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How to make Soft rotis – Indian flat bread

November 1, 2009 by PadhuSankar 29 Comments

Indian flat bread/rotis are made without yeast and yet it is soft and pliable. Making soft chapati/roti is no rocket science. All you need is practice. Once you practice, making rotis is a breeze. I have divided the recipe into 6 easy steps and have made it as simple as possible. Today we will learn how to make roti/chapati/Indian flat bread at home following this easy recipe. 

How to make Soft Rotis/Chapati – Indian flat bread
how to make soft chapati/roti-step by step pictures
Six Steps towards making Soft Rotis/chapati

How to make Soft Rotis/Chapati


how to make chapati

 Prep Time : 10 mins

 Cook Time : 20 mins 
 Yields: 5-6 rotis
 Recipe Category: Breakfast-Dinner
 Recipe Cuisine: North Indian
 Author:Padhu Sankar

   Ingredients needed

   Whole Wheat flour – 1 cup
   Salt – a pinch
   Oil – 1 tsp
   wheat flour or rice flour – as needed for dusting
   Board and rolling pin
   Tawa/skillet
   Ghee (optional)

Method

Step 1


Take 1 cup of flour, add a pinch of salt and a tsp of oil. Then mix ½ cup of warm water gradually little at a time and knead it into a dough. You may need a little more or less water depending on the flour you are using.

Step 2


Knead it into a soft dough as shown in the picture above. Use the heel of your hands to knead the dough. The dough should not stick to your hands after kneading. Grease your hands with a little oil before kneading if required. The more you knead the more softer the rotis.

Step 3


Make 6 equal sized balls. Keep some wheat flour ready for dusting.

Step 4


Roll out each ball into a circle/round shape dusting a little wheat flour. With practice you can easily do this. So do not worry if you cannot get a perfect round shape in the beginning.

Step 5


Heat a tawa and place a rolled out dough on it. Let it cook for a few minutes. Wait until you will see small bubbles forming on the surface.

Step 6


Once you see bubbles forming, flip it over to the other side and cook,  pressing it with a small towel/napkin. The roti will puff up.

Remove from the tawa, apply a little ghee (optional) and serve with any side dish of your choice. Repeat the same process for the rest of the dough balls.

Enjoy Rotis with any side dish of your choice. Check more than 150 Side dishes for rotis and parathas.

Roti-Indian flat bread


Storage of rotis and roti dough– If you are not serving/consuming the rotis immediately, wrap it in a soft cotton cloth and store it in an airtight container. It will remain soft for hours.

You can make roti dough and store it in the refrigerator for 2 days. Apply a little oil on the surface of the dough and store in an air tight container. Oil is applied to prevent the dough from drying. Bring it to room temperature before making rotis.

If you found this post useful, I would really love it, if you pin it or share it with your Facebook fans or Twitter followers or Google+ circles today. All it takes is a simple click on the “pin it” “like,” “share,” “tweet,” or Google+ buttons below the post. Thank you!

Related posts:

Capsicum Gravy for Rice,Chapati-Capsicum Masala Curry Recipe

Curry leaves Thuvaiyal-Karuveppilai Thogayal Recipe

Persian Dill Rice Recipe

Moong Dal rice-Arisi Paruppu sadam

Filed Under: Breakfast Varieties, How To, Uncategorized Tagged With: Atta/wheat flour, Uncategorized




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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sushma Mallya

    November 1, 2009 at 10:58 am

    Really a useful one if one doesnt know how to make it….I love roti and urs look so perfect..

    Reply
  2. my kitchen

    November 1, 2009 at 4:48 pm

    useful one

    Reply
  3. Priya

    November 1, 2009 at 5:05 pm

    Very useful post dear..

    Reply
  4. Mythreyi Dilip

    November 1, 2009 at 8:07 pm

    Delicious Soft rotis, useful post Padhu. Love to have with Dal Makhani!

    Reply
  5. Ammu's

    November 1, 2009 at 8:30 pm

    Nice Step by Step explanation….

    Reply
    • gowthu

      June 5, 2014 at 4:29 am

      Padduji! Came to know da secret dat to knead atta wit warm water……superb…

      Reply
  6. Anupama

    November 2, 2009 at 2:34 pm

    Thanks for the step by step procedure Padhu!

    Reply
  7. Sangeetha Subhash

    November 2, 2009 at 4:26 pm

    Very interesting and useful dear..Looks very soft..will try ur version next time and let u know..:)

    Reply
  8. meeso

    November 18, 2009 at 8:08 pm

    Yum, looks so soft and perfect 🙂

    Reply
  9. Suhasini Deepak

    July 10, 2011 at 10:00 am

    Hello Aunty,

    This is indeed a very useful recipe for beginners.When I started cooking I always used to ask my Mom or friends "How much water do you add for 1 cup of wheat?".I somehow struggled and learnt it.

    Kudos to your effort for beautifully demonstrating step by step with pics.

    Suhasini

    Reply
  10. gholam

    February 20, 2012 at 5:06 am

    I am a baker and never thought that a bread would be perfect without using yeast

    Reply
  11. shelly

    March 24, 2012 at 9:10 pm

    i will make it someday.. wish me luck for my first indian cuisine.. my husband loves roti 🙂

    will pair it with butter chicken (i found one recipe only, hopes it turns good!! : )

    Reply
  12. Unknown

    October 11, 2012 at 2:47 pm

    Akka I made it today for my lunch as my rice is not sufficient today.I got everythng until balls but I dont get a round shape akka and also little hard while on d tawa.what to do akka

    Reply
  13. dhara dhara-pscyho radha

    March 18, 2013 at 10:23 am

    I really enjoy your blogs.. I like it that they are simple yet appealing which gives working women like me the determination to cook after i reach home 🙂

    Anuradha

    Reply
  14. Unknown

    May 20, 2013 at 8:33 am

    My rotie don't puff up with a clothe why us it so

    Reply
  15. PadhuSankar

    May 21, 2013 at 8:56 am

    Unknown -Your rotis did not puff up. It might be anyone of the reason below-
    1. While rolling the rotis, it should be even on all over. It should not be thin one side and thick the other side. If it is even all over, your rotis will puff up.
    2. If there is not enough heat, then also the rotis will not puff up.
    3. The dough should be knead well. It should not stick to your hands but should be soft and pliable.
    Hope this helps you for now. Soon I will be posting how to make soft rotis on direct flame in detail.

    Reply
  16. rupa

    June 19, 2013 at 1:58 pm

    hello padhu,
    love ur blog …love to visit it agin n again esp. for ideas for serving the kids …
    i was wondering if you could tell me how to roll the chappatis n store for future use so tht we can just take out from fridge n heat them on tawa? and also how long can these be stored like this?…also do we need to heat them a lil on the tawa before storing .

    another doubt i have is when required which vegetables can be cut in advance and stored and how to store them so tht they can be used instantly.

    Reply
  17. Dhivya Dhvy

    September 4, 2013 at 2:18 pm

    am gonnaa survive my bachlr lyff fr nxt a year 😀
    Thanks for this wonderfull blog. feel lyk my mom is near wen i cuk 🙂 veryyy usefull 😀

    Reply
  18. Ashish

    December 21, 2013 at 8:18 am

    You helped me make my first ever roti thank you !!!!!!

    Reply
  19. gowthu

    June 5, 2014 at 4:31 am

    Superb

    Reply
  20. Chaitanya

    March 6, 2015 at 6:18 am

    Loved your blog ! Thanks for those detailed description which guides like a mom 🙂 I made my first ever roti with ur blog ..

    Kudos to your work !!

    Reply
  21. renuka

    September 24, 2015 at 6:48 pm

    Shall I keep the dough outside for 1 hour before rolling ?

    Reply
  22. BK

    November 17, 2015 at 5:06 pm

    really like yr instructions for making soft roti.

    Reply
  23. Sandhya Rijish

    March 9, 2016 at 10:11 am

    Padhu u r awesome … I love your blog ..it's really helpful

    Reply
  24. Piscean

    September 18, 2016 at 7:19 pm

    Padhu can you please tell me in what flame should the chapatis be made? And for how long? I keep it in medium and try for 1 minute but it ends up being hard. Please guide me on the flame and number of flips or time needed to cook each chapati.

    Reply
    • Padhu Sankar

      September 22, 2016 at 7:10 am

      The flame should be on high for chapati. If it becomes too hot, you can reduce it to medium. Once the temperature comes down, you can raise it to high. For making rotis -Once you get bubbles, flip it over to the other side and press it will a cloth. It will puff. Remove it and apply ghee if preferred.

      Reply
  25. preethi

    March 9, 2017 at 5:29 am

    How long should we knead the dough ??

    Reply
    • Padhu Sankar

      March 11, 2017 at 11:07 am

      The dough should not stick to your hands. It will take around 10 minutes.

      Reply
  26. Santhi Nagarajan

    August 29, 2017 at 10:57 am

    Padhu sankar…detail ah enga amma en pakathula irundhu solli kudukura dhu pola iruku…i hv tried many of receipes and my in laws and husband loves it..love u a lot… God bless you..

    Santhi Nagarajan

    Reply

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