Chapathi dough - ferment it for 8 hours

1. Chapathi dough - ferment it for 8 hours (perhaps, because the author is from US, she fermented it for 8 hours. In hot weather country like India, 4 hours should be fine).

 you make a dough like you normally do and leave it alone at room temperature for minimum 8 hrs. I've noticed that soaking for 8-10 hrs is plenty for a roti or a chapathi. But if I soak for more, say 18 hrs, the texture of the roti changes to soft naan like texture but with a pita like hole inside, esp. when I make the phulka/roti that puffs up on a grill. I call that my No yeast-pita!!

2. DON'T add salt

Avoid salt while soaking as it meddles with the phytic acid neutralization. I don't add salt to my rotis at all. I like the sweetness of the wheat flour as it is. But if you want to add salt, add it later, after the 8 hrs period. Just sprinkle a bit over the dough and knead it in.


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NT Soaked Rotis
Wholewheat Atta - 1 and 1/2 cup
Water - somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 cup (depending on the flour)
Plain yogurt - 1 tbsp (See note ***)
Oil - 1 tbsp (I use olive oil)

Note *** You can substitute with lemon juice or raw apple cider vinegar or whey (water that stands out in the homemade yogurt) The acid in the whey/yogurt/lemon juice helps in the neutralization of the phytic acid.

1. Make a dough, like your normally do. Knead for 2-3 mins. Put it in a container and cover it with a lid. It doesn't have to be airtight. (I use a casserole pan with a lid as my 'soaking' pot!). Leave it on the counter. NOT IN THE FRIDGE. The first 8 hrs have to be at room temperature. You can then store it in the fridge or make rotis

2. After 8 hrs, knead it for a minute. Use as little flour to sprinkle on the counter as you can (or use any sprouted grain flour for this) and roll the dough into rotis. And make rotis on a hot tava.

3. I usually make Rotis / Phulkas (puffed rotis) using the grill this blogger uses and it turns out puffed up every single time! And sometimes I make them as Chapathis (cooked on the tava with some oil).

http://towardsabettertomorrow.blogspot.in/2009/03/soaked-wholewheat-rotis-whats-idea.html