Great And Easy Flat Bread

August 2, 2006

3 cups whole wheat flour (we mill our own flour at home)

1 tsp sea salt

1 1/2 cups warm water

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Slowly add the water, working it into the flour until the dough comes together. It should not be wet, but it should be soft. You can make it slightly stiff at first, then add water as required while you work the dough. Knead until very soft and silky, about 20 minutes.

If possible, let the dough rest at room temperature for 4

hours or overnight; if you are in a hurry, make the

chapathis right away. Pinch the dough into about 12

balls, golf-ball size. Keep them covered with a damp

cloth while you first round each one smooth, and then,

one at a time, flatten them with a rolling pin on a

floured board, making them approximately 7 inches across.

Don't roll the pin off the edge of the round or the

chapathi's rim will get too thin. Shape them all, and

stack with a little flour and waxed paper between. When

you have only a couple to go, heat the griddle. It would

be about pancake hot, a medium-high heat. If it is too

hot, the chapathis will burn, but if too low, they won't

puff up. Best of all is to work together with a friend,

one rolling and the other baking.

Keep an inverted bowl over the uncooked breads while you

bake them one by one so that they don't dry out.

If your griddle is not well seasoned, put a thin film of

oil on it to keep each chapathi from sticking. The

chapathis leave flour on the griddle that will burn, so

wipe it off as you go along. You will use the dish towel

for pressing on the chapathi to encourage them to puff

up, and if it is white it stays cooler; form it into a

smooth wad that is easy to hold.

Place the first chapathi on the hot griddle and let it

sit there for one second, then turn it over. Use the

cloth to apply gentle but firm pressure to the top of the cooking chapathi. Concentrate most of your pressing on the area just inside, but not on the edge. Press down hard, but don't let the cloth stick to the dough. The object is to help the chapathi form steam pockets; ideally it puffs up like a balloon, filled with its own steam. At first, the bread may blister in just a few places. By pressing, you can enlarge these small bubbles. Turn the chapathi over as soon as the bottom browns lightly. It wont brown evenly, especially if it has made the steam pockets, but will be a pretty pattern of brown and beige. It is done when it is brown nicely on both sides with no wet-pinkishsh areas.

This seems like a lot of work, but they really are easy

to make, and they don't take long. Just a lot of

instructions!

P.S. This recipe came from "The Laurel's Kithchen Bread

Book" by Laurel Robertson with Carol FLinders and

Bronwen Godfre.

The coward believes he will live forever If he holds back in the battle, But in old age he shall have no peaceThough spears have spared his limbs Stanza 16 of the Havamal (the Sayings of Har) from the Poetic Edda

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