Tuesday 21 July 2009

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! :-)





38 comments:

  1. Those buns looks so gud...and soft...nice one

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  2. I simply loved how your windows keep rattling throughout the day...rains, strong winds and the cold weather in the month of August, what more can one want?? :)
    Poor Delhites and all others suffering in humidity, send some of this good weather to your neighbors dear :-)
    The buns look great...great attempt at bread baking! And hey you are a natural baker...:-)

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  3. the inside looks perfect...and thats ur mango jam..yay!!!
    perfect to dig in on pittar patter day!!

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  4. Looks absolutely tempting.. yummy buns.. :)

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  5. Baking is something I always look for exact measurements. But yours is prefect with just eye-balling... Wow - awesome bread...

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  6. Pune te eto thanda pore naki ?

    Buns gulo shottiy khub bhalo hoyeche. Ei week none of them for me :(

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  7. I've never tried making buns....this is so good.Din't know it was easy to bake them.Yummy!

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  8. Buns look moist and perfect with the jam!

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  9. Looks lovely. Very nice presentation love the one with the jam on it.

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  10. Thanks Priti, Rush, Nithya, Somoo, Nithya Praveen, Divya! :-)

    Thanks Joyee! It rained in Delhi yesterday ... but it is still very hot. :-)

    Haan Sandeepa .. usually 21-30 degrees thake ... ekhon 19-20 te ache ... tomader okhankar moto oto thanda noye, tobe dry ar hilly area bole besh thanda lage.
    And thanks! :-)

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  11. hi sharmila,
    I loved the read...beautiful description there..looks like the inanimate things have sprung up with life due to the rains :)
    Lucky bug sharmila!! I have only flop attempts in bread and bun baking ;) and u've baked some really good looking healthy atta buns :) and the ones with jam are really tempting :)
    Enjoy n god bless!!
    TC

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  12. Lovely sharmila! i too wanna make these soon :) would taste heavenly with mango jam :)

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  13. the buns look well baked.. would be lovely as a breakfast treat.

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  14. That is the beauty of Pune;-) we had a day of rain here but back to 100+ F.. bari theke berono jachey na.. rajasthan er moton temperature.. oh how i would love the rain & rattling of window & to huddle & cuddle..

    Ki shundor gorom gorom airy bun.. amar broken oven niye kNadte ichey korchey:-).. amader i gafiloti, but eto busy hoye gechi, je sharanoi hochey na....mango jam diye monay hochey ek bite di!

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  15. Lovely post ... i alaways love to read your post ...
    I never tried to bake anything till now ... Will try to do that now ...Nice click dear ....

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  16. wow! Those buns r Very nice and soft ///Nice post.

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  17. It is so hooot here, that we could use any rains :-) Loved the last picture in which mango jam is slathered over the bun. What a way to indulge.

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  18. the buns look so authentic. Congrats. i wish we had an over. Could have made them. We recently moved to a house which is more airy, bigger and has more windows than our earlier place. Loving the rains

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  19. Thanks Suparna! You always manage to make me smile with your beautiful lines. :-)
    I am trying my hand at baking ... but need months to gather the courage.:-)

    Thanks Parita! :-)

    Thanks Bergamot! :-)

    Rajasthaner moton Soma?! Ki bolcho!
    Ar tomar ovener kotha shune shotti kharap lagche ... ami toh amar OTG ta beshi prefer kori MW theke. :-)
    Buns gulo bhalo legeche? Tumi nije eto bhalo bake koro! :-)

    Thanks Dolon! :-)

    Thanks Mangala Bhat! :-)

    Thanks RC! May you get some rains there soon! :-)

    Thanks Kalyan! I think you can try baking in the mw too ... all you need is the convection mode. Enjoy the rains. :-)

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  20. Hi Sharmila - your Oriya is perfect. Would you mind if I put a link to the vadi you have made and posted in your site ? Didn't want to do it without checking with you!

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  21. Wow, those look great, and with the mango jam they must have been absolutely divine.
    Love the idea of snuggling indoors while it rains. Here in DC the rains have deserted us this year. I'd give anything now for a good, strong thunderstorm!

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  22. tumi to now and then sundar sundar bread bake korcho.....looks so moist and crispy crust...heavenly with m.jam

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  23. Thanks Rakhee! :-)

    Thanks Somoo! No problem ... go ahead. :-)

    Thanks Vaishali! But you know what ... the rains here are too docile. Even I'd love strong thunderstorm ... complete with lightnening and ear shattering thunder. :-)

    Thanks Indrani! Onek shahosh joro korte hoye ekta trial er jonne. :-)

    Thanks Ranjani! :-)

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  24. Sharmila, the beauty of your recipes is that they appear so simple, I feel even a complete dud like me can also make them.
    The buns look delicious, but tell me, why 2 crosses on top?

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  25. Thanks Aparna! Believe me .. it's me who is the dud. Complicated stuff with lots of ingredients and spending time in the kitchen forever is just not for me ... so I tend to tweak & simplify everything ( check out what I did to the thalipeeth in one of my posts and you will know). ;-)

    The cross is to prevent any wayward cracking of the dough which tends to rise a little as it cooks. But as you can see ... I did not do it perfectly ... so there are cracks all over the buns too. :-)

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  26. this kind of buns are a staple at my place Sharmila....n i add soya n daliya(lol..my fav ingredient, many people think) too to this.
    and dear don't keep the dough overnight in our climate....the dough becomes dark in color n the taste of the fresh yeast is spoiled...i learnt it the hard way....my whole batch got wasted..

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  27. we don't have a convection made...we are looking at ovens and I have given K a few nervous moments by looking at fancy micros too

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  28. Hey much thanks Sangeeta! Thank god I did not keep it overnight! I add soya flour to atta when making rotis ... will try in the bread dough the next time. :-)

    Kalyan .. I have found LG's mw very good. I somehow don't prefer too fancy and complicated stuff.

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  29. great pics Sharmila... esp the ones with mango jam :)

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  30. wow..that looks so amazing Sharmi..That jam pic is so enticing...great work dearie..so enjoying the rain n chill huh..:)

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  31. I like that crust on your whole wheat buns... turned out nicely for you. They are tricky to make normally.

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  32. I liked your blog very much.Wheat buns looks delicious and yuuuuuuuummmy.I will definitely try your recipe.Now I have become your follower so I will be visiting your blog hereafter.You are welcome in my blogs.

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  33. I can only bake cakes though tried my hands in bread making but they dint rise. your atta buns are really tempting plz let me know which brand of dry yeast you used.

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  34. Those buns look really tasty. I am going to look for your alu paratha recipe, too. :)

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  35. Hi, I know this is an old post. But couldn't go without thanking you as this is the first bread recipe that worked for me. I am new baker and my first bread baking failed horribly though I baked cakes with rather success. I went across a lot of bread recipes and most of them were way too complicated. Your's is simply superb and easy too.
    Just one thing I wanted to ask you, is there any way to get rid of the yeast smell as my husband dislikes it. May be the brand I use is more smelly and I admit I used more yeast to get fluffy bun.

    Thanks

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    Replies
    1. Hi Renju!
      I am so glad that it worked for you and you loved it.
      Thank you for letting me know.
      Regarding the yeast thing ... I am sure the reason is using more yeast than necessary. Fresh yeast is smellier than dry yeast.
      Also if the bread is underbaked, it will smell yeast.
      You can try using herbs or garlic or vanilla essence if he cannot tolerate the smell at all.
      You can post your picture of the bun on my FB page and share your experience too.

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