehl (Pizza Flour) or Weisenmehl Type 550. I have used the latter in this recipe.
2. I have used instant dry yeast. Yeast is called Hefe in German. You get in a pack of multiple 7gm packets in German supermarkets. You need one such pack of 7gm for the recipe. You also get fresh yeast in the refrigerator section. That is usually a 42-gram pack. You can use half of it if you prefer using fresh yeast. Remember that for any bread recipe, 7gm of dry yeast can be replaced with 21 gm of fresh yeast ( 1 pack of dry yeast=1/2 pack of fresh yeast).
3. If you make this recipe in the summer, you can rest the dough on the kitchen counter. You can rest the dough in the oven at about 40 degrees C in winter.

Check out more recipes from my kitchen here.

If you need help identifying and understanding products in German supermarkets, click here.

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