Indian Ladi Pav (pao)

Ladi pav is Indian dinner roll. It is eaten with a lots of Indian dishes like pav bhaji, misal pav, vada pav etc etc. We don't get ladi pav here in USA. The dinner rolls we get here have a little sweet taste to them, which dont taste very good with spicy Indian dishes. 
On December 4th this year, my daughter turned 10 months old. Usually, we go out to celebrate her monthly birthdays:), but this week we were very busy, and didn't get a chance to go out, so I thought of making pav bhaji, with homemade ladi pav.
Here is the recipe for ladi pav. The recipe below makes about 12 buns. The time required from the start to finish is about 3 hours.

3 Cups all Purpose Flour (or Self Raising Flour),
Salt to taste,
2 Teaspoon Active Dry Yeast,
2 Teaspoon Sugar,
2.5 - 3 Cups Warm Water,
2 Teaspoon Oil, (Dont' use olive oil, it has strong taste)
2 Teaspoon Milk,
2 Teaspoon Melted Butter

Method:

Heat half cup of water in microwave for 20 seconds. The water should not become too hot, but it shouldn't be just luke warm too. Dissolve the sugar in the water. Now add the yeast to the water and mix well. Let it sit for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, you will see foam in the water. If the water doesn't appear foamy, the yeast hasn't activated. Let it sit for few more minutes until foamy.

In the mean time, take a big bowl and apply oil to the inside of the bowl. Keep aside.

Take 3 cups flour in a mixing bowl and add salt to it. Mix well. Heat the remaining 2.5 cups of water for 35 seconds in the microwave. Again, the water should not be too hot, but shouldn't feel just lukewarm. Add the yeast water to the flour along with the oil. Mix it well in the flour. Now add the warm water a little at a time to knead soft dough.

Use only as much water as needed. You might not need all the water to make dough. Now, apply some oil to your palms and knead the dough one last time. Make a smooth ball and transfer to the oiled bowl. The bowl should be big enough to let the dough expand to double its size. Cover the bowl with a lid or a plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm area for about 2 hours.

Note: I keep the bowl near my stove while I am cooking, so that it gets some heat from the stove.

After two hours, the dough will have exapnded to double its size. Apply some oil to the inside of a deep baking dish. Dust with some flour. Now, punch down the dough and knead for 1-2 minutes. Make 12 small balls and arrange them on the baking dish. Make sure to leave some room beween the balls, as they will exapand. Cover and keep aside for 30 more minutes.

After 30 minutes, you will see the gap between the balls have closed, or became very small due to the expansion.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush the milk on top of the balls and bake on the middle rack for 25-30 minutes. Turn off the heat, leave the door closed, and let the bread sit in the oven for 5-7 more minutes. Take it out of the oven and brush the top surface with melted butter. This will allow the top surface to be soft and will give it a golden shine. Let it cool completely before trying to remove from the pan. Enjoy fresh with pav bhaji, vada pav, or misal pav.

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