Indian bread
Encyclopedia
Crêpe
A crêpe or crepe , is a type of very thin pancake, usually made from wheat flour or buckwheat flour . The word is of French origin, deriving from the Latin crispa, meaning "curled". While crêpes originate from Brittany, a region in the northwest of France, their consumption is widespread in France...
s which are an integral part of Indian cuisine
Indian cuisine
Indian cuisine consists of thousands of regional cuisines which date back thousands of years. The dishes of India are characterised by the extensive use of various Indian spices, herbs, vegetables and fruit. Indian cuisine is also known for the widespread practice of vegetarianism in Indian society...
. Their variation reflects the diversity of Indian culture and food habits.
While most of these breads originated in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, the origins of some, notably naan
Naan
Naan is a leavened, oven-baked flatbread. It is typical of and popular in South and Central Asia, in Iran, and in South Asian restaurants abroad. Influenced by the large influx of South Asian labour, naan has also become popular in Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states.Originally, naan is a...
, trace to Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
.
Ingredients
Most flatbreads from northern India are made primarily from milled flour, usually attaAtta flour
Atta is the Hindi word for oven, and flour is the main ingredient of most varieties of Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani bread. Atta generally refers to the oven used in cooking the bread. Flatbreads made from atta, such as chapati, roti, naan and puri, are an integral part of Indian cuisine...
or maida
Maida flour
Maida is a finely milled and refined flour of wheat, closely resembling cake flour, and used extensively in making Indian fast food and Indian bakery products such as pastries and breadand sometimes in making traditional Indian breads such as paratha and naan. It is made from the endosperm of the...
, and water. Some flatbreads, especially paratha
Paratha
A paratha/parantha/parauntha is an Indian flat-bread that originated in the Indian subcontinent. Paratha is an amalgamation of the words parat and atta which literally means layers of cooked dough...
, may be stuffed with vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s and layered with either ghee
Ghee
Ghee is a class of clarified butter that originated in South Asia and is commonly used in South Asian cuisine....
or butter
Butter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
.
In southern India and the West Coast, most flatbreads are basically crêpe
Crêpe
A crêpe or crepe , is a type of very thin pancake, usually made from wheat flour or buckwheat flour . The word is of French origin, deriving from the Latin crispa, meaning "curled". While crêpes originate from Brittany, a region in the northwest of France, their consumption is widespread in France...
made from black lentils
Urad (bean)
Vigna mungo, known as urad, urad dal, udad dal, urd bean, urd, urid, black matpe bean, black gram, black lentil [not to be confused with the much smaller true black lentil ], maas , đậu đen or white lentil, is a bean grown in southern Asia...
and rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
. Popular varieties include dosa
Dosa
Dosa or Dhosai is a fermented crepe or pancake made from rice batter and black lentils. It is indigenous to and is a staple dish in the southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, as well as being popular in Sri Lanka...
, Appam
Appam
Appam, Aappam hoppers, are a type of food in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Sri Lankan cuisine. It is called chitau Pitha in Oriya, Paddu or Gulle Eriyappa in Kodava. It is known as ආප්ප in Sinhala. It is eaten most frequently for breakfast or dinner.Appum or aapum – pronunciation varies between regions...
, uttapam
Uttapam
Uttapam or ooththappam is a dosa-like dish made by cooking ingredients in a batter. Unlike a dosa, which is crisp and crepe-like, uttapam is a thick pancake, with toppings cooked right into the batter...
and rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
rotis and ragi
Finger millet
Eleusine coracana, commonly Finger millet , also known as African millet or Ragi is an annual plant widely grown as a cereal in the arid areas of Africa and Asia. E...
rotis.
Most Indian breads make use of the yeast spores in the atmosphere for fermentation, others use added yeast or curds, a few use baking soda, and still others are made without fermentation.
Preparation
In northern India, a dough of the main ingredient is prepared and flattened by rolling. Most Indian breads, such as rotiRoti
Roti is generally a South Asian bread made from stoneground wholemeal flour, traditionally known as atta flour, that originated and is consumed in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. It is also consumed in parts of the Southern Caribbean, particularly in Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and...
and chapati
Chapati
Chapati or Chapatti or Chapathi is an unleavened flatbread from the Indian subcontinent. Versions of it are found in Turkmenistan and in East African countries Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania...
, are baked on tava
Tava
A tava, tawa, saj, or sac is a large, flat or convex disc-shaped griddle made from metal, usually sheet iron, cast iron, sheet steel or aluminium. It is used in south, central, and west Asia for cooking a variety of flatbreads and as a griddle for meat...
, a griddle
Griddle
A griddle is a cooking device consisting of a broad flat surface that can be heated using a variety of means, and is used in both residential and commercial applications for a variety of cooking operations. Most commonly, the griddle consists of a flat metal plate, but in the non-industrialized...
made from cast iron, steel or aluminum. Others such as puri
Puri (food)
Puri ,Hindi पूरी , Urdu: بوری, Tamil பூரி , Kannada ಪೂರಿ , Oriya ପୁରି, is an unleavened Indian bread, commonly consumed in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and other countries of South Asia. It is eaten for breakfast or as a snack or light meal.Puri is most commonly served at breakfast...
and bhatura are deep-fried.
In Southern India, a batter
Batter (cooking)
Batter is a semi-liquid mixture of one or more flours combined with liquids such as water, milk or eggs used to prepare various foods. Often a leavening agent such as baking powder is included to aerate and fluff up the batter as it cooks, or the mixture may be naturally fermented for this purpose...
of rice and black lentils is prepared and ladled in small amounts onto a hot greased skillet, where it is spread out into a thin circle and fried with oil or ghee
Ghee
Ghee is a class of clarified butter that originated in South Asia and is commonly used in South Asian cuisine....
until golden brown.
In Western India (including the states of Maharashtra,Gujarat and Rajasthan) bread may be made from coarse grains such as bajra, sorghum or ragi, though wheat is the staple in these regions. These breads are known by various names rotlo (Gujarati), bhakri (Marathi), roti (Rajasthan) or rotti (North Karnataka).
Indian breads of Central Asian origin, such as naan and tandoori roti, are baked in a tandoor
Tandoor
A tandoor is a cylindrical clay oven used in cooking and baking. The tandoor is used for cooking in Azerbaijan, India, Turkey, Iran, Armenia, Georgia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, the Balkans, the Middle East, and Central Asia, as well as Burma and Bangladesh.The heat for a tandoor was...
. Naan is usually leavened with yeast
Yeast
Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...
.
Varieties
Different varieties of Indian bread include: ChapatiChapati
Chapati or Chapatti or Chapathi is an unleavened flatbread from the Indian subcontinent. Versions of it are found in Turkmenistan and in East African countries Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania...
, Phulka, Puri
Puri (food)
Puri ,Hindi पूरी , Urdu: بوری, Tamil பூரி , Kannada ಪೂರಿ , Oriya ପୁରି, is an unleavened Indian bread, commonly consumed in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and other countries of South Asia. It is eaten for breakfast or as a snack or light meal.Puri is most commonly served at breakfast...
, Roti
Roti
Roti is generally a South Asian bread made from stoneground wholemeal flour, traditionally known as atta flour, that originated and is consumed in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. It is also consumed in parts of the Southern Caribbean, particularly in Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and...
, Paratha
Paratha
A paratha/parantha/parauntha is an Indian flat-bread that originated in the Indian subcontinent. Paratha is an amalgamation of the words parat and atta which literally means layers of cooked dough...
, Naan
Naan
Naan is a leavened, oven-baked flatbread. It is typical of and popular in South and Central Asia, in Iran, and in South Asian restaurants abroad. Influenced by the large influx of South Asian labour, naan has also become popular in Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states.Originally, naan is a...
, Kulcha
Kulcha
Kulcha kulcā is a type of Naan made from Maida flour. It is particularly popular in India and Pakistan and is usually eaten with chole....
, Bhatoora
Bhatoora
Bhatoora or Bhatura or Batoora, is a soft and fluffy deep-fried bread from the North India and Punjab region of Pakistan, and is often eaten with chickpea curry, chole or channe, making the classic dish chole bhature.-Ingredients:A typical recipe includes white flour , yogurt, ghee or oil, and yeast...
, Baqar Khani, Appam
Appam
Appam, Aappam hoppers, are a type of food in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Sri Lankan cuisine. It is called chitau Pitha in Oriya, Paddu or Gulle Eriyappa in Kodava. It is known as ආප්ප in Sinhala. It is eaten most frequently for breakfast or dinner.Appum or aapum – pronunciation varies between regions...
, Dosa
Dosa
Dosa or Dhosai is a fermented crepe or pancake made from rice batter and black lentils. It is indigenous to and is a staple dish in the southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, as well as being popular in Sri Lanka...
, Luchi
Luchi
Luchi , is a deep-fried flatbread made of wheat flour that is typical of Oriya, Assamese and Bengali cuisine. In order to make luchis, a dough is prepared by mixing fine maida flour with water and a spoonful of ghee, which is then divided into small balls. These balls are flattened using a...
, Puran Poli
Puran Poli
Puran Poli is a traditional type of sweet flatbread made in India in the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Goa.-Ingredients:*300 gm - Channa dal or split yellow gram*300 gm - Jaggery...
, Pathiri
Pathiri
Pathiri is a pancake made of rice flour. It is part of the local cuisine among the Mappilas of North Malabar and Malabar in Kerala State of Southern India. Crushed rice is made into a white dough and baked on pans called oadu...
, Porotta and many more. Some of these, like Paratha and Roti have many varieties. Some varieties depend on the kind of grain used to prepare them, and others depend on the fillings they contain.
The Appam
Appam
Appam, Aappam hoppers, are a type of food in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Sri Lankan cuisine. It is called chitau Pitha in Oriya, Paddu or Gulle Eriyappa in Kodava. It is known as ආප්ප in Sinhala. It is eaten most frequently for breakfast or dinner.Appum or aapum – pronunciation varies between regions...
is a fermented bread usually prepared with finely powdered rice flour. In Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
in South India, there are Kallappam, Vattayappam and Palappam
Palappam
Palappam or Paalappam – refers to the Nasrani dish of fermented bread made with rice batter and coconut milk and hence the name Palappam . It is a staple diet and a cultural synonym of the Nasranis of Kerala in coastal south west India...
(Vellayappam). The kallappam is made on flat iron griddles. The vattayappam is a steamed bread, and palappam is made in small shallow bottomed pans, which are kept covered while the bread cooks. Palappam has a thin crisp lace like strip around it.