karadekoolaid
Head Chef
"Roti" is the hindi word for "bread", so technically, all Indian breads are "roti". Confusion, perhaps, enters when you think of a Caribbean roti, which is slightly different.I make naan sometimes, but more often I make the non-leavened flatbreads - roti, chapati, and paratha. These terms are used rather loosely - paratha is often thought of as "fried", though it's usually just brushed with a small amount of oil or ghee, and sometimes the others are too! I like the whole grain recipes, which sometimes have WW atta flour, which is durum flour. There are also many whole grain flours, as well as legume flours, that they use for flatbreads. And many of them are gluten free, and are easy to press in a tortilla press, but not pressing quite as thin.
Many of these flatbread recipes call for putting over a direct flame, to puff them up at the end, but not necessary, unless stuffing.
A chapati is put over a hot flame to puff it up, but then it flattens. However, the effect is to make it softer and a bit more flaky.
The paratha is, IMHO, a flaky bread - bit like the texture of a croissant - but I would cook it on a stove top/ cast iron pan. No flames.
Naan - unless you´ve got a tandoor, I think it´s difficult to get the burns/smokiness on the bread.
Pooris and bhatura will puff up, but they´re fried.