Paratha
Paratha is an unleavened bread whose lightness comes from layers of fat rolled into a spiral. A similar trick to puff pastry, executed in three minutes on the counter and cooked in a pan instead of baked in the oven.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Kneading 10 min
- Resting the dough 30 min
- Layering 15 min
- Frying 16 min
Step by step
0 / 5 doneKnead a soft dough
Mix both flours with salt, pour in the oil and add water gradually. Knead for 8 minutes until the dough is as soft as an earlobe — much slacker than pasta dough. Add water if it feels firm.
Ingredients: 300 g wholemeal flour · 100 g plain flour · 250 ml water · 1 tsp salt · 2 tbsp oil
Soft as an earlobe — a firm dough gives hard breads.Rest for half an hour
Cover with a damp cloth and leave for 30 minutes. The gluten relaxes and the dough rolls out paper thin without shrinking. Skip this and the breads spring back as you roll.
Ingredients: 300 g wholemeal flour · 100 g plain flour · 250 ml water · 1 tsp salt · 2 tbsp oil
Roll the layers into a spiral
Divide into 8 balls. Roll one into a 20 cm circle, brush thinly with ghee and dust with flour. Roll it up like a swiss roll, then coil the rope into a snail and press down. Roll the snail out to an 18 cm circle.
Ingredients: 80 g clarified butter · 50 g plain flour
TipThe thinner the ghee layer, the more flakes. A thickly buttered bread falls apart in the pan.
Roll, then coil — a dozen layers form inside.Fry on a hot pan
Heat a dry pan until properly hot. Lay on a bread and cook 60 seconds until bubbles appear, flip, brush the top with ghee and cook another 60 seconds. Flip once more, pressing the edges with a spatula — the bread will puff. Cook the breads one after another; all eight take about 16 minutes in total.
Ingredients: 80 g clarified butter · 50 g plain flour
TipThe pan must be genuinely hot. On a lukewarm one the paratha dries out and hardens instead of puffing.
Pressing with a spatula forces steam inside and separates the layers.Crush and serve
Lift the hot bread off and crush it between your hands from the sides — the layers separate and fluff up. Keep finished parathas in a cloth so they do not dry out.
Ingredients: 80 g clarified butter · 50 g plain flour
Before you start
Stuffed version
Aloo paratha: flatten a ball, add a spoon of spiced mashed potato, seal and roll gently. You skip the layering step then.
Ghee versus oil
Ghee gives a deeper, nutty flavour and — unlike ordinary butter — does not burn in a hot pan. Rapeseed oil works too, but the breads are less aromatic.
Freezer stash
Stack raw rolled breads with baking paper between them and freeze. Fry from frozen, adding a minute.
