Pav (Fluffy Indian Bread Rolls)

Video Tutorial. Before you start this recipe, it works best with gram measurements. It leads to the most consistent results. This recipe also works best with a stand mixer - if you don't have one look at the making by hand tips.

Make tangzhong

1. Add ½ cup (122 g) whole milk and 2 tablespoons (20 g) all purpose flour to a small saucepan and whisk until combined.
2. Bring a rubber spatula and the small saucepan to the stove. Place the saucepan on the stove on low heat while constantly stirring. Once you start to see a few bubbles or the mixture start to thicken into a pudding texture, turn off the heat.
3. Transfer tangzhong to a small bowl and tightly cover the top of tangzhong with plastic wrap to prevent it from forming a skin. Place the tangzhong in the fridge while working on other tasks to allow it to cool.

Make dough

1. In a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, add 3.5 cups (490 g) all purpose flour, ¼ cup (51 g) sugar, 1 ⅛ teaspoons (9 g) fine sea salt, and 1 tablespoon (12 g) active dry yeast and mix on low speed to combine all of the dry ingredients.
2. In a small bowl add 1 cup (245 g) whole milk and 2 tablespoons unsalted butter and place in the microwave for 30 seconds or until the milk is warm and the butter is melted. It is very important that the milk is not too hot or else it will kill the yeast. The milk should be under 110F or lukewarm to the touch.
3. Pour the warm milk and butter mixture into the stand mixer.
4. Next crack 1 egg into the small bowl that used to contain the milk mixture. Whisk the egg until the yolk is white and completely incorporated.
5. Pour the beaten egg into the stand mixer along with the tangzhong and ¼ cup (50 g) vegetable oil.
6. Start the stand mixer on low speed and mix until a dough has formed.
   
7. Increase the speed to medium-high and mix for at least 7 minutes. The dough will seem VERY sticky in the beginning and stick to the sides of the stand mixer but trust the process and keep the stand mixer running until the dough is able to form a mass in the center without sticking to the sides. This may take anywhere from 12-15 minutes. The dough should be supple, sticky, and smooth. During this time if there is some dough that the hook isn't able to reach, stop the mixer and use your bench scraper to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
   
8. Once the dough is mixed, use either a greased bench scraper or heavily greased hands to transfer the dough to a clean bowl big enough for the dough to double in size. Lightly rub some more vegetable oil on the exterior of the dough to ensure that it doesn’t dry out.
   
9. Loosely cover the top of the bowl with a clean reusable shower cap or kitchen towel and allow the dough to double in size, which can take anywhere between 1-2 hours depending on how hot your kitchen is. Look at the size of the dough rather than the rely solely on the time indicator.

Form rolls

1. Lightly spray the bottom of 9 inch x 13 inch baking pan with vegetable oil. Cut out parchment paper to the size of the baking pan and place it on the tray. The vegetable oil coating will help the parchment paper adhere to the pan without sliding.
2. Once the dough has doubled in size, tip the dough out onto a clean working surface. Do not add flour to the working surface but if you are struggling with working with the dough, lightly grease your hands and part of the working surface.
   
3. Using a bench scraper, divide the dough into 18 equal pieces. Cover the pieces of dough that you aren’t working with a clean kitchen towel to prevent them from drying out.
4. With each dough, flatten it with the palm of your hand.
   
5. Then, proceed to pick up each corner of dough and stick it to the center to form a loose ball with a seam in the center.
   
6. Flip the ball so that the seam side is down.
7. Cup the dough ball with your hands and move your hands in a circular motion while slightly dragging the dough to help smooth the seam and create a taut ball.
   
8. Place the ball into the baking pan. Repeat with the remaining dough balls. The resulting baking tray should have 6 rows of 3 rolls each that are evenly spaced out.
   
9. At this point, you can either stop, tightly wrap the baking pan, and freeze the rolls to be baked for another day (preferably in the next 2 weeks) or continue forward to the final proof (next step).

Final proof

1. For the final proof, you can take a slow approach or a faster one. Faster approach: Proof the rolls again for another 1- 1.5 hours or until the rolls have taken the entire space of the pan and have risen near the top of the pan. This should be roughly double the size of the original balls. Another indicator is that when the dough is touched gently, the dough should indent and slowly spring back. If the dough is over proofed, the dough will deflate, and if it is under proofed, it will spring back quickly. Slow proof: Alternatively, you can place the rolls in the fridge overnight for a slower proof. If your workspace was warm when making the pav, slow down the process by moving the pav to the freezer for 1 hour and then into the fridge overnight to ensure that they don't overproof. If you pull the dough out of the freezer, then the time for it to proof can be upwards of 3+ hours at room temperature so always go by how high the dough has risen and how it feels rather than time.
   

Bake bread

1. Heat the oven to 350F.
2. In a small bowl, crack 1 egg, 2 tablespoons heavy cream, and a pinch of fine sea salt. Whisk very thoroughly until the egg white and yolk are incorporated with the cream.
3. Use a pastry brush to brush a layer of egg wash on top of the pav.
4. Place the baking pan on top of another sheet tray that is wider than it. This is so that when you pull the bread out to do the second brush of egg wash, it is easier to pull out of the oven without the risk of puncturing the bread.
5. Place bread on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 18 minutes.
   
6. Take the bread out of the oven and brush another layer of egg wash, especially on the areas that look pale, and place it back into the oven for another 5-7 minutes or until the pav looks deeply brown on the exterior.
7. Take the pav out of the oven and immediately spread approximately 1-2 tablespoons butter over the exterior for the final shiny shimmer and sprinkle a pinch of flaky sea salt
8. Allow the pav to cool for at least 15 minutes before tearing it apart for dinner to toast up for pav bhaji.

Storing

1. The pav can either be tightly wrapped and stored at room temp for 1-4 days or placed in the freezer for months and reheated when ready to eat. Avoid putting the pav in the fridge, as it becomes stale faster in the fridge than at room temperature.