Introduction to Indian Breads

Most flatbread from northern India are unleavened and made primarily from milled flour, usually atta or maida, and water. Some flatbreads, especially paratha, may be stuffed with vegetables and layered with either ghee or butter.

In Maharashtra and Karnataka, bread are also made from grains like jowar (Sorghum bicolor), ragi, a finger millet (scientific name: Eleuisine Coracana) and bajra or pearl millet, and is called “rotla” in Gujarat and “bhakri” in Maharashtra.

In southern India and the West Coast, most flat bread are basically crêpes made from peeled and split black lentils (urad dal) and rice. Popular varieties include dosa, Appam, uttapam and ricerotis and ragi rotis.

• Kachori: it is a spicy snack which is made in Gujarat, it is usually a round ball made of flour and dough filled with a stuffing of yellow moong dal, black pepper, red chilli powder, and ginger paste.
• Roti: it is generally South Asian bread made from stoneground wholemeal flour, traditionally known as atta flour.
• Baqarkhani: It is a naan which is an elaborate variation of the sheer-maal except that it is fried on a griddle rather than baked in a tandoor.
• Tandoori Roti: Relatively thick bread ranging from an elastic to a crispy consistency, baked in a cylindrical earthen oven at a sometimes amazing speed by aggressively fast cooks at roadside restaurants and eateries. The Urdu word tandoor means an oven.
• Chapati: It is the most popular roti in India which is eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
• Puri: It is small and are deep fried so they puff like balloons.
• Lachcha Paratha: Tandoori (Punjabi in origin. Round in shape with multiple layers traditionally prepared in a tandoor). Tawa wali (Popular in eastern India, triangular in shape with multiple layers interspaced with ghee)
• Keema paratha: (also called Kheema paratha) (stuffed with flavored minced meat. Popular in Punjab)
• Rumali: is thin bread from the northern part of India and Pakistan and a traditional element in Mughlai cuisine. The word rumal means handkerchief in Urdu and Hindi, and the name rumali roti means handkerchief bread.
• Bati: is a hard, unleavened bread cooked in the desert areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat. It is prized there for its long shelf life and high nutritional content, as well as the minimal quantity of water required for its preparation. It is always eaten with dal. Bati is also known as litti.
• Makki ki roti: is flat, unleavened Punjabi bread made from corn flour. Like most rotis in Indian/Pakistani cuisine, it is baked on a tava.
• Sheermal: It is sweet bread that accompanies the rich and filling aromatic quorma (gravied chicken or mutton). Sheermal is a sweetened Naan made out of Maida (All-purpose flour), leavened with yeast, and baked in Tandoor or oven. In the olden days, it was made just like Roti. The warm water in the recipe for Roti was replaced with warm milk sweetened with sugar and flavored with saffron. Nowadays, the restaurants make it like a Naan and the final product resembles Danish pastry.
• Naan: is thick bread, softer and richer in texture and consistency than the tandoori roti. It is made from finely ground wheat flour kneaded into a very elastic mass. The roghni is a special treat for lovers of Awadhi cuisine. This extraordinary bread is prepared with a rich mixture of cream, sugar, wheat flour, butter, and essence. The taste is rich and elegant— just perfect for the curries of the Awadhi cuisine.
• Bhatoore: is a soft and fluffy deep-fried bread from the Punjab region of Pakistan and India, and is often eaten with chickpea curry.
• Davanagere Benne Dose: the name suggests, is a specialty of Davangere district in Karnataka, made out of Rice batter and lots of butter.
• Bhakri: is a round flat unleavened bread often used in the cuisine of western and central India, especially in the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Malwa, Goa and northern Karnataka . It is coarser than a roti and can be compared to a British biscuit with respect to hardness.
• Paratha: layered roti without any stuffing except ghee & baked with ghee – popular in most regions of India.
• Luchi: is a deep-fried flatbread made of wheat flour that is typical of Oriya, Assamese and Bengali cuisine. In order to make luchis, 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 rolling-pin and individually deep-fried in cooking oil or ghee.
• Kulcha: it is a type of an Indian flatbread made from Maida flour. It is particularly popular in Pakistan, north India and is usually eaten with chole.
• Taftan: it is a leavened flour bread from Persian cuisine, Cuisine of Pakistan and Uttar Pradeshi Cuisine, with saffron and small amount of cardamom powder baked in a clay oven.
• Aappam: are a type of food in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Sri Lankan cuisine. A bread made of rice batter on a stone griddle is in certain parts of the country called kalappam, where kal (Tamil, Malayalam) means “stone”. It is eaten most frequently for breakfast or dinner.
• Uttapam: is a dosa-like dish that is made by cooking ingredients in a batter. The batter is made of 1:3 ratio of urad dal and rice (1:1 ratio of boiled to non-boiled rice) that has been fermented. Instead of making it like a crispy crepe, uttapam is a thick pancake, with ingredients cooked right into the batter. Uttapam is traditionally made with tomatoes or an onion-chilli mix; other common ingredient choices are coconut or mixed vegetables. Uttapam is sometimes called an Indian pizza or pancake. It is often eaten with sambar or chutney.
• Dosa: 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.
• Idli: is a south Indian savoury cake popular throughout India. The cakes are usually two to three inches in diameter and are made by steaming a batter consisting of fermented black lentils (de-husked) and rice.
• Jolada rotti: it is a specialty North Karnataka unleavened Indian bread made out of jowar (Sorghum). The name literally translates into jowar bread.
• Kerala Porotta: simply known as Porotta in Kerala, is a flatbread made with fine maida, eggs and fat. As the name suggests, the recipe is a Kerala variant of the North Indian Paratha. It is prepared using a technique which involves waving and puffing the dough so that the flat bread is formed of many layers. It is then grilled on a Tava or a griddle.
• Khakhra: it is a popular vegetarian roasted Gujarati Indian thin cracker bread or snack item made from mat bean and wheat flour and oil.
• Pitha: it is a type of cake or bread common in Bangladesh and India, especially the eastern states of Assam, Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, and the northeastern region. Pithas are typically made of rice flour, although there are some types of pitha made of wheat flour. Less common types of pitha are made ofpalm or ol (a local root vegetable).
• Thalipeeth: it is a type of savoury multi-grain pancake popular in Western India. It is a special Maharashtrian dish. The dough is prepared from a special flour made from roasted Bengal gram, Black gram, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, wheat, and rice. Onion, brown sugar, othervegetables and spices are added when kneading the dough.
• Pathiri: it 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 white dough and baked on pans called oadu. After preparation it is sometimes soaked in coconut milk to keep it soft and to improve the flavour.