Soft Kalonji jeera Seed

Ingredients

• 1 & ½ cups All purpose flour maida
• ½ cup Milk
• ¼ cup Oil/ melted butter
• 2 teaspoon Active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon Sugar
• ¾ teaspoon Salt
• 2 teaspoon Cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoon Nigella seeds Kalonji seeds
• Milk and butter for brushing

Instruction

Proofing yeast

1. Heat milk to make it luke warm.
2. Add sugar and yeast to it and stir to completely dissolve the yeast.
3. Keep aside for 10 mins. It will turn frothy and raise little. This means yeast is active. If not, discard this and start over with good quality active dry yeast.
4. I added salt to the mixture (have done this earlier in all recipes, haven’t encountered any issues) but recently heard salt can kill certain yeast. So better to mix with flour.

Dough preparation

1. In a mixing bowl, mix salt, flour and make a dent. Mix oil with the yeast mixture and add it to the dent. Add cumin seeds and half the kalonji seeds. (I very slightly roasted both cumin and kalonji, not much though)
2. Make a dough out of it by kneading well for 5 minutes.

Rising

1. Oil the surface of the dough and keep it covered with a cling wrap or damp cloth.
2. After an hour, the dough should have risen well, double the volume before. Punch it down and knead again for 5 minutes.

Baking

1. Divide into 8 equal sized balls, arrange in a well greased 6.5 inch round baking pan.
2. Keep aside for 10 mins and preheat the oven at 190 deg C. After 10 mins, the buns would have risen little more.
3. Brush generously with milk. Sprinkle  the rest of the kalonji seeds over the buns.
4. Bake for 17- 20 mins or until golden crust is formed on the top. Mine took 18 mins.
5. Take it out and brush generously with butter while it is hot. Loosen the sides by running a bread knife along the sides.
6. Invert over a wire rack carefully. If the buns are baked properly, it should come out easily without sticking to the bottom.