Whole Wheat Paratha | Restaurant- like Layered, Soft & Flaky

 

Wheat paratha is a kind of layered, unleavened Indian flatbread prepared with 100% wheat flour or atta. There are many variations of paratha which could be plain or with the stuffing. At times, it could be the 50-50 combination of wheat flour and maida. And most of the times, it is made with 100% maida. The most popular Kerala paratha uses all-purpose flour with an egg to soften the parathas. Some people add milk while preparing the dough. Some people add lukewarm water to prepare the dough. And this is the simple plain whole wheat paratha prepared with 100% wheat flour, salt, curd and oil which achieves the restaurant-like soft and flaky layered parathas. 

The wheat paratha which I post here is the perfect soft, layered and flaky paratha which is exactly same as what we get served in the restaurants. We can effortlessly tear the paratha as it is too soft. The mouth-melting feel of the wheat paratha could be possible by pursuing certain tricks while kneading the dough for the wheat paratha.

It is different from the dough of chapati as it needs a lot of patience in kneading and soaking part. So, the mantra is "More we knead, much softer the parathas would be". I have some more tactics to achieve restaurant-like softness and texture whenever I make wheat parathas. After a lot of experiments, I gotta know that these combinations of ingredients work perfectly for me all the time without any flip.

Things to Know:

Egg or Curd:

• I have used egg in the place of curd in my wheat parathas which also gives equally softer parathas. So, if you plan to add an egg, just skip the curd.
• Use either the egg or curd for the long-lasting softness in your wheat parathas.

Hot oil or Oil at room temperature:

• Hot oil does its great job in the flakiness part.
• Compared to adding the oil at room temperature, hot oil achieved superbly flaked wheat parathas. So, always add sizzling oil while making any kind of parathas.

Lukewarm water or Water at room temperature:

• Both worked fine and the end result was similar.
• So, I skip lukewarm water and start to use water at the room temperature while kneading the dough.

Sugar or Jaggery powder:

• Let it be any variety, parathas usually carry some hint of sweet taste with it.
• White sugar is the usually added ingredient, which caramelizes and gives nice brown spots to the parathas when cooked.
• Jaggery powder does the same work and hence I stick to the jaggery powder.
• Honey also would do the same job and you can always go for honey if you want sweetness in your parathas.

Oil or Ghee:

• Ghee gives more aromatic Indian flatbread than oil. And, you could switch the oil with ghee during the kneading part.
• Though a generous amount of oil or ghee is needed to make layers, I have added just 4 tablespoons of oil while kneading the dough, and a few drops while rolling and cooking each paratha which would have been enough for the perfect soft and flaky parathas.

Tricks to get Softness & Flakiness in the wheat paratha:

Egg or Curd:

• Some curd added to the dough would do magic which gives a very soft wheat paratha.
• You can skip the curd and add an egg for the same result.

Hot oil:

• The oil should be sizzling hot when added to the flour.
• Hot oil plays a major role in the flakiness part.

Perfect Kneading:

• Knead for a long time and help align the gluten bonds.
• The dough should neither be sticky nor be too hard.
• I mentioned the correct amount of water, which may vary a little based on the quality of the flour used.
• If the dough turns sticky, just put some flour and knead again to form a soft dough.
• If the dough is too firm, sprinkle a few droplets of water and knead again to form a soft dough.
• "Press with your palm and fold". keep doing this for at least 10 minutes.

Soaking time:

• The soaking time is much needed to get the softness in the parathas.
• Soaking allows the flour to absorb the moisture well and it helps in getting softer wheat parathas.

How long the dough needs to be kneaded and soaked?

• Kneading should not be less than 10 minutes. More you knead, you help in aligning the knotted gluten bonds which in turn gifts you the elastic and stretchy dough.
• The stretchy dough is what we want to get back a perfectly layered wheat paratha.
• Soaking the dough helps in soften the dough which again helps in getting the gluten bonds in a stretchy line of network. So, soak the dough for at least half an hour to at most 2 hours for the greater benefit.

How to get the perfect layered paratha?

• The answer is ghee or oil.
• After you roll, apply some oil on the top before pleating or striping the dough. This achieves the layers while cooking the paratha.
• You could sprinkle some wheat flour which also helps in getting the layers.
• One more thing is that very thin stripes or thin pleats would yield more string-like layers.

So, an ultra-soft, flaky and layered whole wheat paratha exactly same as what you get in the restaurants is what I give through this post. Any kind of spicy or less-spicy curries could be paired with this recipe.

⌚Preparation Time: 15 minutes
⌚Soaking Time: 2 hours
⌚Cooking Time: 2 minutes per wheat paratha
🍽 Yields: 18 to 20 wheat parathas

Whole Wheat Paratha

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Layered, soft and flaky unleavened Indian flatbread prepared with whole wheat flour, salt, curd and oil.

What to Use? Whole wheat flour - 500g Salt - 1/2 tsp Jaggery powder - 2 tsp (or honey or sugar) Oil or ghee - 4 tbsp (for kneading) + a few drops per wheat paratha while rolling and cooking Curd - 3 tsp or egg -1 no Water - 160ml (a few teaspoons less or more depends on the flour quality) Steps Involved:               Kneading Part:

Take wheat flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the needed salt. Add some jaggery powder and mix well. Add the sizzling hot oil to the flour and rub the flour well with the hands. The flour would look crumbled at this time. Add water little by little and start to knead the dough. Knead for at least 10 minutes or until you get a smooth and soft dough. Cover with a damp cloth and keep it aside to get it well soaked from half an hour to 2 hours. Give more soaking time to get much softer wheat parathas. Knead the dough again for 2 minutes.       Rolling Part: Take a small portion of the dough and press it with your palm. You could use the rolling pin instead. Roll as thin as you can. Now, apply a few drops of ghee or oil to the surface. Sprinkle some wheat flour over the applied oil (optional). This helps in segregating the layers while cooking.        Pleating: Start to pleat from one side and keep pleating until you reach the other side. Stretch the pleated dough to some extent and roll it in a spiral manner. Roll the spiralled dough again with the hand or rolling pin which should neither be too thick nor be too thin.       Cut into strips: Cut the rolled portion into several strips. Gather all the strips together either by placing one above the another (in case of thick strips) or by just gathering (in case of very thin strips). Stretch the gathered strips a little and fold in a spiral fashion tucking the end inside. Start rolling again with the palm or rolling pin to form a circle wheat paratha.       Cooking Part: Cook the one side of wheat paratha for 30 seconds. Flip the wheat paratha and apply some oil to it. Flip the paratha often to let both sides cooked. Brown spots would start to appear on both the sides which is the indication for the perfectly cooked wheat paratha. Crush the wheat parathas from the sides so that the layers could be visible. Serve hot or Stack over the kitchen tissue in the casserole box which stays soft for a long time.

Visual Treat: 
Video link for Wheat Paratha post:
https://youtu.be/VyfxUEIAXLw
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Also, Explore

Whole Wheat Pizza

For comforting the understandability of the recipe, the step by step detailed procedure along with the picture is given below.

Step-by-Step Procedure with Pictures

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How to Make?

Kneading Part:

• Take 500 grams of whole wheat flour in a large mixing bowl.

• Add the needed salt to it.

• Add 3 teaspoons of curd to the wheat flour. Curd helps in soften the parathas. You could add an egg at this stage if you want to skip curd.

• Add jaggery powder to the flour. This gives mild sweetness to the wheat parathas. You could add sugar which everyone used to add. Or you could skip adding if you don't want a mild sweetness in your parathas.

• Add 4 tablespoons of sizzling hot oil to the flour. Ensure the added oil is sizzling hot as because it will gift you the perfectly flaked parathas.

• Rub the flour well with the hands.
• Add the mentioned amount of water little at a time and start to knead gently. The amount of water may vary a little depending upon the quality of the flour.

• Knead for at least 10 minutes and the kneading should be like pressing and folding the dough. Do stretch and fold the dough again and again to get a perfectly smooth and soft dough. 

• Cover the dough with some damp cloth and leave it undisturbed for at least half an hour and at most 2 hours. More time you soak the dough, more softness you could feel in the wheat parathas.

• Knead the dough again for 2 minutes after the soaking time. The dough should be smooth and soft.

Rolling Part:

• Take a small portion of the dough and press it with your palm to spread it to a thin layer. This works well if the dough is perfectly smooth. You could roll the portion of dough with the rolling pin and this works even if the perfection is missed in the dough.

• Sprinkle some oil or ghee over the rolled thin layer and spread it throughout the layer.

• You could sprinkle some wheat flour over the oil which better helps the layering of the wheat parathas while cooking.

       Pleating:

• Start to pleat from one side and slowly move towards the other side until the layer is completely pleated.

      Striping:

• Cut the thin layer of dough into several strips using a knife. The strips could thick or thin based on your convenience. But, keep in mind that thin stripes give you more layers in the wheat paratha.

• Keep the strips one over the other. If the strips are too thin, just gather the strips into one long string.

• Roll the striped or pleated dough in a spiral fashion so that it forms a circle.

• Roll the spiralled dough into a wheat paratha either with the palm or rolling pin. The rolled wheat paratha should neither be too thick nor be too thin.

Cooking Part:

• Place the wheat paratha in an iron skillet and allow it to cook for 30 seconds.

• Flip the paratha now and apply some oil to it.

• Flip the paratha often to get both sides well-cooked.
• Until then the brown spots will start to appear, flip often and cook.

 

• Crush the wheat paratha gently with your hands to get the layers in the wheat paratha.

• Serve the wheat paratha hot with any spicy or non-spicy curry. If you want to stack your parathas in the casserole box, make sure you line the box with the kitchen tissue before stacking. The stacked wheat parathas stay soft for a long time.

Visual Treat: 
https://youtu.be/VyfxUEIAXLw
Subscribe to our YouTube channel!

Tips:

• If the dough seems sticky, just add some more wheat flour and knead again. 
• If the dough seems too firm, just moist your hands and knead again to make the dough soft.
• Knead the dough for a long time. More you knead, much softer the wheat parathas would be.
• Don't skip adding curd or egg while kneading.
• Hot oil is very much needed to get the restaurant-like wheat parathas (based on my experience!).
• Soak the kneaded dough for more time. More soaking time, in turn, yields more soft wheat parathas. 

Layered, Soft, Flaky, Restaurant-like Wheat Paratha!