Trying out Indian Parathas again

Last Saturday I had a go at making paratha again. I remember my dear old Mum making these awesome unleavened breads for us when I was just a kid in the late sixties. Yes that’s a long time ago and I am ancient.

I found that by using a measuring cup I am able to get better portion control over my meals. In this instance I used the largest size in the cups and scooped out 4 cups of plain flour into a mixing bowl. I added 2 teaspoons of salt to the flour and rubbed it in.

I then went on to add 2 large cups of cold water and mix the flour and water into a soft pliable dough. Be careful of how much water you add. Its best to add a little at a time instead of pouring everything in at once.

Once the dough was sift and pliable I added half a cup of olive oil to the dough and proceeded to knead this in. The oil tend to strength the gluten strands in the dough and helps the dough to stretch. I then leave the dough to rest for 15 to 20 minutes before I start rolling the bread out for pan frying.

PS: you can use any oil for the dough. However, a healthy oil is far better.

Once the dough is rested divide it into even sized balls. You should be able to get 6 balls from 4 scoops of flour. These will make 6 parathas. Now roll out each ball into a round shape as big as a dinner plate.

Follow these steps below:

Make balls out of the dough. In this case we have 6 even sized balls
Roll each ball out into a flat round shape as bi as a dinner plate.
Next smear olive oil over the surface and then sprinkle plain flour over the oil.
Fold the flat surface to make a semi circle. Again do the above step and fold again until you got a quarter moon shape.
Next take one end in your hand and make swirls until you have a small circle of dough in your hand. Tuck the end under the dough. It should look like a Danish pastry you see at the bakery.
All the balls to rest again for another 10 minutes
Now take each ball and roll out again into a flat bread.
Heat a frying pan and lightly coat the base with some oil. This is to prevent the bread from sticking.
Place the raw bread onto the pan. Gently cook each side, basting the sides with oil.
Cook to golden brown and serve hot with curry.

Here is video 2 of me making the balls into Parathas

Video 1

https://www.facebook.com/workingathome/videos/10158152929694065