Plain Chapati
3 min readBesides choosing the right flour for your flat breads, the other secret for making them soft is the technique. Growing up seeing my mother always making such beautiful looking and delicious chapatis inspired me to explore in this world of flat breads.
This is the most common recipe for making the traditional chapati and I love to follow this way as this is how I learnt it from my mother.
Makes 8
Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat flour/durum wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoons oil
warm water for kneading
Flour for dusting
A cloth or tissue for pressing the chapatti
little ghee or oil for brushing on top
Process: Take a medium bowl, first add the flour and salt. Mix them together. Gradually add little by little the warm water and start kneading the dough. Once the dough is all gathered together and soft then you may stop using the water. For plain chapatti the dough should be soft and not too tight. It will also happen that the dough will stick to your palms and that is fine but it shouldn’t be too sticky.
Add oil and remove the dough surrounding the bowl along with from your palms or fingers. After adding the oil, the dough should no longer stick to your hands.
Divide the dough in equal parts and keep it in the bowl. Immediately you can start making the chapatis now.
Heat a non stick flat pan (tava) and increase the heat to high. Take one part, dust some flour and roll it using the rolling pin. Use very little pressure on the rolling pin and stretch the dough. The dough will start moving in circular motion. Do not use too much flour for dusting, just enough so that the dough doesn’t stick on the rolling board or pin.
The diameter can be between 8-9 inches. Once the pan is hot, place the chapatti on it. By that time start preparing the next one but keep an eye on the chapatti cooking on the pan. As soon as you see small bubbles on top reduce the heat between low to medium and flip the chapatti. Now you can complete stretching of the dough on the rolling board and let the chapatti on the pan cook for 20 seconds. Flip the chapatti again to the initial side and increase the heat to high. Take a cloth and start pressing gently and
quickly on the chapatti few times. It will puff little. Brush some ghee or oil on top and remove immediately from the stove. Repeat the same for the remaining parts.
Once the chapatti cools down a little bit then you can close it in a chapatti bin container or some container with a lid to keep the chapatis fresh for a while throughout the day.
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