Pav (Bread) for a good cause

For a while now I have been wanting to make pav ( an Indian version of bread).Pav refers to a simple and humble version of bread that is made in India and is sold at bakeries all over, in addition you have "Pav wallahs " as they are known in Bombay, go from street to street on the bicycle selling this bread in addition to other goodies from their bakeries like nankhatai (an Indian cookie). This bread is used for a lot of fast food/ street food goodies  like Vada pav (Vada is spiced potatoes dipped in batter and fried and placed between (Pav) bread with some spices/chutney to further spice it up) and Pav bhaji ( a  yum combination of bread and mixed vegetables served with a dollop of butter) Pav is different from the regular dinner roll as it is not very sweet and tends to have a more chewy quality to it, I often feel it resembles the ciabatta bread but has a softer feel to it.

Ning  from Heart and Hearth tagged me to participate in a very worthwhile event by  Breadline Africa.This tag served as a motivation for me to get around to making this pav. This tag is also a challenge, and the challenge is to do something that you do not do normally, and baking this pav definitely qualifies on two levels, one I have never baked pav before, so it is definitely  different from my usual baking. Additionally I never bake with all purpose flour , but this time I decided to make an exception, I thought this tag provided the perfect excuse to bake with all purpose flour :-)   For pav recipes I used refered to Cham's recipe of pav here  and to Jugalbandi's recipe of pav here  and came up with a slightly modified version of my own which I give below.

I made two versions of this pav one completely with all purpose flour and the other partially with whole wheat flour and partially with all purpose flour. The breads turned out soft and perfect.The only thing I thought I would change was to make smaller pav the next time and keep them closer on the baking tray to get the squarish shape that pav is normally associated with. I thought both versions were very tasty but mostly I was relieved as I normally am after making bread, that the yeast did not fail to work and that the bread actually rose as it should :-) 

Breadline Africa is a registered charity in South Africa that is seeking to put an end to poverty in South Africa and further afield in Africa. Their aim is to break the cycle of poverty and help communities to achieve long term self-sustainability. Breadline Africa was founded in 1993 by social workers and communities in South Africa with minded colleagues in Europe, (who were well placed to source out donations). They are geared to help fund small ground level projects in Africa which are most likely to succeed with financial help.

On Blog Action Day Breadline Africa launched their Worldwide Blogger Bake-Off campaign. The aim is to raise $1 million in funds for a project to convert shipping containers into locations for food production and distribution in Africa. It is hoped that these sustainable community kitchens will not only provide food such as bread and soup to those in need, but also opportunities for skills development within poor communities.

This bake-off gives us baking bloggers the power to make a difference in this world. What do we do? Bake bread. Give Dough. Feed Africa. Vals says, "You can sign up for the campaign, make a donation, upload your bread recipes and document your culinary adventures in the media center to spread the word. You don't have to donate money but simply just mention the campaign and create awareness."

The following is quoted from the Breadline Africa Bake-Off site:

On 15 October, we launched The Breadline Africa Worldwide Blogger Bake Off.

The Blogger Bake Off is an online campaign that challenges bloggers to get involved by baking bread, and then acting by donating to end poverty. And then, challenge their readers and five other bloggers to do the same.

With the money raised, we will be supporting grass roots community projects aimed at ending poverty and hunger in Africa. We’ll be placing container kitchens, vegetable gardens and more in poor communities, sending emergency food relief where needed and helping these poor communities to help themselves.

The rules for bloggers are outlined below:

1. If you are tagged, copy and paste the rules into your post.
2. Bake bread, do something you wouldn’t normally do, and blog about it. Upload your picture and recipe.
   
3. Give dough, donate to Breadline Africa and help us end poverty.
   
4. Tag five bloggers, and ping us so we know you’ve done so.
   

The person who raises the most funds will get to name a Breadline Africa community kitchen and win $500 Amazon Vouchers. There are also three minor prizes of $250 Amazon vouchers for people who receive the most votes in the following categories: Most Unusual Recipe; Most Nutritious Recipe and Most Traditional Recipe.

I would in turn like to pass on this tag to Divya  , Curry Leaf  , Navita , Karuna and Sukanya 

A collection of pictures of both white pav and wheat pav....

Click here for a printable view of this recipe 

Ingredients and Method to make Pav/ Bread

All purpose flour pav

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour 

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup warm milk

3 tsp sugar

3 tsp active dry yeast

2 tbsp butter ( I used smart balance)

a little additional butter (smart balance) to apply on top of the bread

For the whole wheat flour pav I substituted all purpose flour with 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour + 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour and proceeded in the same manner as below

Mix sugar and yeast in warm water and keep aside for a few minutes until it froths up

In a large mixing bowl, mix the all purpose flour and salt and keep aside.

Add the yeast  and warm milk to the all purpose flour and knead to make a soft and smooth dough.

Add melted butter (or smart balance) to this and knead some more until the dough is soft and non sticky and smooth. Knead totally for about 10 minutes

Place this dough in a greased container and keep covered with plastic wrap or tea towel and keep aside for the dough to rise (approximately one hour)

Grease a baking tray and keep aside.

When the dough has risen (should be double) punch it down gently and make equal sized balls with the dough and place it on the baking tray about 1/2 an inch apart.

Cover with a plastic wrap and let rise for another hour. 

Preheat oven to 375 deg F.

After the dough has risen the second time (notice that the bread is joined at the ends), place the baking tray in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes until the bread is baked to a nice brown color on top.

Remove from oven, when you tap the top of the bread it will be a little hard and sound a bit hollow, apply a little butter/smart balance on top and bake for another couple of minutes.

Remove, pull apart and serve with vegetables as pav bhaji or with soup or just enjoy one warm from the oven with a little butter or jam

Updated Notes

For a more authentic pav feel to the bread use only water and skip the milk.So for this quantity that would mean 1 cup warm water.