HOMEMADE ROTI BREAD

Making roti bread, tortillas or other similar flat breads is so much easier then you think.  Most of them consist of only water and flour of some description.  A little kneading, a little rolling and then cooking on a hot pan or tava.  A tava is a special flat griddle that you can by specifically from a  Indian groccer.  These are designed especially for cooking flat bread.  If you don't have one, don't worry a good heavy based frying pan will do the trick.  The main benefit for me in making my own flat breads is that you eliminate all of the nasty preservatives found in many store brought products and they taste so much better.  Have you ever taken a good look at what's in a store brought roti or tortilla, compared to what goes in to making your own?  It's a fairly significant difference and I know which one I would be opting for.  So for a little bit of work, making your own roti provides you with a big number of benefits!  If you have kids, get them involved.  Kids love Mexican food (except for my son who eats nothing at all!!!!!) and they love getting their hands dirty and messy.  So share some of the work load and the love of coarse with the little ones.  Or big little ones, depending what you may or may not have.

INGREDIENTS

300 g chapatti flour (Atta) plus

Pinch salt

200 – 240 ml water

METHOD

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and make a well in the center.  Slowly drizzle in most of the water.  Using your hands, draw the flour into the center, mixing all the time.  Add more water if needed.  The dough should be slightly sticky and squeak as you knead, but will firm up as you work it.

Knead for 8 to 10 minutes or until the dough seems elastic. Place in a bowl and cover with a damp tea towel for 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into 10 portions and roll into golf-ball sized balls, then cover. Flour your work surface and rolling pin, roll each ball into 12-15 cm circles.

Heat a tava (this is a special Indian flat griddle pan) or a non-stick frying pan until quite hot. Toss the roti from one hand to the other to remove the excess flour, then place on the tava.
Reduce the heat to medium and cook until small bubbles appear underneath (10-20 seconds), then flip. Cook this side until it has small, dark brown spots.
Place on a plate and repeat with remaining dough.

Top your roti bread with what ever you like!