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
https://www.facebook.com/workingathome/videos/10158152929694065
Video 2
https://www.facebook.com/workingathome/videos/10158153260879065
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