Whole Wheat Buns

The rains are here to stay. It has been drizzling steadily for the past two days ... and has been very very windy. Not to mention the cold. While the family in Delhi is complaining about the heat and humidity and the lack of rains ... we are snuggling into warm woollens and throws and blankets.

The trees outside are having tough time holding on to themselves and their branches ... the way they are being shaken and thrashed by the wind.

Inside the house, all the windows have come to life. How do these huge glass panes rattle so much ... I wonder.
Not satisfied with the ear jarring rattling, they sometimes moan and groan, making the strangest of noises ... enough to spook the living daylights out of any living being.

The whole day there is this noise ... can be easily called a lift from any Ramsay branded stuff .... while one window is rattling with tremendous urgency in one room, another starts a low moan that slowly climbs in pitch and octave ... until it turns so bone chillingly shrill that one has to leave the room.

Anyway, it was early in the weekend and I was at my wits end as to what to make for brunch nee breakfast. And finally zeroed in on aloo parathas ... the quickest breakfast I can make ... thanks to my aloo mash mix.

But as I was taking out the atta / wheat flour listlessly, I decided to try my hand at baking bread again. That put the spring in my step as I set off to try something that I usually run away from ... baking bread.

Since I was not expecting a success, I did not keep track of the exact measurements. I usually do not follow measurements for any recipe ... so realised that it was all those careful measurements that really scare me away from baking bread. So just went by my instincts this time ... and I got some real good bread! :-)

Of course, I must mention that going through the recipes of all the wonderful blogs out there has given me some good info on baking bread.

So I made these Whole Wheat Buns. :-)
Buns because I don't have any baking tray to bake a loaf ... yet. I did use yeast ... and am happy I did. The next time am going to keep the dough overnight and see what happens.
Since the weather is too cold these days, am not too sure though.


Am trying to give the measurements ... but dear baking experts ... please don't hold me against anything .

Need : 1 cup atta / whole wheat flour , a little less than 1/2 cup maida / APF, 1 small cube of butter ( I cannot give the exact proportion ... maybe the size of an Amul cheese cube ) , dry active yeast (around 1 tbsp), 1 tsp sugar and less than 1 tsp salt, warm water to make dough.

How to : Warm water. Mix the two flours in a biggish bowl .
In a cup pour in a little warm water and add the sugar and the yeast.

Cover and keep for a while till the yeast dissolves ... you can see it froth. After a while add it to the flours along with the butter and salt. Knead with more warm water into a soft dough.

Cover and keep it for a while ( I kept it for around half an hour).

Meanwhile preheat oven ( I did at 150 degrees C ). Grease a baking tray.

Make small balls out of the dough. Make two cuts across the surface.

Arrange them on the tray and bake at 180 degrees till the buns are done ( check by inserting a knife or toothpick ).

These buns were done very quickly ... but the top was still very light in colour. So I grilled them for a few minutes and got the perfect colour.

See the air holes? :-)
The crust was not too hard ... and I got the brown I wanted ... and the inside was so soft !




I slathered them with butter and my Mango Jam.
Delicious! :-)