Khara/Masala Bun - Bakery Style

I have always loved baked goodies from an iyengar bakery. I found this particular recipe from Prathibha's blog - a huge collection of mouthwatering recipes. The buns turned out great, very happy with the taste and texture, thanks to Prathibha!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour/maida
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp salt

For masala:

3/4 cup finely chopped onions
5-6 green chillies finely chopped
curry leaves finely chopped
1/3 cup chopped coriander
1 tsp cumin seeds
salt to taste
1 tsp oil

Other ingredients:

1 tbsp butter, to brush the buns
1 tbsp milk, to brush the buns

Method:

Microwave water and milk together for 30 seconds until it is luke warm to touch. Pour this into a wide bowl. Dissolve in the sugar and yeast in it and mix thoroughly until dissolved. Leave this aside for 10-15 mins until the yeast mixture becomes frothy.

Heat olive oil or regular oil in a pan and crackle cumin seeds over low flame and add very finely chopped onion and fry until it is translucent, add a pinch of salt in between to ease the process. Add chillies and stir fry for a minute. Add enough salt to it and do remember that we add salt even to the dough. Keep it aside until the mixture is cooled. Add finely chopped coriander to it and mix well.

Stir in the melted butter and salt to the frothy yeast mixture and slowly add one cup of flour into it and mix well. Add the remaining flour slowly and mix until you get a lump of smooth dough. Knead the bread until you get a smooth non sticky dough. Add flour in between when the dough is sticky. Slightly press the dough with your hands to flatten it and keep the masala(fried onion mixture) in the centre and fold it from all the sides like how we do for stuffed parathas.

Start kneading again until the mixture is very well incorporated in the dough. The dough might become sticky because of the onions,so please feel free to add the flour when required while kneading the dough. Grease your hands and a empty big bowl with oil and coat the dough with oil slightly and place it in the greased bowl. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and keep it in a warm place until the dough doubles almost. Mine took about an hour and a half.



Knead the dough again gently, this process is important as it removes air bubbles formed in the dough. Divide the dough into 7-8 portions and shape them into buns and place them on a baking tray with space in between. Keep them again in the warm place for 45 mins - 1 hour for the final rise.

Preheat the oven to 180 deg celsius. Brush the top of buns with milk very gently over the nicely risen buns and bake until they turn golden brown, mine took about 22 minutes. Brush the top of buns with butter immediately after removing them from oven.This helps in giving the shine to the crust, makes the crust softer and also makes the buns smell better.

Makes 6-7 buns