chapatis/tortillas

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I wanted to post the recipe for the whole wheat tortillas that were shown in the southwestern black bean and corn recipe a couple of posts back. It's actually a recipe for chapathis, which are a kind of yummy flatbread from India, and which are very similar to whole wheat flour tortillas. I use these for both purposes, when I have the opportunity to make them! Mine don't turn out perfectly round (...yet, LOL), but I find that they get easier to make with practice. Sorry for the blurriness in the third picture! They look really nice, really they do!

My recipe is actually taken from The Vegetarian Epicure Book Two, by Anna Thomas (though the instructions are my own) and the only changes I have made are to add more water to the dough and to make the flours 50% whole wheat and 50% unbleached. This is the single recipe, but I usually double it.

Chapatis

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBS oil
approx. 1/2 to 1 cup water, enough to get the dough to the desired consistency

In a large bowl, mix together the flours and salt. Add the oil, rubbing it in with your fingers until it is evenly distributed through the flour. (This will make the finished chapatis nice and a little flaky/layered.) Pour in water a little at a time with one hand, while mixing with the other hand. When all the dry flour is incorporated into one ball, but is not too wet or sticky, stop adding water and start kneading the dough until it is smooth and elastic (maybe three minutes or so??). If you have accidentally added too much water, sprinkle in a bit more flour and mix it in, then knead the dough. Let dough sit in the bowl for a bit to rest, anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour or two (if you're letting it sit for a long time, cover it with a towel so the surface doesn't dry out too much).

When you're ready to cook the chapatis, make sure you have a nice clean open expanse of countertop to roll the bread out on. Place a little heap (about a tablespoon) of flour up in the corner of your work area for dusting your surface and rolling pin. Start to heat a medium-sized (I use a 10" pan) cast iron frying pan (no Teflon! It shouldn't be heated the way a pan needs to be heated for this recipe.) to about medium heat.

Lightly dust your work surface with flour, then pull off egg-sized pieces of dough and with a rolling pin, roll them until they are large rounds about as thick as a thick tortilla. Carefully transfer the rolled-out dough to the bare frying pan (no extra flour, no oil) and cook until the underside looks mostly done (this will take less than a minute). Flip it carefully with your hand, and cook the other side the same way. You may find (as I usually do) that you need to flip back to the first side at the end to finish cooking any doughy spots. At this point, I take a small, dry, clean dish towel (I use a crocheted potholder, actually) and place it in the pan on top of the chapati; and then, using it to shield my hands, I press down gently all around the chapati. This will cause the chapati to inflate with steam-filled bubbles, so be careful not to burn your hands. When the chapati is done, it will have little spots here and there that got more browned than the rest of the bread--this is good. :-) Carefully lift out the chapati and put it on a plate (you'll stack them all here), then continue with the next. Traditionally you are supposed to brush each one with ghee (clarified butter) at this point, but I don't have ghee so I never do this. I'm sure it's delicious, though. I like to have one or two chapatis rolled out in advance; while one is cooking, and in between flipping it and pressing it, I roll out the next couple of chapatis.

When they're done, enjoy them with your meal! :-)

God bless,
Mrs. Bear