Chapati

One major challenge in eating NT style is maintaining grains. The few times I've cheated and served regular old whole-wheat pasta, I've really regretted it. I end up feeling pretty gross as well as unsatisfied. This evening, I just baked potatoes, which is fine, but there we're really enough of them. (Later, little Herman wolfed down 3 bowls of leftover rice, if that is indicative of anything.) I made pierogies once, which was good. I've tried to make Sally's Yogurt Dough but I couldn't get it to even mix up right. Well, if the idea is to sour the flour, whey works too. That's what is used in the noodle dough, which gave me an idea...

There's this Indian flatbread I've been making for years. I learned by getting mad when an Indian friend decided her method and recipe were secret. So I turned to Madhur Jaffrey for help. In An Invitation to Indian Cooking, the recipe is as simple as you can imagine: whole wheat flour, water, and a dry frying pan. No oil. These are delicious breads, actually, and they puff when you make them, forming a pocket.  But I have to admit that in the original, they were always a bit gritty. Interestingly, the recipe calls for a standing period for the dough of at least 30 minutes, and then adds, "If you wish to leave it longer, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. It will easily stay 24 hours." This got me to thinking that perhaps this note was something of a holdover from days gone by when an overnight soak was expected for this bread. It would not surprise me. So I tried it with whey, overnight, and the results were fabulous.

 

Steps:

1) Find any old chapati recipe on the web, but one which makes the number of servings you want.

2) Disobey any white flour ingredient (except for dusting) and use white whole wheat flour for the totality of the recipe.

3) Substitute whey from yogurt or kefir making instead of water.

4) Leave dough overnight, or at least 12 hours. 

5) Fry (omit any frying oils in the recipe) and enjoy with or without butter.

6) Repeat if desired.