Make

Ladi Pav

Using Khapli Atta To Relish Delicious Street Food Specials At Home

Quick Summary

Khapli atta has made a comeback, especially in health-conscious circles, given its nutrient-dense nature. If you have been wanting to switch to your own atta at home, or have already done so, you must venture into baking bread! Herein comes ladi pav, something that goes into many street foods in Mumbai and beyond, like pav bhaji, vada pav, misal pav, and more. With maida, which is used to make the typical ladi pav, the properties are different from those of khapli wheat flour. Read on to learn how to adapt.

Deep Dive

This article features Aashirvaad Chakki Khapli Atta to make soft, pull-apart Mumbai-style bread, ladi pav, with the same pillowy texture you'd tear into at a Mumbai bakery, minus the guilt that often comes with an all-maida bun. Ladi pav gets its name from the way the buns are baked, touching each other in a tray, so they rise together and pull apart in pillowy pieces. There will be some differences, of course, with khapli atta being nuttier and earthier, and its tendency to be denser given its weaker gluten, so in case you are new to baking with whole wheat flours, use a blend of maida and khapli wheat. This aside, since khapli atta is stone-ground flour, made from ancient emmer wheat that's naturally higher in protein and fibre than regular wheat, it needs some technique adjustments, like giving the dough more time to hydrate and a slightly longer rise time, but the payoff is a bun that's just as soft, with more nutrients on the plate.

What is Ladi Pav and Why Bake it with Khapli Atta?

Ladi pav is a small, square-ish, faintly sweet bread roll, similar in spirit to a dinner roll, that's baked in a tray so that the buns touch and rise against each other before being torn apart at the table. It's made with maida, sugar, milk, yeast, and butter, kneaded to build gluten strength, since gluten is what gives the dough its stretch and the baked bun its soft, pillowy crumb.

Baking it with Aashirvaad Chakki Khapli Atta instead means working with khapli (emmer) wheat, a naturally lower-gluten, higher-fibre, higher-protein grain than regular wheat. Because khapli wheat's gluten is weaker and less elastic, the dough needs slightly more liquid and a longer proof to trap the same amount of air and rise. This is a small trade-off for pav that carries more fibre and protein than a standard maida version.

A Short History of Mumbai's Pav Culture

Colonial powers were actually behind the culture of ‘pav’, which entered Mumbai via Goan bakers, who had first landed in the region in the mid-1500s and introduced their bread-making techniques. Pav is derived from ‘pão’, the Portuguese word for bread. Back then, what Indians were doing was much closer to their roots: making rotis and pooris, with no sight of sourdough or crusty breads. 

As for the dishes in which pav is central, such as pav bhaji, it is believed to have emerged in the 1850s-60s as a quick, filling lunch for Mumbai's textile mill workers, who had short breaks and needed something quick, cheap, and filling for energy. Vada pav came along a century later, invented in the 1960s by a street vendor outside Dadar station who wanted to give busy commuters a filling snack they could eat on the go. Misal pav, bhurji pav, and dozens of regional variations followed, but the soft ladi pav has stayed at the centre of it all, perfect for soaking up sauces and bhajis.

What Aashirvaad Chakki Khapli Atta Brings to the Table

One of the oldest cultivated grains in India, khapli wheat fell out of favour in the early 2000s largely because it was harder to harvest and yielded less than modern wheat. It's now having a comeback as more people look for grains with better nutritional credentials rather than just a health-food label. Aashirvaad Chakki Khapli Atta is:

• Source of Iron and Vitamin B1, both of which support everyday energy metabolism.

• Rich in dietary fibre, three chapatis provide around 34% of your daily fibre requirement, which helps the pav feel more filling than a maida-only version.

• Rich in protein, with about 23% of the RDA in three chapatis, supporting muscle mass as part of a balanced diet.

• Naturally low in sugar, low in fat, low in saturated fat, and free from trans fat.

Khapli atta might have lower gluten than regular wheat, but it is not gluten-free, so it isn't suitable for anyone with celiac disease or a diagnosed wheat allergy.

Key Tips for Khapli Atta Ladi Pav Before You Start

• Add a little extra liquid: khapli dough drinks up moisture differently to maida, so keep 2-3 extra tablespoons of warm milk on hand in case the dough feels tight.

• Let it proof longer: because khapli wheat's gluten network is weaker, give the dough roughly 15-20% more time to increase in size compared to a maida-only pav dough.

• Knead gently, but just as thoroughly: you still want a smooth, elastic dough, so just avoid overworking it, which can make khapli dough tear rather than stretch.

• Keep the oven slightly cooler: khapli breads brown a little faster on the outside, so dropping the temperature by about 10-15°C from your usual pav recipe helps the inside finish baking without the tops over-darkening.

• Brush generously with milk or butter before and after baking, as this is what gives ladi pav its soft, shiny crust.

Khapli Atta Ladi Pav Recipe

Makes: 9-10 pav | Prep time: 25 minutes | Proofing time: 1.5-2 hours | Bake time: 15-18 minutes

Ingredients

• 2½ cups Aashirvaad Chakki Khapli Atta, plus extra for dusting

• 2 teaspoons instant yeast

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• ¾ cup warm milk (plus 2–3 tablespoons extra, as needed)

• ¼ cup warm water

• 2 tablespoons softened butter, plus extra for brushing

• 1 tablespoon milk, for the egg-free glaze

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, whisk the warm milk, warm water, and sugar together, then sprinkle over the yeast. Let it rest for 8-10 minutes until frothy.

2. In a large bowl, whisk the Aashirvaad Chakki Khapli Atta with the salt. Make a well in the centre and pour the frothy yeast mixture into it.

3. Make the dough by hand, adding the extra 2-3 tablespoons of milk a little at a time if the dough feels dry or stiff.

4. Add the softened butter and knead on a floured surface for 10-12 minutes, until the dough is smooth, elastic, and springs back when pressed.

5. Shape into a ball, place in a greased bowl, cover, and let it rise in a warm spot for 1-1.5 hours, or until roughly doubled. Khapli dough takes a little longer than maida, so don't rush this step.

6. Punch down the dough and divide it into 9-10 equal portions. Shape each into a smooth, taut ball.

7. Arrange the dough balls close; they should be just touching, in a greased baking tray. Cover loosely and let them rise again for 30-40 minutes, until puffy.

8. Preheat the oven to around 190-200°C (slightly cooler than a standard maida pav recipe). Brush the tops with milk.

9. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until golden brown on top and the pav sounds hollow when tapped.

10. Remove from the oven and immediately brush generously with melted butter. Cool slightly in the tray before pulling the pav apart.

Khapli Atta Ladi Pav vs. Regular Maida Ladi Pav

What to Serve With Your Khapli Atta Ladi Pav

• Pav bhaji: the bhaji is a mash of potato, cauliflower, peas, and capsicum, cooked down in a tomato base with the flavourful roasted pav bhaji masala. The pav gets split and toasted on a buttered tawa with a sprinkle of the same masala, so it's crisp and seasoned before it ever touches the bhaji.

• Vada pav: the vada is a besan-battered, deep-fried potato fritter (batata vada), flavoured with mustard seeds, curry leaves, and green chilli. The pav is split and layered with the three chutneys that actually make it the Mumbai vada pav (lasun khobra chutney, coriander-mint chutney, and tamarind-date chutney), then tucked into the hot vada, alongside a fried, salted green chilli.

• Misal pav: built in layers, this dish has a base of usal (sprouted matki, or moth beans, simmered with onion and goda masala), topped with tarri, which is a thin, fiery red gravy also called kat or rassa, then finished with farsan and raw onion.

• Bhurji pav: Mumbai's answer to scrambled eggs, this dish goes back to the city's Irani cafés, where egg dishes on buttered pav have been a fixture since the early twentieth century.