Yeast is temperature sensitive:

At less than 10^oC or 50^oF the yeast is inactive.

At 15^oC – 21^oC or 60^oF – 70^oF the yeast action is slow.

At 32^oC – 38^oC or 90^oF – 100^oF the yeast is at its optimum temperature for fermentation.

At greater than 40^oC or 104^oF the yeast action starts to slow.

At 58^oC or 138^oF the yeast is killed.

So it is better to have a candy thermometer at home to find the right temperature to add the yeast.

Salt is used not only as a flavor but as a regulator of the growth of the yeast. Salt retards the action of the yeast. So use it only after the yeast is proofed completely.

Kneading the dough in a food processor or hand mixer eases the work. However if you don’t have one, knead it with your palms into a smooth dough with no streaks of dry flour or surplus liquid as discussed next. Pull and stretch the dough, working on a flat surface so that you can push strongly. Fold the dough and turn around a quarter and again fold it and turn around a quarter—like this repeat till you get smooth dough.

Allow the dough to rise completely without bothering about the specified time. Rising is the first part of the yeast’s growth. The fermentation produces carbon dioxide that aerates the dough and it should double in size. Prevent a dry skin forming on the dough by rolling it round the oiled bowl, cover with a plastic cover and put in a warm place to rise.

Knock back the dough by punching it. The rise will collapse, flattening the large spaces previously filled with the aerating gases that will escape. Shape the balls as mentioned and place them in the cake tin. Allow the balls to rise. This second rising will produce the dough, resulting in even texture and a sweet mature flavor. This process is called proofing or proving.

Brush the shaped balls with milk or egg-wash them to get a nice golden crust after baking.

When you can see that the dough is rising well during the proof and developing a nicely domed top, put the oven on to pre-heat. Yeast dough requires a really 'bold' start to kill the yeast as quickly as possible. This prevents large holes forming in the bread.

Baking time may vary with different ovens or OTG’s. So keep a watch while baking once the bread starts changing color. In ovens where there is no turn table then manually you may have to turn the cake tin in between for even browning. When removed from the tin and tapped underneath the Pav bread should give a hollow sound for the doneness. Always cool the Pav bread on wire rack or the condensed steam will make the bread heavy. 

Always use gloves as the inside of the oven will be too hot.

It feels great when the room is filled with the aroma of freshly baking Pav bread. As we are not using any improvers we know how fresh our Pav is. So make this recipe and serve with piping hot Bhaji with chopped onions, lemon wedges and chopped coriander.

In this recipe I have given measurements in weights rather than in Cups. This I have standardized because always it remains a question as to what a standard cup measure is. To clear that confusion I have used only weights as measurements so that the recipe will never fail. Weights will be same in the entire world but cups may differ. So it is advisable to weigh the ingredients to get the perfect Pav Bread. Similarly for seeing temperature a candy thermometer is a must. The right temperature of the liquid is necessary for the yeast to multiply. Then the recipe will never fail.

Here when I prepared this Pav Bread the room temperature on that day is 30^oC. During summers the