Chapati with stuffing. Making delicious chapatis. Making chapatis

Chapati flatbreads are one of the many varieties of Indian bread, the simplest, but incredibly tasty. Millions of families make sure to bake fresh chapatis for every meal. They are used instead of spoons, scooping up food and eating it with it. Traditionally, these flatbreads are made from wholemeal wheat flour, and chapatis from other types of flour, such as rye, are just variations on the theme, which, however, also have a right to exist.

How to make Indian chapati bread?

Ingredients:

flour – 1 tbsp.;
water – 1/2 cup;
salt – 1/2 teaspoon;
butter - for greasing the flatbreads.

Preparation

Pour water into the flour sifted with salt (can be replaced with whey) and knead a thick dough. The longer we knead, the more tender it becomes. During the process, we definitely (!) think only about the good - this is surprisingly reflected in the taste of the flatbreads. Roll the dough into a ball, cover it with a towel and leave for at least half an hour. It needs to sit and ripen.

Afterwards, to prevent the dough from sticking, grease your hands. vegetable oil and knead it again. Divide into equal parts the size of chicken egg, make balls out of them, dip them in flour and roll them into thin flat cakes. Fry on a well-heated dry! frying pan on both sides until brown spots appear. The fire is maximum. If the cake starts inflate like a balloon, it can be slightly pressed down.

While the chapatis are still hot, grease them with special melted ghee; you can replace them with regular butter, but the taste will not be the same. You can wrap any filling in a chapati, like in an envelope. It will be piquant if you rub the flatbread with garlic. You should not add it to the dough - the cake is very thin, and if the garlic burns, it can ruin everything. Fresh chapatis with grated cheese are very tasty.

In Russia they say that “Bread is the head of everything” and “It’s bad lunch if there’s no bread.” This also applies to India, where bread is the main dish on the table. Every Indian from an early age knows how to make chapati - freshly baked unleavened flatbread. This is a tasty, but at the same time very easy to prepare food, without which almost no Indian family can have a meal.

According to traditional customs in India, bread should never be cold, but should be served “hot from the heat.” As soon as a guest eats one portion of bread, he is immediately served the next one, freshly removed from the fire.

The best part is that the process of preparing Indian chapati flatbreads can be easily and quickly done independently at home. As a result, you will receive a very appetizing product, soft and slightly chewy, with an attractive appearance, which is created by crispy, golden-colored bubbles. In the photo you can see the inviting crust of the finished bread.

Distinctive features of chapatis

The name itself has Turkic roots. It is derived from the word “Shappoty”, which translates as “Palm Strike”. None national cuisine Can't do without a bread recipe. Indian chapati flatbreads differ from others in that they contain an ingredient such as whole grain flour. In India it is called "Atta". It is radically different from ordinary wheat flour. Thanks to it, the breads acquire their taste and beneficial properties, and the dough is easily kneaded during cooking and turns out without lumps.

When using this kind of flour, all the minerals and many vitamins necessary for the human body remain in the bread.

IN Western countries bread is often used to help catch food on the cutlery. And Indian people use flatbread in this role. They tear off a piece, fold it into a bag, hook it into liquid food, and then transfer it to their mouth, eating both the food and a kind of “fork.” It turns out comfortable and clean.

How to make chapatis

The recipe for chapatis is very simple, and the cooking process does not take much time. Of course, you may not succeed right away. It will take a little skill and practice. But even if you do not immediately achieve the desired result, the product will not deteriorate. The taste will remain unchanged.

Before you start cooking, you need to stock up on the following ingredients:

250 grams each rye flour and wheat from whole grains (in a ratio of 1:2). You can also replace it with a mixture of wheat flour and bran in a ratio of 3:1)
Sunflower oil – 1 large spoon;
Warm boiled water – 200 ml;
Salt - half a small spoon;
Melted butter – 2-3 large spoons.

Now let's look at the recipe for making chapatis. The step-by-step preparation scheme is extremely simple:

Combine two types of flour along with salt in a large container;
Gently add water and knead until a soft dough appears;
Transfer the dough to the board and continue kneading for about 6-8 minutes until it reaches a soft and moist state with a uniform consistency. Spray with water, place under a damp cloth and leave for a period of half an hour to two hours. Make sure to keep the surface of the dough moist;
With wet hands, knead the dough and create about 15 balls of the same size. Dip them in flour, then roll them out into thin smooth circles on a pre-floured table. The optimal diameter is approximately 14 cm. To ensure that all the cakes are the same, you can level them using a saucer, cutting off the excess edges of the dough. When rolling, you can sprinkle flour on top to prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin;
Place a heavy cast iron frying pan with a handle over medium heat and heat thoroughly. Shake off the excess flour and place the crumpet in the pan;
You need to keep the Indian chapati in the frying pan until its surface begins to become covered with bubbles and the edges begin to curl up. After this, the crumpet is turned over to the other side using tongs with a flat surface and held in the pan until this side is covered with bubbles;
Then the donut is taken with tongs and placed in front of an open flame. Turn each side of the tortilla over the heat for a few seconds until it forms a small puffy ball. Finished product must be completely baked. The degree of readiness is determined by the presence of spots brown plumpness on both sides and absence of wet areas;
The cooking process is completed by clapping the Indian crumpet with your hand. This is necessary to allow air to escape from inside. You also need to grease one side with pre-melted butter;

Serve hot, wrapping the chapati in foil or cloth. This will keep them warm and soft. The decoration can be made by cutting the flatbreads in the shape of crescents, and using mashed potatoes with fried onions as the filling. Or serve as plain bread.

The result is a very tasty and quick meal that can replace your usual bread.

Chapati with cheese

But you can improve this dish by making it an interesting hearty snack. For this you will need:

– approximately 200 g;
Garlic – 3 cloves;
Greens (optional);

Combine melted butter with finely chopped garlic.
Grease the crumpet with the resulting mixture, and also add the pre-prepared mixture of cheese and herbs.
Each flatbread is folded in half twice or rolled into a roll shape.

The instructions for making chapatis are very simple. At the end of the cooking process, you will receive a healthy product that can be included in your healthy diet.

Video tutorial on making chapatis

In an Indian family, it is almost impossible to imagine a single meal without chapatis! According to tradition, they are always served warm, just removed from the heat. Slices are torn off from the flatbread, still blazing with heat, and dipped into sauces, capturing pieces of all kinds of dishes. In the northern part of the country, chapatis are served with fillings, in particular the filling of mashed potatoes and fried onions is popular.

What flour is suitable for chapatis?

Bread cakes are prepared from special flour, which is obtained by grinding whole wheat grains. A special type of flour is sold in Indian stores, it is called atta - a finely ground dark yellow powder. The dough made from this flour is easy to knead, it turns out velvety and elastic, without lumps. You can replace atta with coarse whole grain wheat flour; it mostly contains bran and is as close as possible to the original, but it must be sifted.

How to bake chapatis?

Chapatis are baked on a tawa - a special cast-iron frying pan without sides with a convex bottom. It is heated thoroughly so that the bread bakes faster and better and is not too dry. No oil is added, it is cooked in a completely dry frying pan, and then kept on an open fire so that the cake swells with steam, like a ball. At home, the tawa can be replaced with a heavy cast iron frying pan with a handle, and “inflated” by gas burner. Let's take a closer look at the recipe for Indian bread - how to cook chapati from whole grain flour at home on a gas stove.

Total cooking time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Yield: 15 pieces

Ingredients

sifted whole grain flour – 250 g
warm water – 150 ml
salt – 0.5 tsp.

Preparation

I sifted the whole wheat flour through a fine sieve. In a bowl I combined 250 g of flour and a little more than 0.5 tsp. salt. Then she gradually poured in water (temperature slightly above room temperature), kneading with her hands so that the dough becomes soft rather than tight. The water requirement is approximate! Consumption depends on the quality, grinding and moisture content of the flour. Therefore, pour it in parts, in several stages, kneading with your hands until you achieve the required consistency.

The dough should be moderately moist, soft, elastic and pliable, like plasticine. I transferred it to a board and kneaded it for a long time, about 6-8 minutes, until it became homogeneous. Pay due attention to kneading, then the dough will roll out easily and bake well. I sprinkled the kneaded bun with water, covered it with a damp towel and left it for 20-30 minutes to rest. You can leave it on the table for up to 2 hours, but then do not forget to moisten the towel so that the surface does not dry out.

Once the dough has rested, I put cast iron frying pan on the stove and let it warm up. No need to add oil. With wet hands, I kneaded the bun again, divided the dough into 15 equal parts, and rolled it into balls.

Lightly sprinkle the board with flour. Using a rolling pin sprinkled with flour, I rolled the balls into round cakes, approximately 14-15 cm in size. Next, the excess flour needs to be shaken off, otherwise the grains will burn over an open fire and crumble heavily onto the stove.

I placed the flatbreads one at a time on a hot frying pan. Bake for about a minute, until whitish bubbles begin to appear on the surface and the edges curl up.

I turned the bread over to the other side (it’s easiest to use tongs) and baked for about half a minute until the surface began to swell and began to bubble.

After a few seconds, the cake should puff up greatly from the steam. There should be no wet areas on the surface. A little flour may fall off and brown marks will appear - this is normal.

Chapati should be served immediately, immediately after cooking, piping hot. If desired, you can pat the cake with your hands to release steam, and then brush it with a piece butter. Or you can serve it just like that, with traditional Indian dishes. I made rajma curry, it was delicious!

If you want to extend the shelf life of the flatbreads, then wrap them in a towel, then the chapatis will retain heat for some time and remain soft. In the air they quickly dry out and become crispy, like lavash. Bon appetit!

Note

Chapatis can be baked on an electric stove. In this case, first bake the rolled out dough in a frying pan, turning it several times until it is completely baked on both sides. Then cover soft cloth the upper side and press lightly, hold for a while until the chapati swells.

Indian unleavened chapati flatbreads are a very simple, but tasty and satisfying pastry. They can be served with the first or second course instead of bread, or they can be supplemented with honey, cheese, cottage cheese, milk, and you will get a complete independent meal.

Indian cuisine traditionally uses whole wheat flour (it is ground right before cooking the grain in hand-held stone mills) and ghee. If you don’t have good ghee, you can use melted butter. For a lean version of chapati, any vegetable oil is suitable, but it is better to take aromatic one.

How to make chapatis at home

We start cooking by making unleavened dough by hand or in a dough mixer (bread maker): 250 ml of water, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil. Take 500 grams of flour, of which 200 grams are whole grain and 300 grams are regular wheat. premium. If you don’t have whole grain flour, you can add 2-3 tablespoons of bran to half a kilogram of wheat flour, and you’ll get about the same thing.

Wrap the finished yeast-free unleavened dough in cling film and put it in the refrigerator to awaken the fiber for at least half an hour. While everything, except the composition of the flour, went quite normally, Indian motifs begin when shaping the flatbreads and baking them.

There are two versions of chapati flatbreads: simple, when the dough is rolled out thinly, baked in a dry frying pan and greased with butter, and puff pastry - more complex, but tasty and impressive. We will do the second one.

Let's prepare the ripened dough, flour for adding and melted butter.

Cut a piece of dough approximately the size of a ping pong ball.

Roll it into a thin cake the size of a frying pan or rack on which we will bake, grease with melted (or vegetable) butter.

Now we will fold the greased dough in a certain way so that the final result is a puff pastry. First, fold it in half, with the edges towards the middle.

Now double it again - so our dough has acquired four layers.

Using the same method (in two, with the edges toward the middle), fold the four-layer tape in half.

And in half again.

Wrap the resulting square in 16 layers in cling film.

We also cut the remaining dough into puff pieces and put it in the refrigerator so that it cools and the layers are finally formed.

Roll out the chilled dough pieces to the desired size.

Chapatis are baked on both sides in a dry, thick-bottomed frying pan or on a grill pan.

But they are best obtained in an air fryer, which temperature conditions closest to those stone hearths, on which these unleavened flatbreads are baked by housewives in India.

Grease the finished puff pastry with butter and eat it over a plate - crispy puff pastry crumbles into light flakes that instantly melt in your mouth!

Try it too, using my simple recipe with step-by-step photos to make chapatis at home. I am sure that all those who love crunch will like these Indian yeast-free unleavened flatbreads. 😉

I love homemade cakes, but I don’t like to tinker with it for a long time. Therefore, the recipe for Indian flatbreads often helps me out. Chapati can be served with soup instead of bread or with tea, jam or honey. Making them couldn't be easier! An important plus is that chapatis are prepared from whole grain flour in a dry frying pan, which means they are much healthier than traditional bread!

Chapati Ingredients:

whole grain wheat flour - 1 cup
water - there is no exact proportion, it depends on the flour. Pour gradually!
ghee or butter (optional)

Equipment:

frying pan
tongs (optional)

Making chapatis

Pour the flour into a wide container, gradually add water and knead the elastic dough.

We need the dough to be homogeneous and not stick to our hands; in fact, this is how to check the amount of water. If the dough sticks, add more flour. Add water a little at a time so you don't have to constantly add more flour, otherwise you'll end up with a mountain of cakes!

The dough should look like in the photo.

We tear off a piece from the lump of dough and roll it into a ball the size of a tennis ball (for table tennis, not for big tennis, of course).

On work surface pour flour, form a flat cake from the ball with your hands to make it easier to roll out. Let's roll it out!

You need to roll it out thinly, but so that the cake does not tear. A thickness of 2 mm will be optimal. If the dough suddenly sticks to the rolling pin, grease it with vegetable oil and add a little more flour to the dough.

Heat a frying pan and put our chapati on it. The pan must be dry! There is no need to pour oil.

While the flatbread is heating, roll out the next one. Don't forget to look at the frying pan - something interesting will happen there soon. Will the chapatis start to get blisters? Great! Turn it over to the other side and warm it up for just a few seconds.

Then we grab the cake from the pan with tongs and place it directly on the burner. Look what's happening!

The flatbread turns into a pillow. This will definitely happen if you roll out the dough evenly and well.

Ready. Place the chapati on a plate, release the air from it and grease it with oil. The cakes cool quickly, I advise you to cover them with something while you bake the rest.