The Indian flatbread that everyone should know how to make

this video is sponsored by skillshare roti is a flatbread from indian cuisine that everyone should know how to make why let's count the ways first is two ingredients flour and water okay three if you count salt second it can take as little as 45 minutes to make from start to finish three they are best fresh but they also store very well whether frozen or kept in a bread bag and while they are typically served with countless indian dishes at its most basic you have a flatbread that clocks in at around 70 calories that can be used for anything and last but certainly not least there's not much more satisfying than getting a perfect puff after many [Music] failures hey everyone i'm ethan a home cooking nerd who likes to find better ways to cook and share them with all of you today is all about roti or chapati or polka there doesn't really seem to be a standard naming convention so we'll talk a little bit about that but then we'll go over the base recipe how to enjoy these things and finally how to store them let's talk about that so in general roti chapati and polka all refer to the two ingredient unleavened flatbread we are covering today though there may be slight differences in preparation for example from an invitation to indian cooking madur jaffrey lists the recipe as chapati to describe the bread as puffed over aflame there isn't even a mention of the term polka in the book which is what many online forums use to differentiate as the one that is puffed over in open flame now some will also say that ghee or oil is used in the dough but sometimes not for purposes of this video i've chosen to stick with the word roti as it is the most general so let's start with the base recipe to start the dough add 100 grams of whole wheat flour and 75 grams of bread flour to a bowl now traditionally roll tea are made with 100 whole wheat flour called ata this particular flour is much finer than typical whole wheat flour found in the us so what i found works best is either a mix of whole wheat flour and bread flour or you can try sifting out the bran from the coarser whole wheat flour but if you do want to order the traditional flour i say give it a shot it's probably going to give you the best result next add 4 grams of salt and pour in 130 grams of warm or boiling water and mix it with a spatula until it becomes a cohesive mask that can be needed now i would highly suggest using boiling hot water for the dough in my over six or seven test batches the dough that i made with boiling water was much more supple and less sticky meaning it is much easier to roll out into thin circles which is one of the keys for the perfect pup also they do feel slightly softer in the final product as for the water in general i found that a 75 hydration works best with the flour that i use though you can adjust as needed with the dough mixed set a timer for 6 minutes and knead the dough with your hands while in the bowl and a little tip here is to dip your knuckles in some water and use that to knead to help prevent sticking this subsequently adds a little more water to the dough making it supple and keeps your dough from sticking to your hands for my process i like to knead the dough flat in a bowl all over them with my knuckles then fold the edges over each other flip the dough and repeat so set a timer for six minutes throw on some music and get your kneading on after the timer is up check for a gluten window by pulling off a piece of the dough and carefully spreading it apart until it's slightly translucent now if you compare the gluten windows you can see that the 100 whole wheat with no sifting is much less elastic than the mix one which is one of the reasons i've had much more success by mixing the flowers once you have checked for the gluten window and the dough is smooth you can do one of three things first you could form them right away second you could let them rest at room temp for 30 minutes or up to 3 hours whenever you're ready to make them or if you need longer you can store the dough in the fridge for up to a day though the dough gets a little tough to work with after 24 hours i'm just going to make mine right now and we'll divide the dough into 10 roughly 30 gram portions with the dough portions we're gonna roll them into a smooth ball with your hands then sprinkle them with a little bit of bread flour now using a rolling pin we're going to roll the dough into an even circle here and what i like to do is roll one direction then rotate roughly 45 degrees and just repeat that process until i have a reasonably circular roti for the 30 gram portions of dough i found that the best thinness is at about a six or seven inch diameter circle so let's roll the other couple out and then cook them to cook the roti i'm using this gas burner for presentation purposes but just do this on your normal stove set the heat to medium high and place a cast iron skillet on top now any pan will work but i find that cast iron skillet works best due to its heat retention since we will be pulling it on and off the heat also in testing i found that roughly 450 to 475 degrees fahrenheit on the surface is the sweet spot for the pan and if you don't have a thermometer you're going to just have to do a couple test runs to help you dial in that temperature that you need to cook flap the roti in between your hands to dust off excess flour that's going to burn in the pan and then lightly place it in the pan let it cook on one side for 40 to 50 seconds until some light bubbling happens and then you can flip it over and then just let it cook on the other side for another 10 to 15 seconds probably with some more bubbling going on then you can lift the pan off the heat and place the royalty right on the open flame where it hopefully should inflate like a balloon now if you aren't doing the open flame just let this cook for another 30 to 40 seconds and you can lightly press on the roti around the edges which may help it puff up back on the flame though you can flip it if you would like and just let it as is and there you have a slightly crisp exterior with a soft chewy interior another message you'll also see sometimes is to place a rack over the open flame like this but really just use whatever works best for your kitchen once cooked ghee or clarified butter is typically rubbed on them right after done and right before serving the fat helps them keep soft but is not needed if you do want to keep them plain for something else which is typically what i do now before we get to my tips for the perfect puff let's thank this video's sponsor skillshare skillshare is an online learning community that i've been using myself for the past few years primarily learning how to film edit and be more productive those first hundred or so videos were kind of rough skillshare has thousands of inspiring classes for creative and curious people from filming and photography to business and cooking and it's quite affordable at less than ten dollars a month with an annual subscription one recent class that i've been watching is beef 101 by meat purveyor pat lafrida where he covers all the different cuts of meat and the differences between them so if you want to take this class or any of the classes skillshare offers the first 1000 of my subscribers to click the link in the description will get a free trial of the premium membership so you can explore your creativity too let's get back to roti first let me say these beautiful failures aren't any less delicious however if you are after the perfect puff i pulled my instagram followers watched a video from bong eats that i would highly suggest checking out and failed several times myself to bring you the three most important factors in my opinion number one is enough gluten formation number two is an evenly rolled out dough and number three make sure the pan is hot number one is simple check for the gluten window the gluten is the net that's gonna hold the bread dough together and it's what traps gases during cooking which ultimately is what allows the roti to rise without gluten the puff is just not possible number two assuming you have developed your gluten next you have to have an even roll this is by far where most of my royalty go wrong and the boiling water dough should help but either way go slow and use plenty of flour to avoid the roasty sticking while rolling again i find a 6 to 7 inch diameter circle for a 30 gram piece of dough to be the ideal thickness lastly make sure the pan is hot i found that 450 to 475 is the sweet spot for the pan and it's gonna let the moisture cook out before you actually place it on the open flame speaking of the flame you definitely want a lower open flame so it doesn't just burn it right away and typically 30 to 40 seconds on the first side 10 to 15 seconds on the second side before moving to that flame also using the cooling rack does give you a greater probability of not piercing the royalty on the burner like i did several times so hopefully these tips help you all achieve the perfect puff but lastly let's answer how do you enjoy roti and how do you store them first off i implore everyone who tries making roti to get a warm one and rub it with ghee or clarified butter and sprinkle it with granulated sugar this was suggested to be by one of my instagram followers and it is absolutely a comfort food the first time i tried it i made three with just ghee and sugar in the course of like 10 minutes and also a fresh grating of cinnamon is a welcome addition so after you treat yourself madura jaffrey notes that chapati are eaten with nearly all indian main dishes for example my butter chicken recipe may be a good option but i typically also use them for quick lunches for example i crisped up some leftover turkey meat from thanksgiving spread some mayo on the chapati added the turkey some brussels sprout salad and pickled onion roll that up and you have a delicious little snack these are also great for quesadillas or dipping in hummus or just chopping them up for a salad the possibilities are really endless lastly how do you store them for consumption within one to two days i like to store mine in a thin towel and then place them in a plastic bag and they stay plenty soft and you can also give them a little reheat in the microwave if you need to however if i don't think that i'm gonna finish them in a day or two i'll just add them plain to the bag and freeze them trapping in the moisture to reheat them i toss in the microwave for 20 seconds and they are almost as good as a just cooked one and with that all i have to say is go make some roti spread some ghee on it give it a little sprinkle of sugar okay a big sprinkle of sugar roll it up and enjoy

Channel: Ethan Chlebowski

Views: 531,542

Rating: 4.9320893 out of 5

Keywords: Ethan Chlebowski, roti, phulka, chapati, how to make roti, how to make chapati, roti recipe, chapati recipe, phulka recipe, indian flatbread, indian cuisine, indian bread recipe, roti tips, atta roti, phulka making, rooti, ruti, wheat flatbread, indian breads

Id: tncD8p5P84I

Length: 10min 7sec (607 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 29 2020