I've always thought making pitta bread would be a fine art and probably not easy without some special machine or technique, however on trying I found they are much much easier than I first thought...

It has occured to me that the most difficult thing I've tried to make (attempted 2 times now and still not got it right) are crumpets...

I have the general idea (looked at several recipes) but they just don't seem to work out as they should (either not rising or really hard and greasy in my attempts so far)...

so what have you tried to make that has proved difficult or impossible ?

Steve.

Hello Steven

What an interesting question you have posed!

For me, without doubt, it is the Indian sweet made from Paneer Cheese, called Bengali Rasgulla. I have tried many, many recipes over the years, some from friends, some from cookery books. It comes out reasonable, but never the perfect sweet, white sponge ball, full of very lightly sugared, rose or screw pine (Kewra) flavoured water (not the sickly sweet syrup of cheap sweet shops) that you get from good Indian sweet shop. The recipe that I have on site from a cousin?s wife, gives passable but not perfect results. I am still looking for that elusive ingredient or trick that makes it perfect.

Mamta

So its not just me then... Thats the thing with cooking, you can't always get everything perfect... maybe someone out there knows how to make mine or your hardest recipe and could help... :-)

I find that there are certain things which I'm convinced will be too difficult, such as Indian breads. My wife tried naan for several years, but it was never any good (though I didn't tell her that).

I wish I could do chapati and paratha, but I seem to be useless at those.

Phil

I tried making chapaties and did a pretty good job of it.. the more you try the less you cover the kitchen in flour...

Eventually I was pointed back to the recipe on this site to get them spot on...

They really are quite easy, if a little messy...

When people tell me it's easy, my heart sinks.

I just don't believe it!

But I'll try, with little faith.

Phil

They are easy Phil. You may not get them round in the first instance, but you can always use a cutter or a bowl/pan with sharp edges to cut them into a circle. I used to do that when I was very young.

Don't knead the dough too much or it gets elastic and difficult to roll out. Also, rest the dough for 10 minutes after kneading it and then give it another quick knead, to smooth it, that is all, no heavy kneading like when making Western bread.

Mamta

I don't understand the word 'meal' in 'whole meal flour'.

The recipe says 'whole wheat flour', so I guess 'meal' and 'wheat' mean the same thing.

Is 'whole wheat chapati flour' different from other whole wheat flours?

Forgive my ignorance!

Phil

Hello Phil

Whole meal and whole wheat flours are the same and interchangeable, as far as I know. I know that I use them as one. Whole meal is probably a better term for it, but I could be wrong. It is made from whole wheat and nothing is taken out. You can make chapatties from whole wheat flour you buy in UK supermarkets, but they are not as soft. It is just too rough.

Chapatti flour comes in 2-3 grades. The one most commonly used flour for chapatties and parathas etc., is number 2 or medium chapatti flour, which has some bran removed from it. In India, people (including my mum) used to buy wheat, wash it and then send it to the flour mill for grinding until recently. We used to get medium, or number 2 equivalent flour by sieving out some of the bran from it, using a not so fine sieve. These days, everyone buys ready-made, graded and pre-packed chapatti flours from big mills.

When I am in a country where they don?t have chapatti flour, I make chapatties by mixing 2/3 whole meal and 1/3 white flour or 50/50.

Hope this helps.

Mamta

Hi Mamta,

Is whole wheat flour the same as Atta flour?

Regards

JL

Hi Jill

Well, chapatti atta has a bit less of the bran than the whole meal/wheat flour. I am not sure about this, but I think chapatti atta is less glutinous than the flour you get in supermarkets.

I have tried many types of flour for chappati over the years, but the best by far is:

NATCO MEDIUM CHAPPATI FLOUR

available from Sainsburys and Tesco - Asian sections, not the regular baking sections.

Sorry about this advertising but no other flour comes even a close second best in my family's opinion!

About the Naan bread - I think you really do need a tandoor to make these - a regular oven simply dries it out and makes it into what we call Iraqi flatbread, which is lovely, but it's NOT naan!!

Liza

Thanks, Mamta

I had the same advice about what kind of flour to use, from the owner of our local whole foods shop.

My first attempt at chapatties, using the recipe on this site, was not a success: not properly cooked on the inside, too rigid. But I realised that I'd cooked them too long on the griddle, and the second attempt was much better: they really puffed up.

I find baking intimidating: so many things can go wrong, the dough sticks to your hands, etc. But the second lot were ok

Cheers

Phil

My first attempt at making chapaties like yours ended up with harder than they should be, due to having the heat to low and being on it too long... but I realised then I could tweak the recipe and cooking method to make cream crackers !

There you go Phil, now there is no stopping you!

Mamta

Further to my post (second on this thread), I tried yet another recipe for rasgullas. They were soft, but still not quite there. Now I am going to try to mingle 2 different recipes and see what happens. I am not giving up yet!

Mamta

Hi Mamta,

Can you tell me what the difference is between Wholegrain Flour and Chapatti Flour please?

Many thanks, regards

Martin

Chapatti flour is ground finer than wholemeal flour. It can be almost white, medium or with high level of fibre, which is almost like wholemeal, only finer.

Mamta