A few months ago we went to India for summer vacation. As usual I had a lengthy to do list, breakfast topping my list, and there was a single item that I longed to eat. I was ranting and raving about it for days, and my kids were waiting in great anticipation. On the other hand, my husband being a south Indian was in a different league; he just couldn’t understand my ardor for kadak pav aka brune or simply a very crusty hard roll.
Brune with butter is a specialty of every neighborhood Irani shop in Mumbai. When I was young, I used to relish it so much that my dad would make a special trip to the bakery every morning. I would urge him to get the rolls on the way from work so as to avoid a special trip, but he insisted that it was a sin to eat these rolls stale. I would slather these pavs everyday with butter, dip them in hot tea; a bite of it would hand me a short lived nirvana. I devoured so many of these that finally I got nicknamed as kadak pav; my dad was convinced that I would marry the Irani guy, and my mom relented and learnt other ways of fulfilling my nutritional requirements.
When I went back to Mumbai this summer, I gorged myself with these pavs every morning. My kids instantly fell in love with them; they abandoned their favorite cereals carried all the way from USA for the crusty treat. After coming back, I foraged internet for any and all the recipes that sounded similar to my beloved, but alas, I should have married that Irani…
The other day while browsing the internet I stumbled upon this gold mine . I quickly baked this bread, and as I sank my teeth into it, I caught a glimpse of a smiling and approving genie of the Irani before me. Oh yes, I have got it, I have got that eluding recipe. This has a great promise; I am going to sweat and toil in my kitchen till I perfect it, and then I am going to frame it and worship it every day.
Thoughts and Pots 
Oh Shilpa,
You should have met my wife, Manjusha.
I really had never tasted this ‘kadak Pav’ before getting married.
But , now even I have become a ‘HUGE'(literaly) fan of the Kadak Pav.
It’s getting difficult to get rid of this habit of beginning the day with tea and kadak pav as the friendly neighbourhood pav vala delivers the daily supply of two kadak pavs.
i’ll remember you every time i won’t eat it.:)
bye.
I should really meet Manjusha next time; we will get along very well.
Hey Shilpa,
This article of yours reminded me of our Golden days when we used to stay at Mumbai-Central. Every alternate day my Dad would go to Merwan’s shop at Grant Road specially for kadak-pav & after waking up we used to gorge on it. After shifting in suburbs, we literally forgot kadak-pav. Thanx for bringing back the memories.
Dipta.
Dipta,
If you find kadav pav anwhere, don’t forget to eat my share too. I can never have enough of those.
i love those
Thanks.
Shilpa,
Yesterday early morning only I got to have ‘Kadak Pav’. I had it with lot of butter on it. Tuzya vatanicha pan khalla.
Dipta, now that you remind me of it, I got to make it this weekend.
hi
the website u showed, are those bread really like kadak pav we get in mumbai?
i too am a huge fan of kadak pav and after one year of searching i stumbled upon ur site. thanks
Yup, the artisan bread came very close to Kadak pav, though kadak pav has a drier crumb. You could experiment with it to get the exact taste, but I just loved this bread. It is just great right out of the oven and as it becomes stale, it gets softer, so if you are not going to eat them all right away you might want to halve the recipe or keep the dough in the fridge. The recipe makes 4 big rolls, but in my house they get consumed right away.
As per ur promise of “I am going to sweat and toil in my kitchen till I perfect it, and then I am going to frame it and worship it every day.”
Di u get the ultimate recipe? Do share it, i would love to make it for my husband as he is a great fan of kadak pav!
Hi Saba,
Still haven’t perfected the airy texture of kadak pav. Will definitely post it once I get the dream recipe.