Chapati

🫓 Eight soft, lightly layered pan-cooked flatbreads, two per serving, made with wheat flour, water, oil and salt.

Ingredients

• 400 g all-purpose wheat flour, plus up to 20 g for dusting
• 240 ml warm water, adjusted slightly to flour
• 50 ml neutral vegetable oil: 15 ml dough, 20 ml shaping, 15 ml pan
• 5 g salt

Preparation

Mix flour and salt. Add 15 ml oil, then warm water gradually, initially reserving a little. Form a dough without making it runny.

Knead eight to ten minutes until smooth, supple and slightly tacky. Add water by teaspoons if dry or a little reserved flour if very sticky, without stiffening.

Cover and rest twenty minutes. Divide into eight similar balls and keep covered.

Roll one ball thinly on a lightly floured surface. Brush with a little shaping oil, roll into a log, coil into a spiral and tuck the end underneath.

Repeat with remaining balls, sharing the 20 ml shaping oil. Cover spirals and rest twenty more minutes to reduce spring-back.

Heat a heavy pan over medium heat. Gently roll one spiral to an 18–20 cm circle without crushing layers. Brush away loose flour.

Cook about one minute on first side, turn and brush lightly with reserved cooking oil. Cook another one to two minutes per side until golden spots appear and centre has no raw dough. Lower heat if spots blacken too quickly.

Stack under a clean dry cloth while cooking the rest. Serve eight breads, two per person. Cool leftovers, wrap and freeze for longer keeping; briefly reheat in a pan.