Oregano Dinner rolls

Friendship is such a cherished relationship, isn't it? We have our childhood friends ( langotiya yaar ), our school friends, our college friends, our work-mates, our society friends... The list goes on! Some i know even have movie-friends like a friend whom you would call to catch up a movie, and throw all the filmi- gyaan you know later on, by discussing the film as a critic :) And yes, oh yes, how can we forget our pen-pals? Something which we have lost with time! :( 

I still remember when we were kids, there used to come a monthly or bi-monthly magazine wherein there was a list of all the pen friends from across the world (I am talking about the days when computers were not a household necessity) and we could choose and write to the address given. My brother had some pen-pal girlfriend from Russia, so we used to receive postcards and personalized letters from her. I really miss those days, and i still prefer writing a handwritten card or a mail anytime to this email and whatsapp.

And then now, there are virtual friends - on Facebook, on Instagram or Twitter (though, am not yet in twitter). And me? I have some blogger friends :) The advantages of Blogging world. Past few days when i didn't post anything, it felt so good to hear some words from a few of them asking my whereabouts, that i felt connected. Though i haven't met any of these friends, or know anything about them on personal level, we are connected. Connected through our blogs which we read and follow regularly. Thank you so much all you girls (women's too :)) Kudos to the blogging world :)

Back to the post, I had already tried and posted recipe of Pav . I wanted to try the dinner rolls since a long time. Recently i bought a whole lot of dried herbs and have been using them a lot in my cooking. These dinner rolls, i added a hint of oregano and the aroma was divine. As in such we all know, that there is nothing more exciting or therapeutic than baking and that too baking bread! To add to that the aroma of oregano was fantastic! These rolls can be served with soup, or any curry, or just cut them in half and apply butter or any spread of your choice. 

Ingredients

Maida (All purpose flour) - 1 and half cups (Can be replaced with wheat flour or half and half)

Active dry yeast - 1 tsp

Lukewarm water - 1/8 cup

Egg - 1 (beaten) (Can replace with milk)

Milk - 1/2 cup

Butter - 1 n 1/2 tbsp

Sugar - 1 tbsp

Salt - 1/4 - 1/2 tsp

Oregano - 1- 1 n half tsp

Recipe:

Warm the water in microwave (not hot, just lukewarm). Add sugar and yeast to it and set it aside for 10 - 15 minutes. It will foam up which means the yeast is active.

Take the flour in a bowl. Add salt, beaten egg ( if adding), butter, and make a well in the center. Add the yeast-water mixture. Mix it all well. Now slowly add milk and knead for about 7-10 minutes to a nice smooth dough. You might require less/more milk, so add milk slowly as you knead. 

If you feel the dough is a lot sticky, then add flour or spread flour on the base and knead on it.

The dough will be nice and soft. Now grease a bowl and keep this dough covered in it to raise for about 1 n half hours or so.

You will see that the dough has raised to almost double the size. Knead it well again and add about 3/4 tsp oregano in it while kneading.Knead for about 4-5 minutes.

Grease and dust a baking tray. Now make round balls of the dough (or the shape desired) and place them in the baking tray leaving some space in between. Cover and let it rest for about an hour to raise again.

Now add the remaining oregano on top. Brush it with milk/butter or some beaten egg (if using).

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Now bake the buns for about 20 minutes or till golden brown on top.

Happy Baking :) Happy Cooking :)

Pav

There are so many types of breads in this world, the list really amazes me! Each country, region or town have their own distinct version of bread. The basic ingredients remain the same, but just "a hint of this, and an addition of that" changes the whole flavour, texture and taste of the bread. One of my blogger friend from Norwegia (Sharon) has recently sent me their local bread recipe, which i am going to make soon and post it on the blog. 

I have grown up with eating Pav from mumbai in my Vada Pav's and Pav bhaji's. So when i came to Delhi, the taste of the Pav was completely different for me. Pav is Indian bread, but the concept of it was introduced to us by the Portuguese in 15th century. The early Portuguese presence in India was "Missionary-heavy" and they made bakeries and baking a priority. These missionaries trained and taught the converts in Goa, the art of baking bread. Since yeast was not readily available, they used to bake with fresh coconut Toddy.

Well, making Pav is super fun. I purposely made small buns and gave them a round shape. But you can shape them as you want. Making them small surely helped since i was making it for the first time and they turned out super soft. 

I served some as a tiffin breakfast to hubby by spreading jam and butter in between. And some, i made into mini-burgers :))


Recipe adapted from : Ammaji's kitchen

Ingredients:

Maida (All purpose flour)- 1 and half cups

Yeast - 2 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Sugar - 1 tbsp plus 2 tsp

Milk - 1/4 cup ( Add more or less as needed)

Butter - 1 tbsp (melted)

Water - 1/4 cup

Recipe:

Take a bowl and grease it with oil. This bowl is to be used for raising the dough, so take a little bigger one.

Yeast: There are two types of yeast. Instant and Active dry. If you have instant yeast, there is no need to activate it. But if you have dry yeast, you have to activate it. This process is called proofing. It is always beneficial if you proof the yeast.

Take 1/4 cup water and warm it. It should be lukewarm and not hot. If it is too hot, the yeast will die and if it is too cold, the yeast will not raise. Add about 1 tsp sugar to it and mix well. Now, add the yeast. Mix and cover the bowl and let it sit for about 8-10 minutes. The yeast will rise a bit.

In another mixing bowl, add flour, salt, sugar and butter.

Now make a small well in between and add the yeast. Mix well and now add milk little by little. The amount of liquid added depends on the strength of the flour. So don't add everything at once.

Add slowly and start kneading the dough. Knead for about 10 minutes.

Place this in the greased bowl, cover and let it sit for about 1 n half hours to raise.

Now, take out the raised dough, spread some flour on the wooden board and knead it for another 5-7 minutes till all air comes out. 

If the dough is too sticky, add some flour and knead again.

Make equal sized balls and flatten them a little or shape according to your wish.

Grease a baking tray with some butter or oil and place the balls in the tray leaving little space in between for them to rise up.

Cover this and let it sit for another 1 n half hours to rise.

Please keep the bowls to raise at room temperature only. 

After about 1 n half hours, preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Brush the raised dough balls with olive oil/normal oil or milk and bake them for about 30 minutes till the top becomes golden brown.

Remove from the oven and brush some melted butter on them.

Let them cool.

Pav is ready :)

Happy Cooking :)