Khaliat Nahal/Honeycomb Buns/Bee's Hive Buns ~~ We Knead To Bake #9

Nothing can beat the aroma of freshly baked breads at home and obviously homemade breads are the best without any preservatives. Home made breads are very much tastier than the store bought one and they are damn cheaper and doesnt take much time to prepare at home. If you ask me to bake a bread everyday, i dont hesitate a second at all. Coz bread making are definitely a stress burster, if you want to feel free from your stress just bake a bread at home.Homemade breads are more nutritious when compared to store bought ones,needless to say that we can mix and match the ingredients according to our wish.

For our this month's We Knead To Bake, a monthly baking event by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen, we baked honeycomb buns aka Khaliat Nahal.This bread is very easy to make with a sweet or savoury filling in it, which is then covered with a sugar syrup, a typical Middle Eastern Confectionery. Khaliat Nahal means Bee's Hive in Arabic hence these buns are baked close to each other in round pan to form a honeycomb like pattern. Traditionally these buns are made as sweet with plain cream cheese, glazed with honey flavoured syrup but Aparna suggested even the savoury ones.I chosed the sweet version and i went for semi sweet chocolate chips for the filling, trust me this chocolate stuffed buns are just fantabulous, none could stop with one. A prefect evening snacks to enjoy with a cup of masal chai,these buns are seriously very addictive.

For Dough: 
1cup Lukewarm milk
1+1/2tsp Instant yeast
1tsp Sugar (for yeast)
3tbsp Sugar
2+1/2cup All purpose flour
1/4tsp Salt
40grms Butter (melted)
2tbsp Milk for brushing

Filling:
1cup Semisweet chocolate chips

For Sugar Syrup:
1/4cup Water
A pinch Saffron
1tbsp Honey
1/2tsp Lemon juice

Take the flour,salt,sugar and melted butter in a bowl, mix it for few minutes.

Combine the milk,yeast,sugar in a small bowl and keep for 5minutes.

Add this yeast mixture to the flour mixture and knead until you get a smooth,elastic dough.

The dough be soft and elastic but not sticky,if its sticky add more flour if needed.

Shape the dough as a ball and place it in a greased bowl, cover and let it rise for an hour.

Turn the dough to a work surface. Cut the dough into 2 halves and roll it as a rope, cut each rope into 1inch piece.

Take a piece and flatten it out a little, place enough chocolate chips for filling in the centre.

Bring the sides together,wrap the dough around the filling, pinching it closed at the top. Smoothen into a round ball.

Place this in a well greased round cake tin. Repeat the same process with the remaining pieces.

Arrange the filled balls of dough in a concentric cricles. Cover it with a paper towel and let it rise for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Brush the top with milk and bake the buns for about 20-25minutes until the crust turns golden brown.

Meanwhile take the sugar,water and saffron in a pan,bring it to boil,put the flame in simmer and cook until its turns bit thick.

Put off the stove,add the honey and lime juice.Mix well and let it cool.

Once the buns comes out of the oven, pour the syrup over the top of the buns.

If you want your honeycomb buns to be less sweet, just brush the syrup over the top.

Let it sit for a while, serve warm.