Pav or Pao is nothing but a bread roll usually served in India with Pav Bhaji, Misal Pav, Vada Pav. Also, it is very popular in Goa and is generally eaten with Goan specialties like Chicken Xacuti, Tonak.
Being away from home (Goa) for the past 10 years, I have realized that it is impossible to get the kind of Pav (Dinner Rolls) you get in Goa anywhere else. We have always longed for the Goan pav and missed the horn of the Poder (the man who goes around on the cycle selling Pav). Goans will know exactly what I mean ?
Yes, I was missing Pav and I had to do something about it. After 2-3 unsuccessful attempts and improvisations after every attempt, I was able to make soft an fluffy pavs comparable to the ones you get in Goa.
I cannot explain how wonderful it is to eat freshly baked pav out of the oven with a dollop of butter. With every attempt, I make some more improvisations to it and will keep updating the recipe accordingly. In fact after the success of making Pav, I have started making other verions of it including Potato Stuffed Buns, Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Buns, and pizza base for pizza. I am just loving it. ?
But for those who want to try Pav at home, go ahead and hope you get perfect Pav for your Pav Bhaji or to eat with Tonak(Goan curry) or Chicken Xacuti ? Please let us know how they turn out and also share pictures if possible. Also, leave a comment in case of any confusion in the steps, and we will clarify it. After all, everyone deserves to eat good Pav ?
Makes: 12-16 Pav
Preparation Time: 2 hour 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
All purpose flour : 3 and 1/2 cups
Water: 1 and 1/4 cup
Sugar: 3 tsp
Yeast: 3/4 tbsp active dry yeast
Oil/Melted butter: 3 tbsp
Salt: to taste
Method of Preparation:
- Take sugar and yeast in a bowl. Warm the water and add it to the bowl. I placed the water in the microwave for 15 seconds. The water should not feel too hot to touch.
- Cover the bowl with a moist cloth and keep it aside for it to froth. Once it froths you know that the yeast has become active. (Look at the picture below) . I kept it for around 10-15 minutes for it to froth.
- Add oil/melted butter to the frothy yeast mixture and mix well. Add 3 cups of flour and salt and mix well.
- Knead the dough well for 10-15 minutes to form a soft dough. Don’t worry if the dough is sticky initially as it will start becoming more elastic as you keep kneading. Use max 1/2 cup of additional flour while kneading.
- Apply oil over the dough and keep closed with a moist cloth for 1 hour. The dough will nicely double up. You can keep it for more than an hour till it doubles up.
- Gently deflate the dough and knead again for 5 minutes.
- Make a log and divide into 12-16 parts depending on the size you want.
- Grease and dust a tray with a little flour.
- Take each part of the dough and make smooth round ball. Place all the balls in the tray at a distance of 1 inch from each other and also from the edges.
- Cover with moist cloth and keep aside for 45 minutes to 1 hour. The small rolls will increase in size. See the pic below. The dough balls have doubled in size and have dark air pockets formed. They are now ready to go into the oven ?
- Preheat the oven at 230 degrees Celsius. Place the tray in the oven and let bake for 8-10 minutes. You will see a nice brown colour appearing on top of the dinner rolls (Pav). Cool the pav on wire rack.
Common mistakes to avoid:
- Make sure that you do not use hot water with yeast and sugar as hot water would kill the yeast. Use warm water. I placed the water in the microwave for 15-20 seconds.
- To get good pav, kneading well is very important as kneading helps in developing of gluten in the pav and makes it stretchy and elastic. Well developed gluten is important to allow the carbon dioxide released by the yeast to be held within the dough helping it to rise.
- Use a tray which has a good height. When I made pav for the first time, my cloth got stuck to the risen dough and while separating the cloth from the tray, the dough got deflated ?
Pav
- All purpose flour : 3 and ½ cups
- Water: 1 and ¼ cup
- Sugar: 3 tsp
- Yeast: ¾ tbsp active dry yeast
- Oil/Melted butter: 3 tbsp
- Salt: to taste
- Take sugar and yeast in a bowl. Warm the water and add it to the bowl. I placed the water in the microwave for 15 seconds. The water should not feel too hot to touch.
- Cover the bowl with a moist cloth and keep it aside for it to froth. Once it froths you know that the yeast has become active. (Look at the picture below) . I kept it for around 10-15 minutes for it to froth.
- Add oil/melted butter to the frothy yeast mixture and mix well. Add 3 cups of flour and salt and mix well.
- Knead the dough well for 10-15 minutes to form a soft dough. Don’t worry if the dough is sticky initially as it will start becoming more elastic as you keep kneading. Use max ½ cup of additional flour while kneading.
- Apply oil over the dough and keep closed with a moist cloth for 1 hour. The dough will nicely double up. You can keep it for more than an hour till it doubles up.
- Gently deflate the dough and knead again for 5 minutes.
- Make a log and divide into 12-16 parts depending on the size you want.
- Grease and dust a tray with a little flour.
- Take each part of the dough and make smooth round ball. Place all the balls in the tray at a distance of 1 inch from each other and also from the edges.
- Cover with moist cloth and keep aside for 45 minutes to 1 hour. The small rolls will increase in size. See the pic below. The dough balls have doubled in size and have dark air pockets formed. They are now ready to go into the oven
- Preheat the oven at 230 degrees Celsius. Place the tray in the oven and let bake for 8-10 minutes. You will see a nice brown colour appearing on top of the dinner rolls (Pav). Cool the pav on wire rack.
To get good pav, kneading well is very important as kneading helps in developing of gluten in the pav and makes it stretchy and elastic. Well developed gluten is important to allow the carbon dioxide released by the yeast to be held within the dough helping it to rise.
Use a tray which has a good height. When I made pav for the first time, my cloth got stuck to the risen dough and while separating the cloth from the tray, the dough got deflated
I just read the recipe.. Well explained… Nice to read the section of mistakes to avoid.. If that was not there I would have 100% used shallow heightened tray.. I have few questions
1. 1 cup water is enough for kneading correct? And same 1 cup is used for yeast ?
2. Any recommendations for cloth to be used?
3. Adding oil/butter is must? Or can be avoided??
4. Also I dnt have proper tray for paavs.. Can I used aluminium mould of cake?
Hi Ruchi,
Thanks ?
Following are the answers to your questions:
1. The 1 and 1/4 cup of water you add initially while leaving the yeast to proof should be sufficient to knead. I did not need any extra water. Yeast required is is only 3/4 tbsp.
2. I have tried it both with muslin cloth or normal kitchen cotton towel. It works well. But I prefer muslin cloth as it is lighter.
3. Butter/Oil is known to improve the overall texture of the bread and add flavor to it.
4. You can use it but remember to keep enough gap between the pav for them to rise.
Hope you get perfect Pav ?
Thanks a lot deepa.. This helps.. Also hope you did kneading with hands.. Like how we do atta for rotischapatis. Because I don’t have any electric mixer as such .
Yes Ruchi, I kneaded with my hands…Only make sure you knead very well as it is very important in gluten formation.
If recipe is followed properly till the end pav turns out amazing and I have gained confidence coz of yourhungerstop to bake pav at home . Thank you Deepa
Thank you for the feedback ?
hi ladies, thanks for the recipe .. just a small query, how to bake pavs in a microwave – i don’t own an OTG.
Hello, Thanks for stopping by yourhungerstop. ? Though we haven’t tried baking the Pav in a microwave, It should not be very different from the OTG. You would need to use the convection mode. As and when we try it in the microwave, we will update the recipe.
Method is Clearly written and explained. Appreciate the efforts taken in writing it in such a simple language.
Made masala pav with aloo and onion stuffing and it was yummmm.. Thanks Deepa for sharing this one.. Will be helpful when Aarushi grows up and demands new stuff everyday
Thanks Jyoti for the feedback and also for sharing the pav pic for our fb page ?
Hi,
Does your pav get harder after couple of hours? I made the pav’s but they were deliciously soft right out of the oven but after 6-8 hours they became really hard. I microwaved it for a few seconds and they were fine. But generally they should bot become hard, i am not sure if I have missed something. TIA.
Hi Divya,
I have made pav several times in the afternoon and used them at night. I usually place them in a casserole till the time I use them. They remain soft.
Thanks.
I am a amateur. Just trying to bake and my oven too is new. Not knowing to use its functions. Its morphy richards. I tried goan pav. As given in your recipe. It came out well but slightly burnt. it took more than 15 mins. How long should I preheat the oven. Which is the function to be used for bread
I usually preheat the oven for 20 minutes and bake the Pav for only around 10 mins, max 12 minutes. I think they got burnt because they were kept for too long in the oven.
Thanks mam. you were right. Anyways happy that I took courage to try. it tasted like real buns though they burnt little. Thanks a ton
Thank you for this wonderful recipe, tried it turned out perfectly well. Never knew pav could be made at home. Thanks to your simple and detailed recipes, food always turns out yummmm!!! One of our favourites at home now!
Glad you tried it and it turned out good ?