STUFFED BUNS

Even though its a Tuesday and I should be posting my week's menu, I feel its much more exciting to post my "bun-ny" experience..

I wanted to post this recipe earlier but somehow that was not happening, so I thought why not postpone the menu for a day.

OK so talking about my bun-ny experience, well I did search for a lot of burger bun recipes and came across tons of them. One in particular looked simple, and I did not have to go through the trouble of making any conversions or changes in ingredient quantities. With just the addition of an egg, I went on to follow the recipe (that I found online) and voila........there they were fluffy, round and soft burger buns.

Now comes the question of, why stuffed? Well I wanted to send these in for Breadbaking day event hosted by Aparna of My diverse kitchen. I thought why not try stuffed buns instead of regular buns. Back in college in Kolkatta, there was this bread shop called hot breads, they served delicious stuffed masala buns, so that was it, I got into my apron and kneaded up some dough.

Here is the recipe

You will need

for the bun

• warm water- 1 cup
• sugar- 1 tsp
• dry yeast- 1 tbsp
• warm milk- 3/4th cup
• butter- 1/4th cup
• salt- 1,1/2 tsp
• flour- 3 1/2 cups, (1 cup additional for the rolling out process).
• egg- 1 whole
• egg white- 1
• red chilli flakes- 1/2 tsp
• sesame seeds- 1 tbsp
• olive oil- a little

for the filling

• ricotta cheese- 1/2 cup
• thawed and boiled spinach- 1 cup
• crushed garlic- 1-2 pods
• salt and pepper to taste.

You have to

for the filling

1. In a bowl,mix the ricotta cheese along with the spinach. add the crushed garlic along with the seasoning. You can add other seasonings too.
2. combine everything together, check for salt. keep it aside.

for the buns

1. proof the yeast in 1 cup of water with sugar. let it foam for around 10 mins.
2. knead together the flour, butter, red chili flakes milk and salt and egg.
3. add the foamed yeast to the flour mixture and begin to knead.
4. here the dough gets sticky.
5. let it stand for around 10 more mins.
6. knead the dough. here you might need some dry flour,use it. knead the dough till smooth and elastic.
7. grease a big bowl, and place dough in it, covered.
8. leave it to rise for at least an hour to hour an a half.
9. punch the dough down.
10. take it out on a floured surface.
11. knead the dough. shape them into balls.
12. to add filling, roll some dough into a ball, make a depression in the center of the ball, and add the filling in the middle. pinch the dough back to seal it.
13. roll again into a round.
14. cover and let it stand for another 30- 40 mins.
15. preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
16. brush with an egg wash (egg white and water mixture). sprinkle sesame seeds.
17. bake for 20 mins, or till nice and brown.

some points to note.

1. while taking the dough out of the bowl onto the floured board, make sure you dip your fingers in oil. this way the dough won't stick.
2. while shaping the dough, it is important to keep adding some dry flour, so that shaping becomes easier.
3. keeping the dough soft and sticky will help in producing soft buns.

enjoy