Dashmi / Poli with milk / Flatbread with milk

Dashmi is a variation of the everyday poli or bhakri. The dough is mixed with milk instead of water. The resultant bread is super soft and tastes great. To make this vegan I used soymilk.

I made this as a special treat when my daughter was visiting from college. If you make bhakri instead of poli, you can do the same with the bhakri flour. Just mix the dough using milk instead of water.

The real challenge here is to roll out perfect circles of dough after you have folded it into a triangular shape. It takes practice and the initial trials can resemble shapes of countries on the map. But if you stick to it you will get a hang of how to roll out perfect circles.

You will need (15 dashmi)
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups warm soymilk (approximately)
1 tbsp. oil

Place the wheat flour in a bowl. Using milk as needed bind the flour into a soft dough. Add a little milk at a time, you may not need all the milk. When done pour a teaspoon of the oil over the palm of you hand and knead the dough for a minute. Keep aside for 15-20 minutes.

Heat a flat griddle pan on medium heat, I use Lodge cast iron pan. While the pan heats up prepare the work surface. You will need a flat surface to roll the dough and a rolling pin. Keep a little wheat flour handy to sprinkle around the surface when the dough is rolled. In a bowl place the remaining oil and place it on the work surface. Divide the dough in lemon sized portions.

Work with one portion at a time. Roll the ball of dough in the flour, tap out the excess and place the ball on the rolling surface. Roll out to a little bigger than the palm of you hand.

Dunk the tips of your finger in the bowl of oil and apply it to half of the rolled dough. Fold the other half over it making a half moon. Apply the remaining oil from your fingers to what is now the top and fold one more time to give you a triangular shape. Roll this in flour, tap the excess and place it on the rolling surface.

The challenge is to convert this to a circle. Roll out the dough to a thin 1/4 inch thick disc shaping it as close to a circle as you can. Place this one the hot griddle. While you work on rolling the next portion of dough keep an eye on the one placed in the pan. As soon as you see it puffing up turn it over.

Let it cook on the second side. Turn over again. You can use a spatula to plug any steam that is trying to escape allowing the bread to puff up and cook completely making sure it does not burn.

Take it off the heat and continue to work through all the portions of dough.

Enjoy as part of you meal with a side of vegetable!


Note:
* the presence of milk makes it want to burn quickly. Make sure you turn it over or take it off the heat before it burns
* Adjust the heat under the pan such that it take about half a minute for the bread to cook on each side. Lower or turn up heat as needed. Once you get to the optimum you can leave the setting unchanged.

This is my entry for week two, day two of BM #64 for the theme 3 ingredient recipe.

Fresh Frozen Poli / Roti

If you are like me, like fresh poli / roti everyday but do not always have the time to make them, this post is for you. Rolling out the flat bread is easy but time consuming. During the morning rush it is not always possible to find the time. For years I stuck to making poli fresh everyday. This is my post with details of how you do that. Then I started this process of freezing half cooked poli. Since then I switch back and forth between the two. You can make these over the weekend and freeze them. When needed during the week you can cook them as needed. This poli will taste pretty close to the one made fresh the same day.

Pardon the pictures. I realized I did not click any after I had taken the poli off heat. I will update this post when I cook the next batch.

Follow the process detailed here to make poli. But do not cook it all the way. After the first flip give it a few seconds and take it off heat.

Let it cool completely and then place between sheets of parchment paper. Put the paper with the poli in a freezer bag and freeze until needed.

When you need it let the poli thaw at room temperature. The frozen poli may be brittle so handle careful. It will soften as it thaws.

Heat a griddle and finish the cooking process.

Let one side cook until brown spots appear, Flip and place on the open flame until the other side is cooked. Alternately, you could cook both sides on the pan.

Enjoy!

This is my entry for week three, day three of BM #57 for the theme flatbreads and pancakes.

Rumali Roti

Rumali roti is one of the many paper thin rotis made in this region. It is usually made with specialized equipment. I adapted this recipe to make it on the stove top. The result was a read-through-it-thin roti that was super soft too.

I had heard of rumali roti and always thought it was an exotic roti as it is made with specialized equipment. When I found out it can be done on the stove top I had to try it. As long as you can roll the roti really thin you cannot go wrong with this recipe. You should give it a try.

You will need
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1-2 tbsp. rice flour
1 tbsp. oil

Sift the wheat flour and all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and using water form a soft dough. Knead it well and keep aside covered for 20-25 minutes. Divide the rested dough into lime sized portions. Make sure you have an even number as you will use two at a time.

Heat a griddle pan. Roll out one portion of dough on a working surface using a little flour if needed to prevent it from sticking. Keep aside. Repeat for the second portion of dough. Add a couple drops of oil on the second portion of rolled dough and spread it around lightly with a brush or your fingers. Sprinkle some flour over the top.

Place the first rolled out dough over the top of the second.

Now continue to roll out this disc until it is really thin. You are rolling out the two disc placed one over the other.

Place the rolled out roti on the hot griddle pan. Keep the heat high.

Flip it over when the underside is cooked and develops brown spots. Repeat for the second side.

Quickly take it off the heat and separate the two rotis.

For each roti place the uncooked side back on the hot griddle pan for a few seconds.

Fold each roti separately into quarters and store in a airtight container lined with a tea towel or kitchen towel.

Repeat for all the rotis.

Rumali rotis taste best when hot. Eat with any vegetable side.

Nepali Roti

Rolled out unleavened flat bread is eaten in India and its neighboring countries. It is a staple in Nepal. What I found interesting is that we too make a roti with milk in Maharashtra. It turns out softer than the roti kneaded in water. To make this roti vegan I used warm water in place of milk. Using warm water also assists in keeping the roti soft.

There are several variations of the Nepali roti. This is one such variation.

Recipe adapted from here
You will need for 9-10
4 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. oil
~ 1/2 cup water

Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar. Warm the water for 10-15 seconds in the microwave and add it a little at a time to form a soft dough. Depending upon the location, temperature and humidity you may or may not need all the water. It is okay to add a little extra if needed. The resulting dough should not be sticky. Knead well, cover with a wet towel or plastic wrap and keep aside for an hour.

After an hour heat a griddle pan. Keep a clean tea towel ready nearby. While it is heating knead the dough to form a long cylinder. Cut off portions of dough the size of a lemon.

Place one portion of dough on a working surface. Using flour to prevent sticking roll out the dough to form a roti. Place the roti top side down on the heated griddle. Let it cook for a couple minutes so the underside has brown patches on it. Flip it over and cook the second side.

You will notice it start to puff up. Assist the process using the tea towel. Ball up the towel in your hand and press down on the roti taking care to see the towel and not your hand touches the hot roti.

Flip it over again and do the same. Take it off heat. Repeat with the remaining portions of dough.

Keep it in an airtight container with tea towels or paper towel underneath to absorb the moisture. Roti tastes best the day it is made.

Khobz Marquq

I love to try out bread recipes from different parts of the world whether the bread is leavened or unleavened. Khobz is bread in Arabic and there are a lot of varieties of bread in the Middle East. This Lebanese bread is called the khobz marquq and it is roasted on a convex pan. The texture I got is similar to what I have seen in pictures but I got a darker colored khobz due tot he darker whole wheat flour that I used. This is a leavened bread and we were happy for the change from our regular poli.

I did not have a convex pan so I inverted my old, now unused, chapati tawa. It is a half inch thick aluminium pan that I brought with me when I got married. My mother had bought me a cast iron pan but it was too heavy to carry. The tawa is concave when set upright. Inverted it made the perfect convex pan.

The bread is placed on the pan using a cushion but I used my hands. The khubz is patted flat with the hands and then thrown from palm to palm to thin it out. I used a rolling pin.

Recipe adapted from here

You will need for 6 khobz
180 g whole wheat flour.
75 g bread flour
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp. yeast
125 ml lukewarm water
a few drops orange blossom water

Mix all the dry ingredients and the extract together. Add the water. Depending upon your flour you may need additional water. Form a soft dough and knead it well. Place it in a covered bowl and let it rise for an hour or two.

Transfer the dough to a work surface and divide it into 6 portions. Let the portions rest for 20 minutes.

Heat a khobz convex pan or inverted tawa. Take one portion of dough and flatten it with your knuckles. Pick it up and throw it from palm to palm to make it bigger. When it reaches the desired size place it on the heated pan. Turn it over once when the first side browns a little, When cooked through take it off the heat. Repeat for the other portions.

Enjoy!

Kenyan Chapati

Kenyan chapati is super soft and tasty. It is a layered chapati made entirely with all purpose flour. A lot of oil is used to make the layers flaky. I compromise. I use the all purpose flour but go easy on the oil/ghee. The layers in my chapati are clearly visible but are not as flaky as they could be.

Recipe adapted from here

You will need
4 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water
oil when roasting

Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a mixing bowl. Add oil and rub it into the flour. Use warm water to mix the dough adding a little water at a time until you have a soft ball. Knead the dough for 20-25 minutes. Take a couple drops of oil in the palm of your hand and rub it all over the dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and keep aside for half an hour.

The dough will be soft but will dry out quickly. Divide the dough into 6 equal portions. Each portion will give you a chapati that is 8-9 inch in diameter. If you prefer smaller chapatis divide the dough into 8 or 10 portions. Use one portion keeping the others wrapped in the plastic wrap. On a floured surface roll the portion of dough into a large disc of 8 inch in diameter.

Brush the surface with oil. Sprinkle with dough and spread it all over the surface. Now fold the chapati accordion style starting from the center.

Press together.

Hold on to one end and twirl the other end around until you have a disc. Tuck the loose end into the center.

Press flat and keep aside. Repeat with the other portions of dough. Let it sit for another half hour.

Heat a griddle pan on high. Roll out one of the portions of dough into a disc about 8-9 inches in diameter.

Place it on the hot griddle pan. After about 5 seconds flip  it over.

Brush oil on the surface and flip it over after another 5 seconds. Brush oil on the surface now on the top. When the underside has brown spots all over flip it over. When both sides have brown spots take it off heat and keep it covered so it remains soft.

Repeat for all the portions of dough. Serve hot.

Enjoy!

Poli (Whole wheat flat bread)

Poli is the stable of the Indian diet.

You will need
Whole wheat flour available at Indian Stores.
1tsp oil (vegetable or olive oil)

You can make about 6 polis per cup of flour. Using water make firm dough with one cup of water. Knead the dough well. Pour a teaspoon of vegetable or olive oil on your palm and knead the dough again. Let it rest for 15minutes.

Heat a flat pan on medium-high heat. I used to have a smooth top stove so I used another burner with a cooling rack on it. If you use a gas stove you don’t need to use a second burner. Divide the dough into 5-6 small balls.

Using a little flour, roll one of the balls of dough into a flat circle about 8inches across.

Place on the hot pan. Let it cook on side A for about 15 seconds and turn over. Let it cook on side B for 1/2 a minute. Then place the poli, side A face down on the second burner. If you are using a stove top remove the pan from the stove and place the poli directly on the burner. Either way it will puff up in a couple of seconds.

Take it off the heat and proceed with the rest of the polis. Serve hot or keep covered until it is time to eat.