#soft chapatis

Tools & Ingredients

Ingredients

For the dough

4 cups (560g) of All purpose / Chapati / Pastry Flour

1 teaspoon (6g) of fine salt

1/2 - 1 teaspoon (2g - 4g) of sugar (optional)

You can use more or less sugar if you like. There are times I like a bit of sugar and times I prefer none. Try both ways and see what you prefer.

1/4 cup (56g) of cooking oil/cooking fat -> Butter/margarine or ghee will produce very flavourful results

Cooking fat produces much better results - softer, flakier chapatis with more defined layers. The type of fat you use depends on your taste. I like ghee, I love the nutty and buttery flavour it gives the chapatis. You may also use butter. Leaf lard is a natural, mildly flavoured alternative to vegetable fat. I used vegetable oil to show that you can get stellar results even with cooking oil.

 11/2 - 2 cups (360ml - 480ml) of hot water -> Straight off the boil

For making the layers + rolling the dough

Around 1/4 cup (56g) of cooking oil/cooking fat

Just like with the dough, cooking fat, lard, butter or margarine with produce more defined layers. But I have used vegetable oil to show how you can get the same results with just the oil and a bit of flour.

Around 1/2 cup (70g) of All purpose/Chapati/Pastry Flour

 For cooking the chapati

Around 1/2 cup (112g) of cooking oil/cooking fat

Apart from the flavour, the type of cooking oil/fat does not matter. Do not use butter/margarine as they may burn and the moisture they contain may produce a tough result

Special Tools

Rolling Pin -> Preferable one without ball bearings

Tawa / griddle -> Any chapati pan you prefer

Procedure

Making the Dough

Put the dry ingredients (flour, salt and sugar, if using) in a mixing bowl. You can sift the flour first if you like but it is not mandatory.

Mix the dry ingredients until they are well mixed and combined.

Add the oil or cooking fat into the dry ingredients. Blend the fat or oil into the flour with a fork or pastry blender until the roughly mixed.

With your fingers tips, rub in the fat or oil into the flour until you end up with a mixture that looks like coarse crumbs.

Add the very hot water into the flour mixture a little bit at a time, the water should be straight of the boil. Every time you add the water, the flour that is in contact with the hot water will sort of clump together. Break and mix the clumps with a fork or wooden spoon. Working fast continue adding the water while mixing until you have added the whole11/2 cups of hot water. Ensure the water you add in is very hot, if it cools reheat it till it boils before mixing it in. Be very careful during this step, do not use your hands to mix the dough yet, a fork or wooden spoon(mwiko) will work well.

Once the whole 11/2 cups of hot water are added, work the dough with a wooden spoon (mwiko) to incorporate the flour into the dough until the dough is slightly cooler to the touch. Once slightly cooled, start kneading. The dough will at first seem dry and not as soft as expected but do not be tempted to add more water yet. Continue kneading until all the flour is incorporated. At this point, if the dough still seems dry and not pliable, you may add water a tablespoon at a time. Since the dough will soften when it rests, I find I rarely need more water and if I do a tablespoon or two is usually adequate.  Ps: How firm or pliable you make the dough - depending on the amount of water you add, depends on your preference during handling. I like a somewhat firm but pliable dough. Firm enough so it does not stretch out of proportion when transferring the rolled out chapati to the pan and pliable enough so I do not use too much effort to roll it out. I find adding too much water makes a soft and pliable dough that is a nightmare to handle leading to excessive use of flour; over flouring will beat the purpose anyway.

Continue kneading the dough until you get a fairly smooth dough. With this hot water dough, there is no need to knead until your tired. Since our aim is not to develop a lot of gluten, just knead till you get a smooth dough. The hot water also denatures the proteins in the flour so you won't be able to develop much gluten either. 

Cover the dough with cling film, a plastic bag or with the mixing bowl turned over the dough then let it rest for 30 minutes up to overnight. It is important to keep the dough covered and airtight so it does not dry out and develop a crust. You can also refrigerate the dough for 2-3 days, then let it come to room temp (around an hour) before the next step. After resting, the dough should be smooth, soft and pliable. Diving the dough

Divide the dough into 8-12 pieces. Roll the pieces of dough into smooth tight balls. I usually tuck the dough into itself making a sort of ball with a small seam on the side where you tucked in the dough. I then put the dough seam side down on a clean un-floured and un-oiled surface and roll it in a circular motion, gradually cupping it in my hand till it forms a smooth and tight dough ball. You can use whichever method you like. The rounder the balls the better the circles you will roll out later.

Let the dough balls rest covered for another 5-10 mins. I like using plastic wrap or a plastic bag here, just like before, this keeps the dough from drying out and developing a crust. Creating Layers

Once rested you can proceed the create the layers, starting with the dough ball you formed first. This can be done several ways but I am going to show you the way that works best for me developing nice thin distinct layers. Apply a little oil or fat on your work surface then roll out the dough balls as thin as you can. The shape does not matter much here just aim for an even thin layer being careful not to tear the fragile dough.

Apply a thin coat of fat or oil on the dough, around a tablespoon. The if you like or if you are using oil – I highly recommend this – sprinkle a little flour on the rolled out dough, this helps the layers stay separate.

Roll the dough into itself to create a sort of rope then start coiling the ‘rope’ into a disk. Do not coil it all the way just yet. Halfway, continue coiling the ‘rope’ on top of the already coiled disk. Tuck the end in the middle to give a clean finished look. The coil will end up looking like a double layered disk. With the tucked end down, flatten the disk slightly with your fingers then put aside. Do this with all the remaining dough balls then let them rest for 10-15 minutes, covered. Rolling The chapati

Flour your work surface and pat the top and bottom of the first dough you coiled in some flour then start rolling out your chapati. To create nice circles keep giving your dough quarter turns after a few rolls. Keep flipping the dough and lightly flouring your surface (where necessary) as you roll out the dough to ensure nothing sticks. The chapati should be around 20 centimetres (8 inches) wide and 1/2 a centimetre (1/5 of an inch) thick. You can make them thinner, thicker, wider or smaller depending on how you like them. You can either roll as you cook or roll them all out, then cook. Cooking the chapati

Place a tawa or griddle on medium-low heat and let it preheat. You will know it is hot enough when a drop of water sizzles and dances on the pan for a few seconds before evaporating. Place your chapati dough on the hot un-oiled tawa or griddle.

Let the chapati cook till the top looks opaque and should start puffing up and forming bubbles. When the bubbles are around the size of your thumbprint, flip the chapati, the cooked side should be cooked but not browned, this should take no more than a minute. If it has browned too much or takes longer than one minute, reduce or increase your heat respectively.

As the other side of the chapati is cooking apply a bit of oil around a teaspoon to the cooked side. Spread the oil or fat around the cooked side of the chapati not forgetting the sides then flip the chapati again for the oiled side to brown. You may use a spoon, butter knife, spatula, pastry brush or whichever tool you like to spread the oil or fat onto the chapati.

Check if the oiled side has browned to your liking, if not let it cook a little further. I like mine golden with deep brown spots. Once browned flip the chapati and repeat this process with the other side. Monitor the heat as you cook, if the chapati gets huge black spots, reduce the heat. If it takes a long time to brown increase your heat.

If you want soft chapati but are not so keen on crispiness, place the cooked chapati between a kitchen towel, stacking the cooked chapatis in the towel as you go along. They will stay warm till ready to serve. I however like the crispiness of the chapati so I place the chapatis on a cooling rack till ready to serve. I usually do not stack them up as this makes them steam: steam is the enemy of crispiness. If you like them to stay warm place them in a warm oven as you cook the rest.

Serve the chapatis with your favourite beef stew, soup, beans, lentils or simply serve with tea.

Notes

-Always use very hot water, straight off the boil to make your dough. The water denatures the proteins in the flour resulting in a very soft almost melt in your mouth chapati. The hot water dough is also very easy to work with, it does not spring back and can stretch pretty thin.

-Try not to use melted butter if you can help it. It may produce a tougher result.

-If the bubbles that form while cooking the chapati keep the chapati from staying in contact with the pan, gently press the chapati with a clean dish cloth or spatula to ensure even brownness and cooking.

-Do not use a lot of oil to brown the chapati, this makes the chapati too oily and not that great to eat.

-Limit condensation on your chapatis as much as possible. Place the cooked chapati in a dishcloth or cooling rack. Keeping them in a non-absorbent dish will make them soggy.

-Store the leftover chapatis in an airtight container, ziplock bag or wrap them in plastic wrap. They can stay on the counter for 2-3 days or be frozen for months.