Sri Lankan Paan Or Thatti Bread

Sri Lanka is the one place that in bucketlist to visit. Beautiful country with equally mouth watering delicacies. I tried few of Sri Lankan cuisines at home and marvel with the ingredients and preparation. One of those tried dish is this ever beautiful Sri Lankan Paan bread or Thatti bread. It might be a tedious process but, trust me it's all worth the hard work.

I love those beautiful crust that formed and the smell of freshly baked bread.  I placed butter paper on each section of the bread for easy separation but,  it's truly exceptional. The brushes oil flour mixture could easily do the trick but I was just skeptical since,  it's my 1st trial. This bread can be found in most of Sri Lanka be it in restaurants or on the street and most home do make their own. One of the most popular Sri Lankan bread.

The bread make an ideal breakfast or as an tea time treat. Serve along with coconut sambol,seeni sambol or dip in curry wit a hot tea. Heaven on earth I shall say. 

Ingredients

3 1/4 cups bread flour
1 package active dry yeast
350g  lukewarm water

235g lukewarm milk

36g butter, room temperature 
1 tsp granulated white sugar
1 tsp salt

For The Oil Flour Mixture

30g bread flour

30g coconut oil 

3 tbsp melted butter 

Methods

In a stand mixer bowl, add yeast,warm water,warm milk and sugar. Stir and keep aside until foamy.

Add the room temperature butter,salt and 3 cups flour.  Knead about 10 minutes to form a elastic & pli dough.

Place the dough in a greased large bowl, cover with damp kitchen towel and let the dough rise for about 1 to 1 1/2 hour in a warm place.

Oil Flour Mixture 

Add the melted butter and 35g bread flour in a bowl and keep aside. 


Dust a clean working surface with flour, and punch down the dough and divide the dough into 6 equal balls. 

Cover the dough with kitchen towel and let the dough rise in a warm place for 15-20 minutes.

Take a ball flatten to the same with of your loaf pan.

Roll the dough to form cylinder and gently press the edges and both sides (left and right of the dough) to seal.

Place the dough seamside down and brush with the oil flour mixture. Continue with the remaining dough. Do not over crowd the pan as the dough will double in size during proofing. 

Cover the pan with kitchen towel & rest for another 30 minutes. Spray the top with water. 

Bake for 30-40 minutes. Remove from pan and carefully separate each slices on a baking tray and brush with melted butter.  Change oven setting to broil and broil for 1-2 minutes till brown. Repeat the same on the other side of the bread. 

Remove from oven and let it cool completely before slicing. 

Serve with coconut sambol.