Tanduri Roti

And I thought pizza dough was easy. Today I gave roti a go, and this is probably the simplest bread I’ve ever made. Made all the simpler because it only had 3 ingredients; wholemeal flour, salt and water. No yeast.

Roti is a type of unleavened bread eaten in Punjab (I made it to accompany a curry) and is traditionally cooked in a tandoor oven. No tandoor in my house, but the normal oven and some preheated baking trays seemed to work just fine.

I sieved 250g plain wholemeal flour into a bowl with a pinch of salt and then worked in enough water to bring it into a soft “but not sticky dough”. This stayed in the bowl, was covered with a damp cloth and left to rest for about half an hour while I got on with my curry.

After this resting time, I got the dough out, divided it into 4 and formed each bit into a ball. These balls went back into the bowl, covered again and left to rest for another 10 minutes.

I floured my worktop and rolled out each ball into a circle about ¼ inch thick. Meanwhile, 2 lightly greased baking trays went into the oven while it preheated to 220°C (425°F or gas mark 7). When the oven was ready, the dough circles went onto the baking trays and cooked for about 10 minutes until they’d browned slightly and puffed up.

I think my roti may have puffed up more than they were meant to, but I was still impressed with the results. Having never done an unleavened bread before, I was little worried that they’d be completely solid, but this definitely wasn’t the case and the roti proved a good vehicle for my curry. Definitely one I’ll be doing again.

Simplified recipe

Makes 4

Ingredients

250g plain wholemeal flour

Pinch salt

Water, to bring the dough together

Method

1.       Sift the flour in a bowl and add the salt

2.       Add enough water to bring the flour together into a soft “but not sticky dough”. Leave the dough in the bowl, cover and rest for 30 to 45 minutes

3.       Take the dough and divide it into 4 even pieces. Shape each piece into a ball, place back in the bowl, cover and rest for another 10 minutes

4.       Lightly grease 2 baking trays and place them in the oven, then preheat at 220°C (425°F or gas mark 7)

5.       On a floured worktop, roll each ball of dough out into a circle of around ¼ inch thick

6.       Place the dough discs onto the preheated trays and bake for 8-10 minutes “until they are lightly browned in places and a few bubbles appear” (not quite like mine, which puffed up like pitta breads. May have let them cook a little too long...)

7.       If desired, brush with a little ghee (clarified butter) before serving

References

A Taste of Punjab, Lali Nayar, Merehurst, 1995