Winter warmers: Whole-wheat Beetroot Buns

Vegetables and fruits in my opinion, are probably the best pointers towards seasonal change and finding beetroot in the weekly vegetable haul, means only one thing – that winter is here. Beetroot also in a lot of ways is a marker of my development in the kitchen. From eating it only as chuqanadar-matar made in my nani’s kitchen and slipping in a blanket with a bowl of my mother’s piping beetroot-tomato-carrot soup – today I took charge of the beetroot baton and went all out with these whole-wheat beetroot buns.

The dough was started with mixing whole wheat flour, salt, roasted beetroot puree, oil and dry yeast activated in warm milk and sugar,

Then rolled into a smooth dough with lots of kneading and a little bit of extra flour, Covered and rested in a bowl for an hour at a warm place, so as to activate the yeast

After the first proof, I punched out all the air from the dough and divided the dough into 4 equal portions. (I tried, really)
Then sprinkled Nigella seeds on to the top and left for the second rest on top of the preheating oven.

Ofcourse I sat in front of the oven and watched them fluff in a 180C oven for full 20 minutes,

You will need:
1 cup Whole wheat flour
2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 tsp salt
50ml milk
1 tablespoon oil (any neutral oil will do)
Nigella seeds to sprinkle
2 medium sized beetroots (Roasted and pureed)

Start with making the beetroot puree and keep it cool before kneading it into the dough.
Warm the milk (not boil it) and add sugar and instant yeast to it. Cover it and let the yeast activate – it will become smelly and frothy)
Mix the remaining dry ingredients in a bowl, followed by the puree.
Add the yeast mix and knead till it comes together in a wet dough.
Then transfer all on to lightly floured surface and knead into a smooth dough.
Transfer into a greased bowl, cover it and leave it in a warm place for an hour to double in size. I kept mine on top of a CPU.
After an hour, the dough will be puffed up, transfer on the work surface, punch the dough to release all air.
Divide into 4 balls and put in a greased baking tray. Sprinkle Nigella seeds and cover again for 20 minutes to rest.
Then bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes at 180C.
Once done, transfer to an air tight container and keep upto 3 days for consumption.