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Learn Bhatia cooking

Kitchen skill 5 of 15

Kneading dough

Moar: fat rubbed into the flour

Say it: mow-urr

Most Bhatia breads start with whole-wheat flour kneaded with water in a paat (wide basin). How soft the dough is decides the bread: semi-soft for phulko, puri and thepla, firm for koki. Moar is the ghee or oil rubbed into the flour first. It makes breads crisp and firm, which is why koki has so much of it.

How to do it

  1. Put the flour in the paat, with salt if the recipe has it. If the recipe has moar, add the ghee or oil and rub it in with your fingertips until the flour feels like breadcrumbs.
  2. Add the water a little at a time, mixing with one hand, until the flour comes together.
  3. Knead: push the dough away with the heel of your hand, fold it back, turn it and repeat, until it is smooth.
  4. Cover it with a damp cloth and let it rest for 15–30 minutes before rolling.

You’ll know it’s right when

  • Semi-soft dough dents easily when pressed and springs back slowly.
  • The dough is smooth, with no dry cracks.

Watch out for

  • Adding all the water at once: the dough turns sticky.
  • Skipping the rest: the dough fights back when you roll it.

Tips

  • Knead with hot water for soft, fluffy rotis.

Practise it

On the path to learning Bhatia cooking.

PhulkoEveryday puffed whole-wheat flatbreadStage 1: The everyday mealTheplaThin spiced fenugreek flatbreadStage 4: Nashto and breadsKokiThick, slow-cooked ghee unleavened breadStage 4: Nashto and breads

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