Struggles with Atta - pursuing the perfect Chappathi

Note: I use the names 'Roti' and 'Chappathi' interchangeably in this post, referring to what is called 'Indian flatbread', shown below:

My struggles with Atta (whole wheat flour) started in my early twenties when I started living with four other girls in our rented apartment in Chennai. Those were the initial days, when the perseverance for the perfectly round roti was very high. Until then, all the experience that I had with atta was after it was in round shaped flat form. My area of expertise in my mother's kitchen was to take care of it after it was put on the heated tawa. The steps up till then were taken care of by her.

In the company of girls cooking together for a night's meal, I started learning the intricacies of mixing the atta with water and working on it until the right consistency of dough was reached. We each had our roles in the process, and mine quickly became the one of the dough maker and while I pumped and coaxed the atta into submission, work would progress simultaneously on cooking the sabji to go with the roti. Meanwhile hands were ready and waiting to take the dough and roll into the flattened and perfect round form.


Gradually the girl with the hands that rolled perfect round flats gave us the tricks and tips to attain the roundness, and my rolled out shapes, which used to be in shapes of all the countries except round, began to assume that elusive shape.The steps were simple enough:
Take a perfect smooth ball of the dough (as much quantity as you want), dip in loose flour as desired and lightly press with the palm of your hand to make a flattened round shape. Once you get that shape, start rolling in this way - two rolls in one side then turn the dough in ninety degrees and then roll again.

The idea is simple- at no point do you allow your flat dough to go too far away from roundness. I may not have conveyed it clearly in words, but it's not really very difficult once you get the idea clear, and of course lots of practice which goes without saying in this department of arts too.

Okay. So I got the round shape.Then old roomies changed and new girls came in and due to our coming in at various times, we started cooking for ourselves or in small batches for the night. Then when I took my flat round dough to the hot tawa and did the turning and flipping, I realized I have a problem. The chappathi I got out of it became stiff the moment it cooled. Now what? I took advice from around me and from the net. The suggestions were many - add warm water to the atta when you mix it, add milk, ghee, oil and so on. Not wanting my dough to be made with oil or ghee, I rejected both and tried the others. I mixed warm water and at another time warm milk to make the dough. I think it turned out alright, though I don't think I saw an exceptional difference. The hot chappathi's from the tawa I kept covered in slightly moist cloth inside the casserole, to keep it warm. All these together made it come out fine, but frankly it became a chore.

Much later, when after a round of shifting apartments I was installed in with a new set of roommates, I was initiated into the 'surefire' way to making rotis, which is:

Just flip the rolled dough on a tawa kept on a medium flame once till it is lightly cooked(which is for hardly a minute or two) and then, increase the flame and show the roti on to direct flame for just a few seconds until it rises up.

It takes a few turns of practice to get used to, and needs the right equipment for you to flip the roti without burning your hands or the roti or both. But it is worth the practice, because it is the surefire way to get your rotis to rise up as you hope for and there need be no extra flipping or turning or oil application.

You might think now I have touched all the steps, I might be done with this, but hardly. Like I said, it was a chore to heat water and milk and add all those to make the dough when I know for a fact that my mother adds nothing more than normal water to make the dough and her chappathi's are soft even 24 hours after she makes it. So I tried the just normal water mixing, and my chappathi's made in the morning were like rocky flats by afternoon- they were hard to bite into and tough to tear apart. Again I was back to square one.

This time I decided to go back to my mother and do exactly what she had to say. I figured if the processes are duplicated, there has to be some similarity in the outputs too,after all. Hearing my woes, she had many adjectives of despair for me along with tips for the atta. Here are the tips(which miraculously worked for me):

 

• Make the dough ready at least half an hour before you intend to make the roti.
• When you mix the dough, add just normal water little by little (and salt,of course) and use the strength in those arms to knead the dough. To put it simply, the more you beat up the dough, the softer your chappathi :D
• You know when the dough is ready and doesn't need any more water or flour, when you are able to roll the dough between your palms and the dough elongates down without sticking to your hands. That consistency is what you're looking for.

Like I said above, let the dough stand for at least half an hour. I'll add my own tip here- If you wish to, keep the dough covered by a damp cloth, just to retain the moisture and hence softness. (I've read elsewhere that the longer you keep your dough ready, the softer your chappathi's turn out. I guess it's true, though I don't know if there's any upper limit on that. Haven't really tried.)

Well. That's about all you need for perfect round shaped, soft chappathi's. From mixing the atta to kneading till the right dough to making the right shapes from it to the final cooking on heat bit. I hope you liked my journey with the Atta.
P.S:  And by the way, we (my mother and I) swear by Pillsbury Atta. She says it gives the best chappathi's and from my experiences I would agree. So that's my final tip here. Enjoy!