Paratha — Recipes

A flaky layered flatbread: a thin sheet brushed with ghee, rolled into a rope, coiled, rolled again, and cooked twice — first dry, then crisped in ghee.

Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here for the Flatbreads section and is adapted from the source named in the Notes.

Ingredients

420 g (3 cups) all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
12 g (1 tablespoon) Diamond Crystal kosher salt (half as much by volume if table salt)
30 g (2 tablespoons) neutral oil
240 ml (1 cup) warm water
16 tablespoons (about 225 g) ghee, softened, divided — 8 for layering, 8 for frying

Directions

Dough. Whisk the flour and salt. Rub in the oil with your fingers, about 5 minutes. Add the warm water, bring together, and knead about 5 minutes to a sticky ball. Cover and rest at least 1 hour (or up to 24 hours in the fridge).
Divide into 8 pieces.
First roll. Roll one piece paper-thin and translucent, about 16 × 10 inches. Spread 1 tablespoon ghee over it and sprinkle with a pinch of flour. Roll it up from the top into a long rope. Coil each end inward until they meet, then stack one coil on the other and press together. Repeat. Cover and rest at least 1 hour (up to 24 hours chilled).
Final roll. Roll each coil to about 8 inches across and ⅛ inch thick.
Par-cook. Heat a heavy 10–12-inch skillet over medium-low, dry. Cook each paratha about 3 minutes a side, until dry and dusty-looking. (They can be stacked and refrigerated for a week, or frozen, at this point.)
Finish. Raise the heat to medium-high. Add 1 tablespoon ghee per paratha and cook about 1 minute a side, until golden and crisp. Scrunch each one between your hands to open the layers. Keep warm wrapped in a towel in a 250 °F oven for up to an hour.

Notes

Source Adapted from Sohla El-Waylly, “Paratha (Flaky South Asian Flatbread),” Serious Eats. Cross-checked against King Arthur Baking’s “Lachha Paratha,” which cooks on a tava or cast iron over medium and can be flavoured with cilantro, garlic and roasted cumin.

A correction to the source The source prints the ghee as “16 tablespoons (8 ounces; 112g).” Those figures disagree: 16 tablespoons is about 225 g, and 112 g is about 8 tablespoons. Its method uses 1 tablespoon per paratha to layer and 1 to fry — 16 tablespoons in all — so this recipe follows the method and treats the 112 g as the error.

The Flatbreads section of the Breads pages on the Food site covers the history, the science and the griddles.