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]

:lol: :lol:
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 :notworthy: :notworthy:

[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. :lol:

[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.

[hehehewalrus]

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

Thiru, my mother makes poor chappatis so I have lost confidence in chappathis made by todays women. Best confirmation of that is the post by Nov - rest of them knew nothing to post :P hee hee

Secondly, I prefer chappathis to rice as the smell of rice is overpowering during lunch - I can easily predict when an indian is having lunch since the aroma of sambhar/spices travels from one end of the room to another very quickly :(

[Thiru]

hhhw,
orutharai vechu chappathi panradhula conclusion kku vandhudadheenga.. en experience la solren.. I used to hate chappathi's when my mom used to make it.. now its a different story.. :)

[hehehewalrus]

Yen, unga office keezha dhaba irukka? :P

[tomato]

So, HHHW any success at making chapathi during the weekend :?:

[nirosha sen]

Walrus - I think good atta flour is also an important criterion, Pa!!

I make mine with just plain warm water, leave to rest and roll out with enough flour to dust the rolling pin/board.

I use the same tava you mentioned, but to press down I use just my plastic spatula ladle whenever it puffs up!!

The chaps. puff up because of the heat pushing out the moisture riddled dough!!

Well, you are the scientist, so I'll just rest my case here!! :)

[hehehewalrus]

Sorry havent tried it yet..will do it in a couple of days. I got just a couple of cups of flour and the nearest indian store is 2 hours away so I really need to concentrate to make it right, else it will be a waste :)

[hehehewalrus]

hey all,
I tried it and it was great :)
As mentioned by Neha, I did the 1st flip quickly, baked side 2 well and came back to Side 1.

My one concern was that whenever it puffs up, the heat is restricted to the spot on which the puffed up roti rests - that spot gets burnt and hard.
I used Nov's method of rotating it, it helps the prevent accumulation of black spots.
The rotis were a little bit hard this morning after the night. But thats ok

A good method of preventing black spots on the underside when it puffs up would be great. I just smacked it down when it puffed up.

THanks a lot Neha and NOV :D

[nirosha sen]

Try to make your chaps fresh, Pa!! That way no hard rotis!!

You could always make and keep the dough balls in the fridge overnight, which are easily thawed in 15 min. before you roll em and heat on the tawa!! :D

By the way, each time your chaps puff up, just flip it over!! :wink:

[tastemakers]

My chappatis are soft but the edges are very hard and get dried up. Why is it so . Please help

[arrecipes]

If u press the corners properly while putting it in a tawa it would be ok. Even i had this problem before. once i put the chappathi in the tawa after rotating it i will press the corners properly so that it would not rise aloof that makes the corners to be soft.

[tastemakers]

Thanks a lot for the the tip


Priya

[dlaxmi16]

Hi,

Always make a chappati dough with salt & lot of water .

Only a soft dough can make soft chappati's. You can add oil at the end of making the dough..

Then take a small amt of dough & then roll it into a round chappati with the help of dry atta powder , this will not make it sticky & then cook it on a medium hot tava..

normally the first chappati doesn't come out that great, but the 2nd one onwards you can feel the difference in the chappati making.Let the both sides of the chappati be cooked for a minute, then you can press the chappati with either cloth or paper towel, this will puff up the chappati.cook it again both sides , then brush oil if needed. thats it Soft Chappatis are ready..

Actually i have also faced this problem earlier, but with exp , my chappati making has improved a lot..Well this is my first time i am posting in this website..I am feeling great doing so.

:)

[sri2005]

Hi guys,

I followed ur tips here to for making chappathi..No need to tell..my chappathis are soft and good..
I want to ask one question..the chapathis are soft only if i apply oil after taking it form the tawa.
If i don't apply oil..its not soft..
Could please anyone tell how to make it soft without applying oil//

[dev]

Hi,

I didn't know where to post it...so am posting it here as it's related to chapathis...

I was making aloo paratha Y'day & I ran out of stuffing for the last few parathas... I din't make any sidedish for it coz we like having parathas with curd & pickle...So,can't just make chapathis...But lazy to make the stuffing all over again...Just then I saw the d puli kumabu/puli kaichal in the fridge...Idea!!!...I applied a layer of it in between 2 chapathis & rolled it again into thin rotis & made it the same way as we used to make parathas...It tasted real yummy with curds!!!... I named it 'lazy cook's paratha'... :lol:

[kritica]

hi all
well its really interesting way of making paratha dev... well i am good with making chapathi.. but the only problem is i am lazy to make them everyday.. is there a way i could make and store the chapathi... let me know the storage methods....
well i dont think that keeping the chapathi maavu in the fridge helps.. becoz it turns the maavu black... so i dont like to do it that way.. i would rather like to make it and keep it during the weekend....help me to find the methods of storing chapathi...
thanks
kritica

[MysoreHudugi]

Kritica,
Make as many chapathis as you wish and after they are cooled down. Put them in a freezer bag (ziploc for ex) and keep it in the freezer. Take them out just before you are ready to eat and microwave for 10 - 15 seconds and your chapathis are ready. You can even put them on Tawa if you don't want to use microwave. I have even kept them outside 20 - 30 minutes before eating time and not heat it at all.

You cannot make out that these chapathis were made earlier and kept in the freezer. They taste the same.

Hope this helps.

CI.

[kritica]

Hi MysoreHudugi(CI)

thanks for ur tip... the problem is i have tried that method too.... if i am heating about 3 chapathi.. by the time i come to eat the 3rd one it becomes hard.... generally i dont thaw it... is that the reason for it.... let me know... i will try this weekend and then keep it in the freezer.. and try out.... thawing....
thanks
kritica

[MysoreHudugi]

Probably that is the problem. Or, try this one. Keep them on a plate and while microwaving, cover them with a wet paper towel. It could work. I never had the problem of it becoming hard since I let it come to room temperature or closer to room temp and then warm it up for couple of seconds.

CI.

[kritica]

Hi CI,
thanks for ur help will try this weekend and let u know

[RedPepper]

Long time ago, in the old forumhub, there was a famous chappathi recipe posted by CI. Are you the same CI, MysoreHudugi? (who used to run Karnataka recipe thread?)

[MysoreHudugi]

Hi Red Pepper,
Yes. I am the same CI.

Bye,
CI.

[ash_970]

Hi friends,

I saw a question for storing and re-using Chappathis...here is the method I use and it has worked well.

When you make extra chappattis add slightly more oil when

preparing the dough cook those ones only 80-90%,

ones they are cool store them in Zip lock bag in the freezer.

When you want to re-use them just hold them under running

water for 15 -30 seconds (don't make them soggy) and than heat

them on Tava or in the Microwave for 30 -45 secs.

They come out as fresh chappatis...let me know if this tech...works

for you guys.... :wink:

[RedPepper]

When you want to re-use them just hold them under running

water for 15 -30 seconds

Hold the ziploc bag under running water, or the chappathis? :? :o

[ash_970]

Red pepper ,
Depends what do you want to cook ZIP-LOCK bags or Chappattis.... :lol:

Just joking......

of-course chappatis :idea:

[RedPepper]

I meant the ziploc bag with the chappathis inside(to defrost). :) Otherwise I couldn't imagine washing the chappathis.
Yeah, I do sprinkle some water on the chappathis when I microwave them. So that makes sense! :idea:


Red pepper ,
Depends what do you want to cook ZIP-LOCK bags or Chappattis.... :lol:

Just joking......

of-course chappatis :idea:

[ash_970]

Red Pepper,

You got it right this time my friend pl. let me know how it works for you
Cheers!!!!!!

[svasu_ani]

Hi friends,

I saw a question for storing and re-using Chappathis...here is the method I use and it has worked well.
them on Tava or in the Microwave for 30 -45 secs.

They come out as fresh chappatis...let me know if this tech...works

for you guys.... :wink:

Hi

Thanks for the tip.. it worked out well for me...

Anitha

[Anoushka]

Can anyone tell me a way of making soft chappatis without adding oil/ghee please? Thanks in advance for the replies :)

[tomato]

Anoushka,
To make soft chapathis/pulkas without adding ghee/oil knead the dough using milk in place of water. This always works for me.

[sri2005]

You can also try to make the batter with little warm water instead of cold water and use a spoon of curd with it.

Sri

[binal142001]

Sorry to say..
Batter is for Dosa/Idli etc..

For chapathi/roti/phulka/paratha its called Dough.

[tomato]

Sorry to say..
Batter is for Dosa/Idli etc..

For chapathi/roti/phulka/paratha its called Dough.


Thank you grammar aunty. :notworthy:

[kritica]

Hey all,
can u tell me how to make thick chapathi... i always make super thin and soft if there is butter added to eat.... if not i have to eat friesh........ somehow cannot get it thick and soft...something goes wrong there... would appreciate any tips for thick and soft...
thanks
kritica

[Anoushka]

thanks everyone, will try out the different options mentioned here and let you know the results :)

[Shakthiprabha.]

Hey I hope some of u are aware of

SAFAR KA ROTI

which means roti which can stay for ur trips.

Even otherwise its very tasty to be done at home occasionally.

Stuffings:

Take bengal gram flour. Mix methi leaves, salt, chilli powder, crushed dhania and little oil with the flour.
The powder is kinda dry with oil in it.

This can be made as stuffing for the roti.
IT can be eaten with curd or pickle. Veg gravy if done can be mild, else the taste of bengalgram-roti is lost.

Try it out.

Good luck

[Anoushka]

Thanks everyone for the tips, I tried with low fat milk and warm water today and made lovely soft chappatis... :)

[sangii77]

This question is for anyone having success with tortilla press for making chappathis, especially ppl in USA. I got this tortilla press from a kitchenware store thinking that it would maker my rolling process much simpler. But havent been successfull in my effort. I place the ball shaped dough in between 2 wax papers and then in the center of the press and press it. The result either sticks to the paper or is thick and has not rolled out to the full size of the press. if i press harder in this scenario after i take it out of the paper it shrinks back to a smaller size.

I do know that ppl are successful cos most of the rotis sold in desi stores are the same size and iam 99% positive they do it with this.

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.

- Sangeetha