Ladi Pav Recipe
Pav refers to soft pillowy bread rolls commonly served with vada (fritters made with potatoes and gram flour) and Bhaji (a mash of veggies). Pav is quite commonly eaten in the western parts of India and is quite popular in the street food circuits. Other recipes that use pav are Dabeli, Misal Pav, etc.
I live in Germany and, when I carve these delicious, melt-in-the-mouth buns, I make them at home. Germany can easily be called the bread capital of the world. Germans love their bread. The supermarkets offer many varieties of bread, and the early morning queue of loyal customers in front of bakeries is a common sight in Germany. Although many non-German breads like Indian naan, Turkish flatbread, Indian Chapati, etc., have found a place on German supermarket shelves, a very popular bread in India- the Pav is yet to reach there. Brioche Buns, Turkish flatbreads, or plain white sandwich bread can replace Pav, but what would be better than getting the real pav itself?
Today, I share my tried and tested Ladi Pav recipe. This recipe gives you about 18-19 Pavs. These pavs are soft and pillowy, and they melt in your mouth. Follow the recipes to the T, and you will get the right results. At the end of the recipe, I have also shared information about ingredient sourcing in Germany and some recipe tips.
So, let us start.
Equipment Needed:
- Saucepan for heating up the milk and making the milk, yeast and sugar mix.
- A big mixing bowl or a big plate is used to knead the dough. You can even use your kitchen counter.
- Weighing Scale for making equal-sized pav buns. You can use your estimate.
- Baking Tray
- Silicon Brush
Ingredients for Ladi Pav:
- 500 gm Refined Flour
- 380 ml Lukewarm Milk
- 4 tsp Instant Dry Yeast
- 10 gm Sugar
- 10 gm Salt
- 3 tbsp Milk Powder
- 8 tbsp Soft Unsalted Butter
Method to make Ladi Pav:
- Combine lukewarm milk with yeast and sugar.
- Rest it for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, bubbles will form on the surface. Now this mixture is ready to be used.
- Combine refined flour, salt and milk powder.
- Form a well and pour in the yeast mixture.
- Mix and knead it lightly.
- Add softened butter (Butter shouldn’t be hot).
- Stretch and knead for 15 minutes.
- Then, cover the dough and rest it in a warm place for about an hour or until it rises to double its original volume.
- After the dough doubles in volume, dust some flour and knead the dough once again for about a minute.
- Then, cut 60 gm portions and place them next to each other in a greased and dusted baking tray.
- This way, place all the dough balls next to each other.
- Cover and rest in a warm place for about an hour or until the dough rises again. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C for 10 minutes. Just before baking, brush milk on the pav buns.
- Bake them for about 20 minutes. Here is how they will look after baking.
- Once baked, remove them from the oven and while they are still hot, brush butter on the pav buns. Cover with a light cotton cloth and let them cool.
- After the pav buns cool, remove and separate them.
Some Tips about the recipe:
- Use lukewarm milk for the recipe. It will enable the yeast and sugar to react quickly. Note: Milk shouldn’t be hot.
- Combine the yeast mixture with the yeast mixture only after the yeast blooms. If it doesn’t, the yeast is probably not active. In such a situation, you must discard it.
- After all the ingredients are added, knead the flour for at least 15 minutes. This will help form gluten in the dough, which is needed for a well-risen and light bread.
- Greasing and dusting the baking tray is important. Otherwise, the buns will stick to the tray.
- Preheating the oven for a minimum of 10 minutes is essential. Don’t place the buns in a cold oven.
- The baking time mentioned is for 60g dough balls. It would also be reduced if you made them smaller, say 30g.
- Once the buns are baked, brush them with butter, cover them with a cotton/muslin cloth, and let them cool. After they are cooled completely, cover and store them in a bread box.
Some notes about Ingredient sourcing in Germany:
- Refined Flour: Use Type 405. Read more about Flour varieties in German supermarkets here.
- Milk: Use fresh milk with 3.5% Fat. Read more about milk varieties in German supermarkets here.
- Instant Dry Yeast: Instant Dry yeast comes in 7gm packs. It looks like this.
- Sugar: Use regular refined sugar. Read about sugar varieties in German supermarkets here.
- Salt: Use any salt of your choice. Read about salt varieties in German supermarkets here.
- Milk Powder: Buy from an Indian store. The brand name is Nido. It looks like this.
- Unsalted Butter: Read about butter varieties in German supermarkets here.
Here is the recipe in printable format:
Ladi Pav
Equipment
- Saucepan
- Mixing bowl
- Weighing Scale
- Baking Tray
- Silicon Brush
Ingredients
- 500 gm Refined Flour
- 380 ml Lukewarm Milk
- 4 tsp Instant Dry Yeast
- 10 gm Sugar
- 10 gm Salt
- 3 tbsp Milk Powder
- 8 tbsp Soft Unsalted Butter
Instructions
- Combine milk with yeast and sugar and rest it for about 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, bubbles will form on the surface. Now this mixture is ready to be used.
- Combine refined flour, salt and milk powder.
- To this flour mixture, add the yeast mixture.
- Mix and then add butter.
- Knead for 15 minutes.
- Then, cover the dough and rest it in a warm place for about an hour or until it rises to double its original volume.
- After the dough doubles in volume, dust some flour and knead the dough once again for about a minute.
- Then, cut 60 gm portions and place them next to each other in a greased and dusted baking tray.
- Cover and rest in a warm place for about an hour or until the dough rises again.
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C for 10 minutes.
- Brush milk on the pav buns and bake them for about 20 minutes.
- Then, remove them from the oven and brush butter on the pav buns.
- After it cools, remove the pav buns and separate them.
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