INDIANS DON'T EAT NAAN ON A REGULAR BASIS. Did I just blow your mind?Our primary bread of choice is an unleavened whole wheat flatbread called roti. It is also referred to as chapati or phulka. Don't get me wrong, we love naan, but it's a leavened bread (made with yeast) that is made with all-purpose white flour in a tandoori oven, which folks don't typically have in their homes. One tip if you want a tandoori feel from your bread but want to keep it whole wheat, ask for tandoori roti the next time you eat at an Indian restaurant. It's what we do - the whole wheat roti flour is placed in the tandoor and charred beautifully just like naan without all the extras that make it taste great but that I don't really need.
Roti at its essence is made simply with flour and water. But, here lies the problem. The flour matters - it matters a lot! Roti is made from chapati flour, which is in turn made from durum wheat. Durum wheat is one of the hardest varieties of wheat and is high in protein and gluten, which makes it excellent for making pasta and flatbread. Durum wheat for chapati flour is ground on a stone and milled to a very fine consistency, making it perfect for roti. If you have an Indian grocery store nearby, ask them to point out a good chapati flour. Just be sure that the bag says aata and not maida, which is essentially all-purpose flour. Aata refers to whole wheat flour rather than processed white flour. Much like in the West we went from white rolls at the table to slightly darker whole wheat rolls, such was the movement in India with white flour back to traditional whole wheat.
If you don't have access to chapati flour, I would suggest using 2 parts regular whole wheat flour and 1 part all-purpose flour. When I say regular whole wheat, I mean the typical whole wheat flour found in a mainstream grocer which comes from a variety of wheat that is usually darker and slightly more bitter than durum wheat. Why if you use just this flour without 'cutting' it a bit with all-purpose, your roti will turn out dark and slightly dense. You can also use Whole White Wheat - a product I've seen more and more on mainstream grocery shelves over the last few years.
I wrote this article for the Chicago Tribune in 2019 on roti that gives you my basic recipe. Click here to read it and stay tuned for more updates to this blog post with recipes and ideas on what to do with your roti dough.
It's essentially 3 cups chapati flour or equivalent and 1 1/2 cups water. Knead by hand or in a stand mixer or food processor until it comes together as a beautiful ball of dough just like pizza dough. Place it in a bowl, preferably glass, cover with a damp cloth and let it sit for 15 minutes. Some recipes call to add 1 teaspoon of salt and/or 1 tablespoon of ghee. The salt adds flavor especially if using to make a stuffed parantha and the ghee is to keep it soft. I was never taught to do that in my Punjabi home, but you can certainly give it a try.
More recipes:
Punjabi Aloo Parantha
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PJ
December 13, 2023
Hello Anupy,
We are loving your Vegan cookbook. Becoming plant based eaters is delicious, with your guidance, even here in SE Alaska.
Do you have any suggestions about making these with gluten free flours?