Bhature

bhature

For 35 bhature:

Ingredients

5 cups white refined flour
3 tbsp yogurt
200 ml buttermilk/milk/water or more
1 tsp salt
2 tsps ghee
2 tsps sugar
1/2 tsp yeast OR/and 1 tsp baking soda

Oil/ghee for frying, 600 ml or so

Preparation

Sieve the flour and salt together.
Mix the yeast and sugar in 2 tbsp of lukewarm water and keep aside for ten minutes or till rising.
Mix the ghee with the flour. Add the yogurt and mix, add the dissolved yeast and/or the baking soda.
Add about two tbsps of the buttermilk at a time and knead well till the dough becomes soft and pliable, it should look to have too much buttermilk and unworkable at some point. Leave it as it is then. Cover it with a wet cloth and go back to it after an hour. Knead with a spatula or a fork. If it doesn't come together, oil your hands and knead. Once done, keep aside for at least four hours, outside in 28°c or in the fridge in hot north-Indian summers.
Heat ghee/oil in a frying pan. Make fist-size balls or bigger and roll them, or oil your hands and spread the balls with your palms to flatten it till 4 inch in length and less than half an inch thick. Fry in absolutely hot ghee and pat and turn it with a frying sieve while in the oil and cook till light golden. Transfer onto good old newspapers or kitchen tissues. Serve with chhole.

To heat, on a smoldering hot tawa, drizzle water and quickly place the bhaturas. Drizzle about 20 ml more water and then turn. Once done on both sides, take the bhatura off the tawa with a flat serving spoon when all the water has evaporated. The surface should be crisp and golden again. Should take about 40 seconds on each side.