• Chapatis!

I did it! I made chapatis! While I do make our bread and rolls every week, I'd never tried making them before now. Chapatis (or 'rotis' as they are also known) are an unleavened flat bread and a staple of the northern areas of South Asia and other parts of the world. Chapatis (or similar breads) are made every day in hundreds of millions of households across the globe. The ubiquity of the bread leads to it appearing in various shapes and sizes and its recipes varying from kitchen to kitchen.

Having said that, the basic ingredients of chapatis couldn't be simpler - flour, salt and water. In many cases a little oil is added after the dough has rested to facilitate rolling. I've now made them on three separate occasions (in as many days!) and, in my hands, they are simple AND difficult to make. Simple in the sense that all you do is make up the dough, roll it out and cook it on a hot griddle. But what consistency is best? Should the flour be stiff, medium or soft? How much oil should I use? When do you flip them over? Why do they sometimes puff up and other times they don't? In spite of my satisfactory but somewhat variable results, I think this bread is really fun to make and I'll be cooking them quite a lot in the near future!