Chappatis / Roti
Chapatis, Punjabi flatbread is the Punjabi staple food, accompanying most dishes.
Equipment
- Flat pan
Ingredients
Rice, Grains and Pulses
- 400 grams Wholemeal flour
Oils & fats
- 0.5 tsp Vegetable oil
Spices & herbs
- 0.5 tsp Salt
Non commercial
- 360 ml Water Approx.
Instructions
Making the dough
- Add the flour to a bowl.
You can add a pinch of salt for taste but it’s not required. - We will be adding water gradually to the flour until we achieve the dough consistency.
Add just a little water to begin with. Now stir the water into the flour with your fingers.
Add some more water, making it a little more sticky. Now you can start using your whole hand and really start to knead the mixture. - Continue to adding water as required and kneading the mixture until the dough has become smooth and not too sticky, should not take longer than 15 minutes.
- Press the dough into the the bowl so that it spreads the surface of the bowl.
Seal the dough by spreading some oil over it.
Preparing the patties
- Divide the dough into small pieces of about 3 inches wide and 1 inch thickness.
- Cover each ball with a little flour.
- Turn by turn take each dough ball and then knead and roll with your hands into balls, finish by coating them with some flour.
- Now make each ball into a Pattie, gently holding the ball from the middle and then pressing in from the edge as you rotate the Pattie.
- We are ready to make the chapati shapes. Cover the worktop with a little flour that will prevent the dough from sticking, add more when you feel it starts to stick.
- Place the pattie on to the surface and then with a rolling pin roll the pattie, flattening and elongating it with each roll. Turn the Pattie over regularly, but place it back at a 45 degree turn so when you come to roll it again it will elongate it the other way, thereby shaping your chapatis (ideally) into a nice round shape. The diameter of a chapati should not be larger than 10 inches and definitely not larger than your pan!
Cooking the Chapati
- Ensure that the pan is hot, and then turn down to a medium heat.
- Lift up the chapathi,placing it flatly onto your palm.
- Move your hand close to the pan, and then in a quick movement flip your hand down, placing the chapathi into the middle of the pan.
- Give it time enough for the dough to start hardening as it cooks on the flat side down,
- Carefully flip it - using a spatula might be the safe option.
- Repeat the process, regularly flipping until both sides are showing signs of browning.
- If it also filled up with air and blew up like a balloon then you have just made the perfect chapati!