CHAPPATHI MAKING - the search for EXCELLENCE (help)

[hehehewalrus]

hi all,
First time I tried making chappathis I rolled the dough with ghee and water. It was not very soft but turned out Ok on the tava. Next time, I avoided oil/ghee in the hope of getting softer chappathis. It turned out thinner but didnt get uniformly baked on the tava. When it puffs up the bottom side gets overheated and hard like pappad(The only happy thing was the rolling platform was aluminium and did not stick).

I have several questions, pls help.
1) Is water enough for preparing the dough or should it be mixed with oil/ghee? Any info on proportions will help.

2) Should the hand-prepared dough be left to rest for some time? Whats the use of covering it with a wet cloth?

3) Its possible to roll it uniformly and thin but when baking on the tava, the borders dont get adequately warmed. My tava surface is bit curved in the center. Should I use a flat tava?

4) Should the tava be greased with oil ?

5) At what point do you turn the chappathi over? Do you wait for the bottom side to be thouroughly cooked or you turn it soon and allow 2 turns for each side?

6) Some people keep the knob on full while placing the chappathi and reduce to Sim after one side is done. Whats the best temperature management?

Thanks a lot for your help :P

[numkitchen]

just follow www.numkitchen.com recipes for your need..

[hehehewalrus]

I didnt expect the only reply to my question from such a source.

Sorry to the experts here if my questions are sounding very silly to you, but please provide answers to my questions, it will help me a lot. thanks

[NEHA1222]

i hope in a way this answers ur question
first thing first i just recently learned how to make roti, i cant even say i learned rather than i had yearning to make rotis i have watched everyone in their technique, and i can today say that i makethe best roti even better than the people who i learned from.
lol enough about me, let me answer ur questions. water proportion is mandatory for good atta, i dont want to sound like a broken record but its true littlewater=hard dough, alot of water=runny gough. im not going to tell u that u should be in the middle and medum dough but i will infact tell u have your dough to the more softer and wet consistency (not to wet that it becomes runny). when making dough, if u are making it for the next day u definetly want it a little more soft because it gets hard in the frige. if u want to use it the same day be on the border of medium to soft atta.
i dont incorporate oil in my dough while i am kneading it, however i coat the plastic box in which i will store the atta/dough.
in reguard to ur 2nd ? i think the best rest atta can get is in the refrigerator. the temperature in the frigerator perfectly balances the moist and sticky dough, thus the next day or a few hours later from the time u prepared atta the atta is perfect and ready to role.
when u roll ur atta, make sure to to roll it all parts equal u can roll it in a circular motion or u can roll by each side, u do this by rolling to each corner until the roti is perfect. make sure u hav e enough dry atta while rolling roti.
the tave should in no way be greased by oil, we are making roti not parantas lol! now the tava method is the most important method u can learn. this method is why my rotis come out excellent, u can leave m y roti out for 3 hours and it still wont get dryed up. lets first get into the dynamics of the stove, on ur stove u most likly have 4 burners (or 2 0r 3) what i do is on my single burner i take the opposite burners grill/pad and i stack it up. at this tiem i have 2 burner pads on one burner (this evens ou tthe heat on the tava). then i put the tava on the burner and turn on the gas, along with heating the tava i roll the rotis and after i roll the roti, i slap the roti btwn my hand this evens out roti perfectly and then i put it on the tava i wait few second and flip the roti and ull notice that the other side has only changed color a lil u dont want to over cook in th 1st flip. ok b4 u flip the 2nd time wait this time u want the other sid e to be a cooked well. after the other side is cooked on the next flip u want to transfer it directly to fire. take ur tava off and change the side of the roti and then put it on fire, the roti will blowup like a baloon u can take it off the fire. how ever i wld cook both sides on the fire until u think its fully cooked. but i think it will be cooked by the last flip. also while the roti is on fire keep turning it with a chimta/tawns or u can use ur hand i think thats the best way. after u cook roti u can immiedetly serve with butter or without; or u can store in a nice roti dabba(box). this method will 200 percent make ur rotis so soft and evenly cooked that u wont even have to put butter on ur rotis enjoy!

[NOV]

HHHW, follow these steps religiously:

1. melt a little ghee and mix it with the aatta flour to resemble (a little like) bread crumbs.

2. add salt (if necessary) and mix well.

3. add warm water a little at a time and make a soft dough. eventually flour should not stick to your jands.

4. it is not necessary to leave it to rest (as compared with doughs made of white wheat flour becos of the gluten factor) but if you wish to prepare dough earlier, yes you can cover the dough with a wet (hot water pls) towel or simply glaze with oil. The reason being to make sure the outside doesnt dry up.

5. make small ba-lls out of the dough and immediately roll them out. do not turn over dough and roll. instead always roll on one side only. I use rice flour for dusting as it holds better.

6. heat your pan, without oil. now clap rolled out dough between your palms to discard excess flour. place chapathi on hot pan.

7. rotate chapathi, if the heat is not even, but do not turn it over.

8. when small bubbles appear, turn it over. repeat process 7 above. lift chappathi a little at the side to see whether it is cooked (a minute or so)

9. then turn over - for the last time - and watch the chapathi puffing up to almost a large ba-ll. you can assist in this bloating by either using your ladle or a piece of clean cloth, to press lightly. this shouldnt take more than 10 secs.

10. remove from pan and lightly brush with ghee.

11. you can use a tea towel to cover the chapathis until you are ready to eat them. would remain warm and soft for many hours.

Remember:

1. use warm water for making dough
2. do not flip dough when rolling it out
3. do not turn the chapathi more than two times (as stated above) while cooking, otherwise it will no longer be chapathi, but paratha.

[hehehewalrus]

thank you NEHA122 and NOV, will try out your instructions and inform the results by Friday

[Thiru]

thank you NEHA122 and NOV, will try out your instructions and inform the results by Friday :)

i'll give u the best suggestion... get married and let your wife do the cooking :P

[kavithasenthil]

Hello Thiru,
Ur location is home of eagles. So r u from top of the hill/mountain. Just kidding. By the way r u from schamburg,IL?

[Thiru]

kavithasenthil,
no... I'm from philadelphia... It's the home of the eagles becos of this
www.philadelphiaeagles.com

[kavithasenthil]

ok thiru. I asked just becaz i know a person named thiru form IL. It is very different name for me. So thought that person is you.