Every Mumbaikar worth his salt would know about pao our local bread which is a staple accompaniment to most of our street food be it Vada pao, bhaji pao, pao bhaji, missal pao etc the list is endless .
SOMETHING ABOUT ITS HISTORY: You can credit the existence of Pao in Mumbai to Portuguese who ruled our neighbouring Goa for 450 years . Their yearning for a crusty bread got them teaching the local goan’s the art of making bread, back then Indian’s were not to crazy about baking leavened bread and back then yeast was not readily available therefore initially pao was made using toddy which was allowed to ferment over night , even now in Goa you can find bakeries using toddy this type of pao is called Unde but frankly I would rather stick to yeast cause In my opinion though Unde closely resembles pao taste wise its not the same as it lacks in its light yeasty taste. Sadly bread making is a dying art in Goa I was fortunate enough to visit one of the quaint bakeries that make them . Getting back to how the famous pao became Mumbai staple. Goan immigrants who migrated to Mumbai from Goa in the 50’s they started out making those and eventually it was taken over by Muslims till date you will find quiet a few bakeries in Mumbai making pao.
MAKING OF PAO IN A CENTURY OLD WOOD FIRE OVEN IN GOA
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I am guessing the pao is popular street food in Mumbai cause it tastes right with vada or a omlet , its cheap(just costs rupees two in today’s times) its quiet filling plus its got a good shelf life what more does the migrant population of Mumbai want. Interestingly you get one more variation of pao in Mumbai called the Kodak pao which has a hard crust and can very easily compared to baguette. Though it is not as popular as regular pao but its still my favourite it goes really well with salty Amul butter which I am sure most Mumbaikar’s will easily relate to it
I realised how much we take its existence for granted when I recently took a trip Chennai and my friends there asked me get Mumbai pao and the request for such a trivial thing surprised me, upon inquiring I was told that pao is available only in Maharashtra & Goa people really crave for it cause the vada , missal, bhaji is just not the same without the paav. This got me thinking to try out making the local pao and after several attempts I can proudly say that I got the recipe just right. I dedicate this post to all those mumbaikars who are based outside Maharashtra and Goa nationally and internationally now you can make your own pao
INGREDIENTS
Refined Flour: 500 grams (In India we just get refined flour in local market. However in many European countries you get a specialized refined flour called strong flour which has higher gluten content its best to go for specialized flour for bread).
Fresh yeast 25 gems (if you are using dried yeast then you can take around 13grams of dried yeast)
Salt : 10gms
Oil: 100 ml
Water: 300 ml
METHOD
- Sieve together flour and salt.
- In a separate bowl mix together oil water and yeast.
- Now add in the sieve served flour.
- In a separate bowl mix together oil water and yeast.
- Now add in the sieve served flour.
- Knead well, kneading is very important as it develops the gluten in the dough.
- The dough will be a little sticky.
- Just brush some oil in a bowl and keep the kneaded dough for proving aging foil the bowl to prevent the dough from drying
- Proving time can be two hours or more depending on the room temperature the dough will double in size. But after experimenting for quiet a few times I have noted that you get better results if you to knead the dough at night and keep it over night to prove it in fridge.
- Punch the dough and knock back divide the dough and weigh each ball should weigh approximately 40 grams .
- Keep it in a baking tray and reprove it for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven at 200 degrees Celsius
- Bake for 15 mins till it gets a nice brown crust.
