Stuffed buns

Till a few months back I could not even dream of baking bread. The thought also never crossed my mind. Slowly I ventured into this " yeasted" zone.

I started with pizza base, then successfully moved on to Foccaccia  . 

After several trials and tribulations I could make a perfect white bread. 

Then stated all the variations.  Now the situation at home is that nobody wants to eat store bought bread.  So today I'll help you make stuffed buns.

Amazingly soft and delicious buns. They are not difficult to make. Just follow the instructions carefully.

Read the recipe  and the notes several times  before starting. I have tweaked  the original recipe a little. You find the original recipe  here

Two most important things in bread making are: the temperature of water in which you will be activating the yeast. Water should be just warm, approx. 48 to 54 degrees Celsius .

Second is kneading. You have to knead it for 10. -15 minutes for the gluten to develop, which helps the buns or any bread for that matter to rise.

Ingredients : for stuffing

Oil                           2 tsp

Black cumin              1/2 tsp

Crushed Garlic          1 tsp

Onion chopped         1/2 cup

Potatoes                   2 small (150gms) very finely cubed

Bell pepper.             1/ 2 cup very finely cubed

Frozen Corn              1/2 cup , ( thawed)

Cheddar cheese        1/2 cup grated

Green chilly              1/2 finely chopped

Salt                          to taste

Chilly flake               1 tsp

Method 

1. Heat oil in a pan. 
2. Crackle black cumin.
3. Add garlic , green chilly and onion .
4. Sauté till onions turn pink and soft.
5. Now add  peppers, potato and corn and sauté for a couple of minutes.
6. The mixture should be absolutely dry at this stage.
7. Remove from fire, add chilly flakes and cheese. 
8. Taste and add salt accordingly.
9. Keep it aside to cool completely.

Ingredients:   For buns

Milk.                        1 cup

Butter                      1 tbsp

Sugar.                      1 tbsp

Salt                          1 1/4 tsp

Warm water.            1/4 cup

Active  dry yeast       2 1/4 tsp 

  All Purpose Flour      3 1/2 cup  approximately.

Oil                            for brushing

Milk                          for brushing

Method : 

1. Boil milk in a saucepan.  Remove it from fire .  
2. Add butter and salt to it. Mix well so that butter melts completely. Pour it into a large bowl and let it cool down till it is  just warm to touch. It should not be hot when you add puffed up yeast to it coz that will kill the yeast.
3. Take warm water in a small bowl.  Dip your finger in it, it should feel just warm. If water is  hot it will kill the yeast.
4. Add sugar to it and stir.
5. Now sprinkle yeast over it and let it sit for 10 min, till yeast balloons up. 
6. Once milk butter mixture is  just warm  add the puffed up yeast to it.
7. Now start adding flour , one cup at a time ,  mixing lightly( no kneading right now), till you no longer can stir it with a wooden spoon .
8. Turn the dough onto a floured surface . at this point the flour will be very sticky. Add more flour little by little and start kneading it.,adding till the dough is soft but not sticky.
9. Care should be taken to not add too much flour.  I used 2 tbsp flour less than mentioned above. 
10. There will be a slight variation in the total amount of flour used because of the quality of the flour and weather conditions.
11. Now knead till the dough is elastic and soft like baby's  bottom.
12. If kneading by hand then knead for 10-12 minutes.
13. Now   grease a large bowl and  put the ready dough into the bowl and turn the dough over so as to grease it from all sides. Cover with a cling film and let it sit un disturbed in a warm and draft free place till it doubles in size, anywhere between an hour to hour and a half depending on the temperature of your kitchen .
14.  To check if the dough has risen enough, push your finger , into the dough upto your second knuckle. If the indention remains when you remove your finger then it is ready else let it rise for some more time.
15. Once the dough has doubled, turn it onto a floured surface and punch it and knead till you release all the air trapped in it. 
16.  Divide the dough into 10 equal parts and shape each into a ball. 
17. Flatten one ball and carefully place a table spoon of the filling . Pull up the sides and seal properly, otherwise the stuffing will seep out during baking.
18. Repeat the process with the remaining balls.
19. Place them  , sealed side down , 2" apart on  a tray greased and lined with parchment paper or silicon mat.
20. Brush them with oil , loosely cover them with cling film and leave them un disturbed  for second rise, until they double in size. Approximately 25 - 35 minutes.
21. Preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius . Brush the buns with milk and  bake for 30-35 min or until golden brown.
22. Remove from oven and place them on a wire rack. Brush with butter or olive oil for soft crust. Allow the to cool slightly before  eating.

Note : if your yeast does not  ballon up then don't proceed further. Throw away the yeast and start again.

Remember : hot liquid and too much salt kills yeast.

Yeast feeds on sugar to grow.

With the same recipe you can also make plain buns .

Just skip the stuffing step. Rest of the procedure remains the same.

You can make any stuffing , just remember that the stuffing should be dry.