How To MAKE SOFT CHAPATIS | 10 Reasons Why Your Chapatis Are Hard

I've been meaning to make this video on how  to make the softest, yummiest chapatis ever   So I practiced and practiced and  learned how to make soft and yummy   chapatis. I learned what I was doing wrong, the  mistakes I was making and everything. And today   a bit more about the wheat flour later. I  have warm water. I have salt. I have sugar.   And I have oil okay. Sometimes I just use plain  oil. Sometimes I will use coconut oil to mix it.   This coconut oil is fantastic because it's  100% pure. It's also the same one...if you   watch my video on how to make an amazing body  butter using raw shea butter and everything.   I'll link it here. It's also the same one we use  to apply on our skin. It's a 100% natural. It's   been really good for our kids and even us for  our skin, our hair and everything. So this is   what I'm going to use. It's good for eating.  It's good for hair. skin, nails everything.   100% coconut oil. So we use that sometimes. It's  what I'll use today to to mix to mix everything.   But...uh...vegetable oil will also do. If you  watch my video on extreme kitchen makeover I   said how I love to decant my vegetable oil into  these...this is a ketchup bottle because it has   a very small opening so I'm able to...am able to  control how much oil I'm using. So boom that's it.   Now one of the reasons why...uh...our chapatis can  get hard is when we don't measure our wheat flour   all right. I used to just pour, pour, pour  as much as my eyes want but the one pro tip   is make sure you measure. I have a measuring cup  inside here. I don't know whether you can see it   and it just really helps to measure okay. Another  thing is...um...normally we use flour that we have   milled. My mom buys wheat and then she mills for  us and then she...she just she brings it to us.   But now because of the lockdown I've had to make  my own wheat flour. So what I do is I take...uh..   the brown wheat flour which I find to be a bit  hard to make chapos (chapatis) with on its own.   So I mix brown wheat flour and white wheat  flour and so what I have today is a mixture   all right. So if you watch my video on the 30  Things We No Longer Buy don't wonder how come this   is not looking like flour that has been milled at  the millers because we...we haven't had a chance   to get that flour because of the lockdown yeah.  So here that's another tip which is tip number one   is make sure you measure your wheat flour. So now  I'm going to make six cups...I'm going to use six   cups of...of wheat flour which I'll just  put in this here my trusted bowl. One...two three...four five six. So into these six cups of wheat flour  I am going to add four tablespoons of   sugar. Sweetness or saltiness  is up to you. Three...it's   up to you to decide how sweet you want it  to be or how salty. So that one is according   to preference. Then just about half a  teaspoon of salt...just like that okay. So tip number two on why sometimes our chapatis  are hard is that we don't mix it with oil. We   don't put oil in the mixing process. Once  I found this out I was really amazed.   So this is the point at which I put my coconut  oil. When I don't have coconut oil I will put   the vegetable oil okay or you can melt  butter if you're feeling fancy-schmancy.   You can melt butter and put some of it in or  ghee. Just some type...some type of oil will   also help your chapatis to be soft all right. So  here I eyeball it but I would normally say about   four tablespoons all right. Chapatis...uh...I  found they take up a lot of oil. I guess that's   why they say we should just have a maximum  of two for the sake of our waistlines.   Yes so basically that's all I'm going  to mix in. Now here is tip number three   on why your chapatis may be getting hard  is if you're using cold water to mix this   is warm water. Warm water really helps to activate  the gluten which is in the flour all right.   So use warm water. Not hot water, warm water all  right. And also don't pour your...don't first put   water in the bowl and then add flour. Actually mix  your dry ingredients first and then you put the   water. That's also another tip okay. So my hands  are clean y'all which is of course very important. The reason why I don't prefer to measure my  water first is because I'm unable to control   the softness of the dough right. Another  reason why your chapatis might be hard,   a pro tip, is if you make your dough  too hard. Your dough should be soft.   Your dough should be soft straight  from the point that you are making it.   So now I'm going to dig a well...in there. Then  I'm going to put just a little bit of water   okay. One litre I think is basically too much.  Normally I use about half a litre for 6 cups.   But the best thing is just put little by  little and then see how... how it reacts okay.   All right so now let me put some. I'll just  put just like that okay Then I'll mix that up and see how we're doing. You want your dough to be  soft but not wet. So another tip of why sometimes   our chapatis might not be hard enough...I  mean hard enough surely may not be soft enough   is because we don't knead the dough enough.  Kneading is very important when we're making   chapatis. What happens when we knead chapatis is  that we activate the gluten that is in the flour,   all right. There's a protein in flour that's  called gluten. I'm sure you guys have heard about   it so the more we knead it the more we activate  it and the more the gluten is activated the softer   the dough becomes okay. So we're supposed to  actually knead it for between 15 to 20 minutes. So don't get tired of kneading.  Now I can tell I have put   too much water because it's getting a bit sticky. So before I learned how to make chapos (chapatis)  I would see that I've put too much water. Then   I would put too much flour then it would  get too hard. Then I would add more water   so I just really have to be very precise.  So I'll just sprinkle a bit and knead on.   You want your dough to reach the point where it  stops sticking to the bowl. Can you see that?   Can you see that? That's the point that  we want it to get to. Stop sticking to   the bowl and stop sticking to your hands.  Can you see how clean my bowl is getting? Look at that whoopsies.   Now I feel like it's still   sticking just a little bit to my finger. Very  little but I want to leave it like that because   I am going to let it rest all right. Here's  another pro tip. Let your dough rest for at least   30 minutes. Normally when I have time I would  make my dough in the morning when I'm doing my   morning routine. We love using the Flylady  system and so there's a morning routine to that.   I've made a video of my morning routine. So I  would make my dough at about 10 o'clock and then   I would start making the chapos (chapatis) at  about 3 pm. So it will have rested a good five   hours. That makes it even softer. But if  I don't have the luxury of time like now   I will let it rest for about 30  minutes okay. So that's another tip.   Oh! Look at that! It's not even sticking  anymore. Now that's a nice dough okay.   So another thing is just spread a little bit  of oil on top just to cozy everything up...   Oops...on the inside just a little bit like  that and spread it on top of your dough like that beautiful okay. Then you can  use a wet damp cotton cloth to cover or   you can use a polythene bag okay. So it's ready.  So I get this polythene bag and just put it on top and then to make sure it's nice and  air tight I take this side plate   and just place it on top all right...just   like that. Set my timer for 30 minutes to an  hour and then I will be...I will be right back.   My dough has now rested for about 45 minutes.  I got a bit carried away taking care of kids.   And now we're ready to knead it  again for just about five minutes   and then I'll show you what we'll do next.  So the dough has been resting for 45 minutes.   So I'm going to dust...rather  to flour my clean counter. Now here is where I also used to go wrong because  I used to put use too much flour when I'm rolling   and that would make the chapatis to be hard.  So there's another tip. When you're rolling it   don't put too much flour on the...on the on  the surface that you're using so that you   don't end up making an a soft dough to be hard  by adding so much flour. I hope that makes sense. All right you can see it's already soft.  Really soft actually which is great.   So I'll put it there. So also giving it time to rest enables  the gluten to have a bit more time   to activate. So now what we're going to do is  I'm going to knead it for just a further five   minutes to make it super duper soft. You can  see my dough is very soft. So the next step is to roll it out because we also want to make our chapatis to be  layered. You know those chapatis that you tear   like these and they have those layers?  Well that's exactly what we want okay.   So I'm being very careful  to not over flour my dough. So you're going to spread out the whole   dough. I'm happy with that and then you're going  to oil it all right. As I said normally I would   use a vegetable oil but when I'm feeling you know  fancy I'm going to use my trusted coconut oil   because anyway after all this would be yummy  coconut chapatis. I mean when was the last   time you had some coconut chapatis in your  house? So again be generous with the oil.   Remember we say chapatis are not known for their  health benefits. So they do take up quite a bit   of oil but that's you know that's where the taste  comes from. So spread out the oil with your spoon   okay. So my coconut oil is on. Everything is  smelling so coconutty you guys. I wish you could   smell it. Then I'm going to cut it into strips all  right depending on the size of chapatis I want. Now when you get to the middle make  your strips just a little bit thinner   because the middle is usually longer  this way alright because you want to   your chapatis...yeah I almost said  sapatis...you want your chapatis to be   you know a uniform size. I mean it's all cast  in stone I mean as long as they taste well   people will not care whether whoever's chapati  looks bigger than mine. When you get to the edge make a little bit wider okay.  One of them will be really tiny   see...see what I meant? Anyway that's fine.  Then what you do is you take this edge   okay... clearly should have dusted  this a bit more. But basically... I got this....what you want to do is you  want to roll it like this okay....and   then come up like this... and then we're rolling it all right. This is  how we are going to have soft layered chapatis.   So then dust...this is what  I normally do anyway...I'll   dust and then I'll just arrange  them like that all right. It's a bit sticky but it's okay.  It's a price I'm willing to pay   because I'd rather they be sticky because  they're soft then not be soft enough.   See that. All right so let me finish this  then I'll show you exactly how it looks. So I'm done rolling them out. Normally about  six cups of flour makes us 15 chapatis which   I can see have managed. Some of them  became a bit bigger than the others but   it happens. So what I'm going to do is  I'm going to cover with my polythene bag as I get ready to...to cook them all right.  Let me show you the other tip. So the other   tip is this. When it comes to cooking you have  the option of using this light non-stick pan   or this heavy one okay. The one that makes  the best chapatis is the heavy one because   it's really good. It regulates the...the  distribution of heat and it's not too heavy.   This one doesn't work so well but  if it's the only one you have you   can still work with it but this one is  the best for making chapatis all right. So that's another tip for making soft chapatis.  Another tip is you want to make sure your pan   is very well heated before you start making. So  don't put your first chapati on a lukewarm pan   or in a cold pan. By the time that pan gets hot  enough that chapati will have gotten really,   really hard okay. So let me make...just switch  on the fire. And another tip is don't use a flame   that is too high or too low. You want a medium  flame. One that is too high or too low will   make your chapatis hard. So I'll show you the  type of flame I'm talking about in a minute. As I wait for my pan to heat up let me show you  where I like to put my chapatis once they're   ready okay. I just line this...this pot with  some serviettes just absorb any excess moisture   and then I get one that has a cover.  Some people like to put a polythene   bag. I'm not very comfortable putting very hot  things in polythene bags because I feel like   the plastic leaches into my chapatis  although I think that's just in my mind   but basically that's where I'm going  to put my cooked chapatis all right.   So now I feel like my pan is warm enough.  I can start rolling out the first one.   Another tip is when you're rolling out as you  see first of all don't...don't use too much flour   and then also don't...make sure you roll it out  evenly. Don't make some parts too thin and others   too thick because that's another thing that  might can make it hard in some areas and then   and then soft in others okay. So you want to make  sure...what I try to do is once I've flattened out   the middle I just concentrate on the edges all  right. I do try to make it as round as I can   but then I remind myself people  are not eating the shape.   They're eating the chapati okay  and they're not too thin either. I'm happy with that one. So then  I'll try and dust off the extra...   and then I put it there okay I'm  happy with my pan. It's pretty hot. Just increase the heat a bit because I had reduced  it okay. Now when do you know when to turn your   chapati? You'll know when to turn your chapati  when it starts forming bubbles as you will see   very soon. Because the pan was already warm enough  and normally what would happen is you'll notice   the bottom side gets cooked slightly longer  than the top side. So don't worry you're not   doing anything bad if you find that the but  the the top part will cook for a lesser time.   It's just the way it goes all right yeah. So  normally as I'm waiting for this to bubble up   of course I'll be working on my next one. So that it's ready for going on the pan. Okay as you can see the  bubbles are forming very well I'll just let them increase just  a little bit longer. You can see   it's puffing up very well and very  fast. That's because my pan was hot. Let me get closer. I'm happy with that. So now I will...I will. No  first I will flip it. Sorry...so I'll flip it and let the bottom side cook. As I said  about the top side which is now on the bottom   takes a shorter time to  cook. Normally it just takes   as many minutes as is required  for me to apply my cooking oil. As you can see it's also forming bubbles  on the other side because there's some   it's puffing up a bit okay and I feel  I'm ready to flip it. So I'll flip it.   Another way if you want your chapati to  have those nice long lines is when you   flip it just... you know turn it around like  that just for a few seconds all right. Then   put a bit of oil. Now here I'm not using my  coconut oil because my budget would not allow   although if your budget allows it to be a really  nice time to use a coconut oil there. Then I   check on the browning. Oh I'm happy with that.  So I'll flip it all right twisting it around. So the twisting around is  what gets you these nicely   browned edges right. It may feel a  bit hard. Don't be scared. Listen... but that's only because it's on the fire. When you  put it in your pan and cover it...it gets very,   very soft. So don't be scared and think that  you've cooked hard chapatis. No, this is just   because it's on the fire. And it's ready. I'll  put it in my pot and get on with the next one.   And then after my second chapati I clean off  my pan okay. See what I mean? This might make   your chapatis dirty. So I'm on my last one.  It's taken me about 45 minutes give or take and I'm really happy with the way they've come out. So now let's  have a look at our finished product all right.   Um...you can see our lovely chapatis.  I want to flip them so we can get some   that have already cooled down a bit.  So you can just see how soft they are   all right. Look at this you guys. Look at this.  This is...this is a miracle. The fact that I   make chapatis this soft in itself is a  miracle. I used to make frisbees you guys.   Frisbees! But because of the mercies of the Lord  and the embarrassing moments I had well He had   mercy on me. And voila! There we go. There we  go. I love this. They're looking really nice.   Can you see how soft they are? I mean can you  see that? Okay let me show you just when you   tear one how it looks. Probably should have  done that before I arranged. Can you see?   Can you see the layers you guys? Those guys who  like layered chapatis I hope you can see this.   Can you see that? All right,   this is in itself is a miracle. I couldn't do  this you guys before Covid. I couldn't but now I'm   making...and it's...it's just technique and a lot  of practice. But also don't give up on yourself.   So now ah let me taste this is. Oh first of  all the smell of coconut in this place! You   want to make your life easy by batching the  chapatis, you know how much we love batch   cooking around here because we normally batch  cook our meals for a whole month, if you want to   do that for the chapatis it's pretty easy. So just  follow the same process cook but when it comes to   freezing put them in a ziplock bag while they are  still warm. Don't let them to get very cold. So   put them in a ziplock bag and then while they're  still slightly warm and put them in your freezer   okay. They can last for up to two weeks, even  longer depending on how long you want to freeze   them for. And then on the day you want to eat  them remove them from the freezer only 30 minutes   before you want to eat them. Don't remove them  like in the morning if they're for dinner. Remove   them like 30 minutes before. Let them thaw  for those 30 minutes and warm them on a pan.   You know like the heavy pan that we were using to  cook them on. Warm them on a pan one by one and  

Channel: Suzy's Homestead

Views: 100,984

Keywords: chapati, chapati recipe, roti, soft layered chapati, tasty kenyan style chapati, chapati recipes suzyshomestead, how to make chapati, easy chapati recipes, chef D Wainaina, east african chapati, easy soft chapati recipe, How to make soft chapati, kenyan chapati, easy Indian paratha recipe, paratha suzyshomestead, how to make paratha, suzys homestead chapati recipe, why chapatis are hard, how to make soft paratha, easy recipe for soft chapati, how to make layered paratha

Id: eo0irBt7HwU

Length: 27min 1sec (1621 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 28 2021