Once you start making bread at home, you don't want to buy from the market anymore.Bread baking is not only addictive , its therapeutic also. Today I will show you how to make buns.
You can make them plain or stuffed. Plain buns can be used to make burgers, toast them ,slather some butter and jam and enjoy with a cup of coffee.
Two most important things, in bread making are: the temperature of water in which you will be activating the yeast. Water should be just warm, approx. 48 to 54 degrees Celsius .
Second is kneading. You have to knead it for 10. -15 minutes for the gluten to develop, which helps the buns or any bread for that matter to rise.
Ingredients : for stuffing
Oil 2 tsp
Black cumin 1/2 tsp
Crushed Garlic 1 tsp
Onion chopped 1/2 cup
Potatoes 2 small (150gms) very finely cubed
Bell pepper. 1/ 2 cup very finely cubed
Frozen Corn 1/2 cup , ( thawed)
Cheddar cheese 1/2 cup grated
Green chilly 1/2 finely chopped
Salt to taste
Chilly flake 1 tsp
Method
Heat oil in a pan.
Crackle black cumin.
Add garlic , green chilly and onion .
Sauté till onions turn pink and soft.
Now add peppers, potato and corn and sauté for a couple of minutes.
The mixture should be absolutely dry at this stage.
Remove from fire, add chilly flakes and cheese.
Taste and add salt accordingly.
Keep it aside to cool completely.
Ingredients: For buns
Milk. 1 cup
Butter 1 tbsp
Sugar. 1 tbsp
Salt 1 1/4 tsp
Warm water. 1/4 cup
Active dry yeast 2 1/4 tsp
All Purpose Flour 3 1/2 cup approximately.
Oil for brushing
Milk for brushing
Method :
Boil milk in a saucepan. Remove it from fire .
Add butter and salt to it. Mix well so that butter melts completely. Pour it into a large bowl and let it cool down till it is just warm to touch. It should not be hot when you add puffed up yeast to it coz that will kill the yeast.
Take warm water in a small bowl. Dip your finger in it, it should feel just warm. If water is hot it will kill the yeast.
Add sugar to it and stir.
Now sprinkle yeast over it and let it sit for 10 min, till yeast balloons up.
Once milk butter mixture is just warm add the puffed up yeast to it.
Now start adding flour , one cup at a time , mixing lightly( no kneading right now), till you no longer can stir it with a wooden spoon .
Turn the dough onto a floured surface . at this point the flour will be very sticky. Add more flour little by little and start kneading it.,adding till the dough is soft but not sticky.
Care should be taken to not add too much flour. I used 2 tbsp flour less than mentioned above.
There will be a slight variation in the total amount of flour used because of the quality of the flour and weather conditions.
Now knead till the dough is elastic and soft like baby's bottom.
If kneading by hand then knead for 10-12 minutes.
Now grease a large bowl and put the ready dough into the bowl and turn the dough over so as to grease it from all sides. Cover with a cling film and let it sit un disturbed in a warm and draft free place till it doubles in size, anywhere between an hour to hour and a half depending on the temperature of your kitchen .
To check if the dough has risen enough, push your finger , into the dough upto your second knuckle. If the indention remains when you remove your finger then it is ready else let it rise for some more time.
Once the dough has doubled, turn it onto a floured surface and punch it and knead it very lightly. Treat the dough very delicately.
Divide the dough into 10 equal parts and shape each into a ball.
Flatten one ball and carefully place a table spoon of the filling . Pull up the sides and seal properly, otherwise the stuffing will seep out during baking.
Repeat the process with the remaining balls.
Place them , sealed side down , 2" apart on a tray greased and lined with parchment paper or silicon mat.
Brush them with oil , loosely cover them with cling film and leave them un disturbed for second rise, until they double in size. Approximately 25 - 35 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius . Brush the buns with milk and bake for 30-35 min or until golden brown.
Remove from oven and place them on a wire rack. Brush with butter or olive oil for soft crust. Allow them to cool slightly before eating.
Note : if your yeast does not balloon up then don't proceed further. Throw away the yeast and start again.
Remember : hot liquid and too much salt kills yeast.
Yeast feeds on sugar to grow.
With the same recipe you can also make plain buns .
Just skip the stuffing step. Rest of the procedure remains the same.
You can make any stuffing , just remember that the stuffing should be dry.