What is Bun Maska (Raisin Buns) ? Buns filled with raisins, slightly sweet in taste and served with white butter and whipped cream along with kadak chai ki pyali (a cup of strong tea) – what a combo!! I am sure Mumbaikars are very well aware of what I am talking about. These are Irani Cafe special Maska buns or Bun Maska (Raisin Buns) which are served with tea as a snack option and you are supposed to dip the bun in tea and enjoy them!
A few days back I was watching a movie ‘Maska’ on Netflix. It’s a decent one-time watch movie where mother is insisting her son to continue running their family’s traditional restaurant. I got inspired to bake these Bun Maska from this movie. You can try these buns by mixing wheat flour and white flour both or with wheat flour only. Generally kids are not fond of raisins, so they can be substituted with tutti – frutti.
I have a few other posts on buns in the blog, so if you are interested, can take a look at them also….
Wheat flour savoury buns with caramelized onion and carom seeds
Pull apart buns/Dinner bread rolls
For a few basic guidelines on baking buns and breads, you can check this link also…
Basics of baking – bread/buns/rolls (Wheat flour buns with pizza spices-2)
Ingredients :
Maida 2 +1/2 cups
Instant active yeast 1+1/4 tsp
Sugar 4 tbsp
Butter 4 tbsp
Raisins 1/4 cup
Water 1 cup minus 2 tbsp (reduce or increase 1-2 tbsp if required)
Milk powder 2 tbsp
Butter and whipped cream for filling
Points to remember :
Other than water all ingredients should be on room temperature. Water should be slightly warmer than lukewarm but not hot.
You can use dry active yeast also, but increase that to 1+1/2 tsp. Bloom dry active yeast first before adding in the flour.
Milk powder cannot be substituted with milk. So, if you don’t have milk powder, simply skip it and add equal amount of flour.
Process :
Combine all dry ingredients in a big vessel.
Start adding water and collect all ingredients in the shape of a dough and knead it for 12-15 minutes. It will be wet and sticky because of extra sugar, but will become smooth as you knead. Keep adding butter while kneading and mix it nicely into the dough.
Keep this dough in a big oil/butter greased bowl for first proofing. Brush up top of the dough with melted butter. Cover the bowl with cling film or wet clean kitchen towel. Keep it in a warm place so that the dough rises till it is double in volume. This process might take 60 to 90 minutes depending on how cold or warm your kitchen is.
After first proofing, take out the dough on clean oil greased or floured kitchen counter and gently punch it.
Spread the dough, add raisins, knead it again to make it smooth and cut equal sized buns from the dough.
Roll these buns smoothly like a ball and keep them in an oil greased baking tray, keeping some distance in between because they are going to puff up nicely. Apply some melted butter on them to avoid drying, cover them and keep them for second proofing.
Second proofing gets over in 20 to 30 minutes. Pre heat oven at 180 degrees ten minutes before second proofing ends.
Brush up buns with milk and bake them at 180-185 degree for 20-25 minutes till they are nicely brown on the top and bounce back when pressed.
Take out golden brown buns and brush them with butter when they are hot.
Bun Muska ( Raisins Bun) will be shiny with the touch of butter and will remain soft longer. Transfer the buns to a cooling rack. During the time buns cool down, whip up the cream and keep it ready.
Once buns cool down completely, slice them from the middle.
Don’t they look beautiful and irresistible with raisins!!
Now apply one layer of white butter followed by whipped cream and cover them.
Once again cut them in three or four slices and serve with tea…
Or without tea and enjoy just like that…..
