Indian breads vaieties

Roti is not the only variety of bread that Indian use as staple food, there are several versions of the roti. the basic ingredients required for the most of the different versions of bread listed here is almost the same. it is the preparation that differs.

Roti

roti is the most common in non rice regions of India. it synonyms with the bread in all literary meanings.

for making Roti you require wheat flour , salt , oil and water.

the wheat flour comes in many different composition the flour with the skin wheat is called atta, the skinned wheat flour is called maida. the composition differs according to the grain and grinding size, which is pisai or pisi. its a general rule, the more finely grinded flour the more the softness of the roti.

salt is added to create brittle ness in the roti and oil to increase the life of the roti. the right combination is required or else the the roti may not be rolled to its famous perfect round shape and thinness.

a good roti is a perfect circle shape and is thin enough to see light through it.

it is made of the dough rolled over and cooked on the tawa or the pan tossed on the pan. and then put on the direct fire.

to roll the roti two utensils are used chakla and belan. the use of these two is so common in daily life of indian that chakla belan is referred to as kitchen.

chakla is a marble ,wooden or stone round shaped board to roll the roti on.

the belan is the indian rolling pin. its made of marble or wood.

the heavy belan suits for less efforts to roll out and light belan is required to make perfect shape so it requires practice to get a perfect belan.

after rolling the roti tawa is used to cook the roti on . tawa is a round shaped griddle of various metals mostly of iron. sometimes the oil or ghee is lacquered on both the sides of the roti before tossing it on the tawa and sometimes only the atta is lacquered .

chapati

chapati is another name for roti because it is flat so chapati.

tandoori roti

it is made of the same stuff but cooked directly on the tandoor fire.

poori

poori or puri is the fried version of the roti. dough is made adding extra oil and the shape is shorter than the usual roti. then they are fried deep in oil or ghee until they balloon out. similar to frying potato chips. perfect heat is required for making good poori as on a low heated oil the poori does not get the crisp taste and on a overheated oil the poori burns immediately. 

poori is either plain or masala (spicy)  . there are different traditions of adding spices like powder of cumin seeds , haldi(turmeric powder),mirchi(chilli powder) etc.

 vegetables like palak (spinach), methi(fenugreek leaves), meshed poteto, etc are  finely cut and mixed in the dough to get palak poori, methi poori and alu puri. 

paratha

paratha is plaited version of the roti. flat roti is rolled many times and again rolled and flatten.

phulka

phulka is another delicate version of the chapati when it is cooked on the direct fire after tawa. the warm air of the moisture inside the roti balloons the chapati thats why the name phulka. phulna - ballooning.

tikkad

this is the rough version of the roti . the dough is roughly rolled by hands to make it in a circular shape . normally it is quite thick and thrown in the fire to bake it .

kalla

kalla roti is baked on the earthen tawa called kalla. it gives distinct smoky flavor. rest of the recipe remains the same as roti or chapati.

gakkad

small round shaped like doughnuts are cooked in angare(cinders) the slow fire. the preparation of dough remains the same as roti or chapati.

paniye

the roti is pasted on the leafs of some vegetables and grounded in the earth with angare(cinders) . it creates a distintive flavour of the leafs that are used with it. it is necessary to see that there is no fire flames in this process only the cinders should be used . the flames will definitely burn the leaves . the cinders should be warm enough only so that the leaves ooze out the juices. this is a slow cooking recipe.

bafley

the bafley are similar to gakkad but they are at first boiled in the water and then cooked in the cinders.

aag.

wood fire.

angare.

recedual fire of the wood or coal in red hot condition. cinders

kanda

cow-dung cakes used as a fuel. used for slow cooking.

bujhi anch.

residual fire of coal or woods buried in the earth.

tandoor.

high temperature oven with coats of earthen matters.

stuffed paratha- the stuffed parathas are quite famous as there are many varieties and they are generally cater to breakfast needs. most famous is alu paratha where the meshed boiled potetoes are stuffed into the paratha while rolling the plaits of the paratha. second most common variety is daal paratha where the lentils cooked with different preparations are stuffed while rolling . so you get the moong daal(green lentils) daal paratha (yellow gram), gobhi paratha(cabbage and cauliflower), paneer paratha, subzi paratha, and various other combinations are tried and evolved. 

stuffed poori- is also made like that .

stuffed naan - is another variety of paratha.

wheat flour is used most commonly for making plain roti and chapati.. they are many types by the thickness of the grains. called mota atta(rough), bareek atta (fine)and maida(without the skin of the wheat).

for missi roti gram flour is mixed with the wheat flour. the composition is 1/4th of the gram flour to 3/4th of the wheat flour. 

makka atta is the corn flour for making corn flour roti called makka roti.

other various grains can be added to with decided quantities to get different flour textures and tastes.

mostly the flour is added with water to get dough. there are variations sometimes they are mixed with milk or partilly milk and water as with the poonam roti. they are also mixed with curd to attain a sour taste . many of the naan varieties are mixed with curd for fermentation of the dough for at least four hours.

roti can be  mixed with piches of salts sometimes jeera(cumin seeds) , haldi(turmeric powder) , grounded mirchi (red chilli powder)etc. to get different tastes they are called the namkin roti, masala roti, parathas etc.

sometimes they are mixed with ghee (oil received by heating the fresh butter).

they are sometimes mixed with soda by carb to get the crispy taste.

dough is normally used fresh and readily but sometimes it is also used by fermenting it for few hours. then again kneaded and used as with the naan fermented dough is used. 

vegetables are added to poori masala either fresh or dried ones.

besides the plain roti which is made of the atta or maida (wheat flour) there are other versions of roti. the most common are

missi roti-

the wheat flour is mixed with besan(the gram flour).

makka roti-

made of the corn flour.

chawal roti-

made of the rice flour.

bajra roti-

bajra grain flour is used.

kutki roti-

kutki flour is used along with wheat flour.

jwar roti-

jwar flour is used.

kandela roti-

various grains are mixed and the mixed flour is used. like kodo , kutki, jwar etc.

punam roti-

instead of water milk is used while kneading the dough.

khari roti-

salts are mixed with the flour.

namkin roti-

spices are added with the flour.

meethi roti-

jaggery or the sugar syrup is added with the wheat flour.