Chapatis With Salt and Spice

Submitted by Mary the Disturbed

"This is a northern Indian-style flatbread, easy to make, very tasty, and a great accompaniment to a curry. It's adapted from the Rajasthani Salt and Spice Bread from "Flatbreads and Flavors" (Alvord and Duguid), with some small changes to create a healthier recipe. Preparation time includes 1 hour for the dough to rest."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 45mins
• Ingredients: 7
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 2 cups atta flour
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons black peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

directions

1. Place the atta flour in a medium bowl and make a well in the center.
2. Add the water and stir until a soft dough forms.
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead until smooth.
4. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel, and let stand 1/2 to 1 hour so that the dough can relax.
5. Toast the cumin seeds in a heavy skillet, stirring until they start to brown and smell good.
6. Remove the cumin, grind in a mortar or spice mill, and set aside.
7. In the same fashion, toast and grind the black pepper and set aside.
8. Split the dough into eight pieces by rolling it out into an oblong, then cutting it in halves, then quarters, then eighths.
9. Take one piece of dough, roll out into a circle about six inches in diameter, and spread lightly with some of the olive oil.
10. Sprinkle the bread round with a pinch of the cumin, peppercorns, salt, and chopped cilantro (use 1/8 of each) on the bread.
11. Roll the bread up into a cylinder, then roll the cylinder up like a snail shell, and then roll out once more into a circle.
12. Toast the bread on a heated, lightly oiled griddle for 1-2 minutes a side or until lightly toasted.
13. Repeat with the remaining bread.
14. Keep the toasted breads on a plate or basket, covered with a clean dishtowel to keep them warm until serving.
15. To freeze the breads before cooking, stack the bread rounds with a piece of waxed paper between each pair, then wrap in foil or place in a freezer bag.
16. Ingredient note: Atta flour is a semi-refined flour made from durum wheat. It has some of the bran removed, but isn't all the way processed like the all-purpose white flour you find in an American supermarket. According to one source I found, there are different grades of Indian flour -- the one with the least bran removed is atta, then there's sooji, then there's maida which seems almost like a cake flour, very finely milled. Other sources say that atta has only the husk removed and that it's wholemeal, and it also seems that it varies from brand to brand -- for example, Sujatha brand is supposedly wholemeal, Golden Temple brand contains some maida. You can get atta at Indian or many Asian groceries, sold in bags just like all-purpose flour in a supermarket, or you can get it mailorder from somewhere like namaste.com, or another suggestion I haven't tried is to substitute Red Mill 100% whole wheat flour. You can also use all-purpose flour, which is what the recipe I adapted from calls for, but if you can get the atta I think you'll like it better.