This is the simplest two-ingredient Homemade Roti Recipe around. You can make these versatile homemade flatbreads quickly and efficiently to go with any meal.
Homemade Roti
Did you know that using just water and flour could produce the softest and most tender homemade flatbread? It’s true! Homemade Roti are just flour and water, mixed into a soft wet dough, and dry-fried on cast iron skillet.
What Are Roti?
Roti is a type of Indian flatbread that’s also popular in South America. They can be used for dipping in food or sauces. Or used to scoop foods off your plate or out of a bowl. You can even wrap food up in them like the TASTY Easy Falafel! And when you make homemade flatbreads you can use them any way you want!
Traditionally these homemade flatbreads are made with whole wheat flour. I’ve used All-Purpose flour here because it’s the flour I had in my cupboard. If you want to use whole wheat flour you may need to add an additional TBSP of water.
Optional Ingredients for Roti
If you like you can add 1 tsp of oil to the dough. I tried it to see if it helped with the stickiness of the dough. It does help a bit! Try it if you like.
You can also add salt for a bit of flavor. They taste very plain and tender without salt. With salt they are still tender but with a bit more flavor. I’ve tried them both ways and I like them both just fine. If you’re cutting down on salt go without!
And when they come of the skillet you can spread some butter or ghee on them. But they’re great without butter or ghee.
Do Homemade Roti Puff Up When Cooked?
Roti DO puff when you cook them up but they also deflate quite quickly. If the dough has enough moisture and you cook it just right they will puff up. I’ve made a batch every day this week trying to get them figured out and it was only after my third batch that I got a consistent puff. So my words to you are “don’t give up!”
Prepping for this post I read a lot of information on Roti. The best thing I read was a very informative post on Roti from Cooking With Manali. She said the way to get Homemade Roti to puff was to double cook them, once on a griddle, and then lay them immediately on a gas burner to puff.
If you don’t have a gas burner then the directions to get them to puff were easy, just cook them lightly on each side and then turn the first side back to the griddle and press with a spatula. And while you’re pressing they will begin to puff up.
Since I don’t have a gas burner to try these on, the only directions I’m giving you are how to puff them on an Electric Stove. I can’t wait to update this post with gas range directions when I get my new range!
Making My Roti Puff
I was THRILLED to finally get a puff out of my Homemade Roti. The first two batches were good, tasted fine, and worked perfectly but very little puff. The third batch they puffed as soon as I pressed them and continue to puff even as I flipped them to the second side for more pressing.
It probably has more to do with the temperature of the skillet, and the moisture content of the dough rather than any real skill on my part. BUT I WAS STILL PROUD.
This Homemade Roti Recipe makes for some SOFT DOUGH. Don’t add more flour, you need it to be very soft and very flexible. Do use a bit of flour on your rolling pin and your countertop to keep them from sticking to everything. I also only rolled out one at a time while the other was cooking to keep myself from getting overwhelmed.
Can I Use a Griddle to Cook Homemade Roti?
YES! An electric Griddle will work just fine. You’ll have to figure out what the best temperature setting works for you. If you cook more than one at a time on a griddle beware it can get a little tricky with trying to cook one, puff one, AND roll out two more. An extra person would be helpful.
I tried a big cast iron griddle that goes across two electric burners on the stove and I was disappointed in the results. This felt like too much hustle to cook at the same time and I was running too much to and I burned them, a lot. I needed an extra person to roll for me, and I needed to get my heat right.
Other Homemade Flatbread Recipes To Make
If you’re in the market for more homemade flatbread recipes I have a couple others:
- Paul Hollywood’s Naan Recipe-a NO yeast recipe!
- Pita Bread Recipe-uses yeast
Looking for more Yeast-Free bread Recipes?
I know people have been having trouble finding yeast lately so if you’re in that position I put together this collection of Yeast-Free Bread Recipes. There are lots of great recipes there including Cinnamon Rolls!
Homemade Roti Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour+extra for dusting the counter
- 3/4 warm water
- 1 tsp salt, optional
- 1 tsp oil, optional
Instructions
- put the flour in the bowl of a stand mixer
- pour the warm water over it
- if using the salt or oil add them now
- use the dough hook to mix the dough
- once it comes together knead for 1 minute
- take it out of the bowl and gather up the dough in a ball
- cover the dough with plastic wrap
- let the dough rest for 2 minutes
- while it's resting get out your skillet, rolling pin, the extra flour, and a damp towel
- preheat the skillet over medium heat
- when the dough is resting pull the plastic wrap off
- divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and roll in balls
- cover the dough with the damp towel
- sprinkle some flour on the counter
- lay a dough ball on it turn it over to coat both sides
- press it out to about 2 inches across
- then roll it gently out to about 5-6 inch circle
- dust off the excess flour and lay it in the preheated skillet and let it cook about 30 seconds
- flip it with a spatula and let it cook the other side for about 20 seconds
- once it's cooked on both sides flip it back to the first side and gently press with a spatula
- as you press you'll see and feel the roti start to puff up
- flip it quickly and gently press the second side, it will continue to puff up until it's inflated
- remove from the skillet
- and roll out another one and cook it the same way, repeat until the dough is used up
