pav recipe | ladi pav recipe | how to make mumbai ladi pav recipe

by dassana amit | 146 Comments
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ladi pav recipe – step by step recipe to make soft and light mumbai ladi pav bread at home.

pav recipe, ladi pav

pav or pao is basically a small loaf of bread, introduced by the portuguese in india. commercially, pavs are always made with maida or all purpose flour. at home we can make these small bread rolls with whole wheat flour or other flours. i have made pavs with 100% whole wheat flour too. but unlike bread, the texture has denseness and a bit of chewiness.

there is a recipe of wheat pav posted made with 50-50 % of both maida (all purpose flour) and atta (whole wheat flour). this 50-50% recipe also yields a soft textured pav. you can also check ladi pav made in pressure cooker.

the mumbai pav recipe in this post is made with 100% maida (all purpose flour). i make these light bread rolls once in a while, when the family demands and they get bored of whole wheat bread and chapatis.

bombay pav recipe

i have developed this pav buns recipe over a period of time to get the best results. the recipe method makes use of the sponge or poolish method for leavening and the result is very soft & spongy pav. i added instant yeast to the recipe. however, fresh yeast or dry active yeast can also be added.

to get the aroma and taste like that of the pav buns made in the bakeries, its advisable to use fresh yeast. the proportions of all three are mentioned in the recipe details.

usually i make pavs to be served with pav bhaji or misal pav or masala pav or vada pav or samosa pav or pav sandwich. i never buy pavs from outside. i hope the step by step pics help you to make excellent homemade pavs.

how to make pav recipe

1. in a bowl take 1 cup of all purpose flour, yeast and sugar.

ingredients for pav recipe

2. add 1 cup warm water.

add water to make pav recipe

3. stir or whisk to make a smooth thick batter.

batter for pav recipe

4. cover and keep the bowl for 30 to 40 minutes till you see a bubbly & frothy mixture. the batter would also have risen. the below pic shows the consistency. this is the sponge starter.

batter for bombay pav recipe

5. add oil, salt and 1 cup flour.

making batter for bombay pav recipe

6. mix with a spoon or spatula.

mix batter - making pav recipe

7. add 1 cup flour again.

add flour to make bombay pav recipe

8. mix and then begin to knead. if the dough appears sticky then you can add about ¼ to ½ cup flour. the proportion of water to be added depends on the quality of the flour. overall i added 3.25 cups flour and 1 cup water.

knead pav dough to prepare bombay pav recipe

9. knead to a smooth pliable dough.

dough for making bombay pav recipe

leavening pav dough for making pav

10. spread oil or butter all over the dough. cover the bowl with a kitchen cotton napkin or a lid and keep the bread to leaven for 20 to 25 minutes. the leavening time depends on the type of yeast used & the temperature conditions. for instant and fresh yeast, 20 to 25 minutes of the first rise is enough. for dry active yeast, you will have to keep for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or more.

dough for preparing bombay pav recipe

11. the risen & doubled pav dough.

dough for preparing bombay pav recipe

12. gently punch and deflate the dough and form a log.

kneading pav dough - preparing pav recipe

13. slice the log into equal sizes.

slice pav dough - making pav recipe

14. take each slice and roll between your palms to get a smooth round roll.

rough pav dough ball - pav recipe

baking pav

15. make rolls this way and place them in a greased tray keeping 1 inch space between all of them. cover and allow the second rise for 25 to 30 minutes. the small loaves would increase in size.

baking bombay laadi pav bread recipe

16. then brush the pavs buns with some milk. this gives a golden color to laadi pav.

brush milk on bombay laadi pav bread recipe

17. place the baking tray with the pavs in a preheated oven at 200 degrees celsius for 25 to 30 mins or till the tops turn golden and the pavs sound hollow on tapping.

baking bombay laadi pav bread recipe

18. remove the pav buns from the tray and place on a wired rack or tray, so that they don’t become softened and moist from the bottom due to heat condensation. brush melted butter or spread softened butter on top of the pavs for a glaze. this is an optional step.

remove bombay laadi pav bread

19. serve the pavs warm or at room temperature with any curry like usal or vegetable dish or just as plain bun maska pav (buttered rolls) served with masala chai. you can also use these pavs to make mumbai street food snacks like pav bhaji or kutchi dabeli or misal pav or vada pav.

bombay laadi pav bread recipe, bombay pav recipe

more bread recipes

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pav recipe

4.5 from 24 votes
Author:Dassana Amit
Prep Time:1 hr 30 mins
Cook Time:25 mins
Total Time:1 hr 55 mins
Course:snacks
Cuisine:indian
Calories: 213kcal
Servings (change the number to scale):8 to 10 pavs
pav recipe, ladi pav recipe, pav buns recipe
bombay ladi pav recipe - soft, light indian bread rolls

INGREDIENTS FOR pav recipe

(1 CUP = 250 ML)
  • 3 to 3.5 cups all purpose flour (maida) - i added 3.25 cups flour
  • 2 tablespoon oil or softened butter
  • 1.5 to 2 teaspoon instant yeast Or ½ to ¾ tablespoon dry active yeast Or 1 to 1.5 tablespoon fresh yeast
  • 2 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt or as required
  • 1 cup warm water or add as required
  • some milk for brushing

HOW TO MAKE pav recipe

making dough for pav recipe

  • in a bowl take 1 cup of all purpose flour, yeast, sugar.
  • add 1 cup water. stir or whisk to make a smooth thick batter.
  • cover and keep the bowl for 30 to 40 minutes till you see a bubbly and frothy layer on the top. the batter would also have risen.
  • add oil, salt and 1 cup flour. mix with a spoon or spatula.
  • add 1 cup flour again. mix and then begin to knead.
  • if the dough appears sticky then you can about 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour. the proportion of water to be added, depends on the quality of the flour. overall i added 3.25 cups flour and 1 cup water.
  • knead very well to a smooth pliable dough. spread oil or butter all over the dough.

leavening pav dough for making pav

  • cover the bowl with a lid or a kitchen cotton napkin and keep the bread to leaven for 20 to 25 minutes. the leavening time depends on the type of yeast used. for instant and fresh yeast, 20 to 25 minutes of the first rise is enough. for dry active yeast, you will have to keep for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or more.
  • once the pav dough has risen & doubled, then gently punch and deflate the dough and form a log.
  • slice the log into equal sizes. take each slice and roll between your palms to get a smooth round roll.
  • make rolls this way and place them in a greased tray keeping 1 inch space between all of them. cover and allow the second rise for 25 to 30 minutes. the small loaves would increase in size.

baking ladi pav

  • just before 15 minutes you bake the pav, preheat the oven at 200 degrees celsius. for a regular oven, heat both the top and bottom elements. for a microwave oven with convection mode, preheat for 15 minutes at 180 degrees.
  • then brush the pavs buns with some milk. this gives a golden color to laadi pav.
  • place the baking tray in the center rack in a preheated oven at 200 degrees celsius for 25 to 30 mins or till the tops turn golden and the pavs sound hollow on tapping. for baking in the microwave oven at convection mode, bake at 180 degrees celsius.
  • remove them from the tray and place on a wired rack or tray, so that they don't become softened and moist from the bottom due to heat condensation.
  • brush melted butter or spread softened butter on top of the pavs. this is an optional step.
  • serve the pavs warm or at room temperature with any curry, vegetable dish or just as plain bun maska pav (buttered rolls) served with masala chai.

NOTES

tips for making mumbai pav recipe:
  1. if the dough become sticky then add some flour and if the dough looks dry, then add some water.
  2. if the top surface of the bread browns quickly than place aluminum foil or butter paper on the top. this will avoid further browning.
  3. instead of kneading with hands, you can also knead the dough in a food processor or in an electric mixer with paddle attachment.
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dassana amit

Founder, Chef, Recipe Developer, Food Photographer >> MORE ABOUT US

namaste and welcome to vegrecipesofindia.com which i started in feb 2009 and is a pure vegetarian blog. i have been passionate about cooking from childhood and began to cook from the age of 10. later having enrolled in a home science degree greatly enhanced my cooking & baking skills and took it to a different level which i now share as foolproof recipes. i was formally trained both in mainstream indian as well as international cuisines.

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146 comments/reviews

  1. Hi Dasana

    Thanks for sharing d recipe. Planning to try out just wanted to know if I can use the sourdough starter here also keeping it outside to proof wil it not develop a sour taste esp during summers?

    Thanks
    Shruti

    • welcome shruti. you can use a sourdough starter for the pav recipe. with the sourdough starter, there will be some sourness in the dough during these hot summers. otherwise, keep the dough for 30 to 45 minutes at room temperature for the first rise. then keep in the fridge overnight or for a day. then you can bring the dough to room temperature and make the rolls. let the rolls rise and then bake.

  2. Hi dassana,
    You mentioned that for bakery-like Pav one may use fresh yeast.. how do we make this fresh yeast?

    • Tried today, however the outer crust too hard and pav not fluffy and light as mumbai pav
      Any specific brand of maida to use in usa ?3 stars

      • you can use bread flour which is easily available in usa. its not a brand but a type of flour used for making breads which has more gluten. but even all purpose flour which we call as maida works very well for making pav recipe. i think here its not the pav, but the yeast that is the problem. could be the quality and freshness or brand or the yeast has not got activated and proofed properly. if you have used dry active yeast or fresh yeast, then lukewarm water water is absolutely essential for the yeast to get activated. if the water is on the cooler side, the yeast won’t get activated. if the water is even slightly hotter, the yeast die. if the yeast has not got proofed well, the bread or pav won’t become fluffy and light.

  3. Hi Dasana, I love your recipes and while I’m not much of a cook your recipes always turn out great. Just wanted to know if I doubled the flour how much yeast would have to be used. Thanks a lot.5 stars

  4. hi, i love all your recipes. this one is wonderful and I tried today. everything went well. but the outer part became hard. how can I get soft pav. Fyi, I have used active dry yeast and followed your recipe. The 2 proofs were just perfect.please advice.4 stars

    • looks like the top has got baked too much and hence the hardness. you can bake for less time. since oven temperatures vary, baking can take less or more time.

  5. Hi. Just tried this in USA. I have a stupid question since I never did baking in my life. Are youR temperature units in Celcius or Farenhights?5 stars

  6. Hi, wanted to get in touch with you for a super opportunity. Is there a way i can get in touch? Manas.

  8. Thank you so much for this recipe. Just tried it and it came out very well. Except since I was following the instructions before the pictorial step-by-step, I missed out the salt. My bad! :p5 stars

  12. you are plain genius Dassana! I made these pavs and they turned out so amazing. It was unbelievable that home made pavs could turn out so good and that too in my first try :). Thank you sooo much. Only the whole process took very long. I hadn’t seen that we have to add warm water. I guess that was the reason and may be the cold weather too. Thanks again Dassana.5 stars

    • thanks a lot ritu. homemade pav are too good.i bake them when i have to make any dish like pav bhaji or vada pav or misal pav. during winters, leavening does take time. an option is to keep the dough covered with a lid in sunlight. i do that at times. for instant yeast, warm water is not essential. but if using dry active yeast or fresh yeast, then warm water is mandatory or else the yeast does not activate.

  13. Hi Dassana,
    Would like to know if the temperature of water has to be lukewarm throughout ? Meaning does it have to be lukewarm even when we think that the dough is dry and need to add some more water at that point ?

  14. If I need to bake it in batches, then how should I store the dough for the second batch when the first one is baking?4 stars

  15. Hi,

    I will be trying the recipe soon.. can I double the recipe.. will the outcome be same?

    Thanks,
    Priya

    • you can double the recipe. in case the dough looks dry, then you can always add more water. if you knead well and the yeast gets proofed well, the the result is always good.

  16. Hi,
    I tried this recipe for the second time yesterday. The first time, the yeast did not cooperate and resulted in a hard ball. But with fresh packet of instant yeast, the pav was fabulous, nice and soft with the exact shade as in the picture. Only difference was that since I did not make all the balls of equal size, some were a little bit bigger than others, but all baked perfectly. Made pav bhaji and now there are no more pavs left 🙂 Thank you.

    • ranjani, thanks for the feedback. most of the times the texture of the bread largely depends on how well the yeast has proofed. with instant yeast, its easier and better as there are less chances of things going wrong. glad that recipe came out good for you.

  17. Hi mam,
    Today i have tried the bombay pav recipe. Till step 15 everything came as u mentioned but after baking it was hard on top. Mine is microwave and i used the convection mode at 200 degree for 15 minutes. Where the mistake would be?

    • Subhashini, looks like the pav has got baked too much. Oven timing varies from oven to oven. So it helps to keep a check. next time bake for little less time.

  18. Hi!
    I tried ur recipe of pav today. And it was so soft and spongy. Simply perfect. My family just loved it. Thanks a lot dear!5 stars

  19. Hi ..!
    I tried pav today.. unfortunately it did not come out properly. I baked it for 30 mins may be because of dat outr ws hard.. even after 30mins it did not even turn a bit brown.. bakef at

  20. I prepared ladi pav with u r receipee followed all the steps but my outer layer crust became hard what would be the reason I baked pav 20 minutes on lower Heat and 5 minutes both side what went wrong

    • the outer crust got hard due to over baking or too much heat coming from the top heating element in the oven. also oven temperatures vary with the size, model and capacity. so the time can be more or less.

  21. Tried your Bombay Pav recipe last night, AMAZING!! Definitely a keeper this recipe. Thank you, thank you, Thank you.

  22. Hi dear,this is first time that i failed one recipe of ur blog 🙁 it didn’t come so well,to make top brown i bake for some extra time but then the outer layer was very hard…plz advice. Taste was good as like market but d overall appearance i guess i did many things wrong.

    • while baking and especially for the first time or during the beginning, things can go wrong. looks like the top crust got baked too much. just a even golden color is fine on the top. if the bread or rolls are kept for too long in the oven, the top will become hard. so next time you can bake till you see the top becoming golden.

  24. Today m making ur wheat bread recipe n pauv recipe…. I have tried ur many dishes I really like ur recipes …. Whenever I want to cook something I see ur blog first thank u

    • quite pleased to know this heena thankyou for your kind and positive words. surely try wheat bread and keep us posted how it was? and you are welcome.

  25. Super spongy!!! Just tat the top portion of pav was not that Golden… Rest it tastes really good 🙂

  26. Hi Dassana,

    I am a huge fan of your website and have been following your recipes on a daily basis from dals to veggies to pulao. for everything i refer your blog once.

    i want advice from you on some great bread baking books.
    i am trying my hands on baking and would like to refer to some books as well in this regard.

    thanks and keep up the good work.
    you are an inspiration to a lot of women4 stars

    • thank you urvashi. peter reinhart’s books are good on bread baking. then there is also the bread bible which is a good book. i have artisan breads everyday by peter reinhart and its a really good book.

  27. Hi Dassana,

    I tried the Pav today. The crust was a bit hard. Where did I go wrong???

    Thank you for the recipe. ?

    • the crust becomes hard, when the baking time is more or if the heating is too much in the oven. if you use OTG, then keep the tray in the center of the oven and keep both the top and bottom heating elements on.

  30. These look so delicious! Love your recipes! The orange is our fav :)) I had one question though- how many days do they stay well? I m planning to make these for a party so wanted to know if they could be made ahead of time!

    Thanks for the wonderful recipes!

  31. hi dassana,

    I can’t thank you enough for this amazing recipe. After years of failing at trying out a perfect pav recipe, my loaf finally turned out to be perfect. My family loved it!
    I followed your instructions to the T, except that i added half a tsp of baking powder. Also i use a convection oven so i preheated the oven to 200 degrees and baked the pavs for 10 mins. After that i raised the temperature to 250 degrees and baked for another 15 mins to get a brown surface.That’s it. It came out amazingly perfect. I am gonna note down this recipe forever. Thank you so very much! 🙂 🙂5 stars

    • thanks a lot harshree for this positive feedback. co incidentally i also made pav today with both atta/whole wheat flour and some maida, but in pressure cooker. thanks also for sharing the oven tips you have mentioned. will help readers too.