Bhatura (Bhature) Recipe: How to make Bhatura (Bhature)

Bhaturas are thick leavened fried Indian bread often eating with chole/channa (spicy curried garbanzo beans/kabuli channa/chick peas)

I wanted to post and share this great Bhatura recipe from a long time and finally, I am able to do it today. I just enjoyed making these bhature for the first time, on my hubby’s birthday. He is a great fan of Chole Bhature and I had decided to make it specially for him on his birthday.

Though, I have cooked chole many times, it was always with pooris. This time I wanted to make bhaturas. I know from examples of my friends that the bhatura is not so easy to make and it does not rise or puff up while frying. This was my first time and I did not want to take a chance.

I checked on the internet and there were many recipes for bhatura – with yeast, without yeast, with eno and so on…… the list is endless.  Finally, I decided to take this recipe, from a book which has tested and tried recipes from the world of Iskcon – The Hare Krishna Book of Vegetarian Cooking. I have taken this recipe from this book without adapting or changing it.

When I fried the bhaturas in oil……. I joyfully gleed….. the bhaturas not only puffed up……… they puffed up really well…….. like the way the bhatura actually has to puff up. Also, they were soft from inside and crisp from outside.

My hubby was shocked……… how come I managed such great and awesome bhaturas and that too the first time. He relished it so much that I decided to make it again.

So the second time now, I made chole bhature for my mom-in-law as she too loves it. Again, this bhatura recipe did not fail me this time. The bhature  came out great again.

The other good point of this recipe is that it used less of refined wheat flour (maida)/white flour and more of whole wheat flour (atta). The ratio of white flour to wheat flour used in this recipe is 0.6:3

Some of the other bhatura recipes are made of only refined wheat flour. They are tasty but not so good for health. Thats why I chose this recipe.

Also, this bhatura recipe is made without yeast. For the leavening of the flour, curd and baking powder/baking soda is used.

The rolling and frying of the bhaturas takes around 20-30 mins. But the leavening of the flour, takes 8 hours (overnight) plus 2 hours. I made the bhaturas with Amritsari Chole.

Ingredients for the Bhatura recipe:

• 2/3 cup (150 ml) plain curd/yoghurt
• 2 tsp sugar or brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder or 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1½ cup (150 gm) white flour
• 3 cups  (300 gm) atta or whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp ghee or butter
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) warm water
• ghee or vegetable oil for deep frying

Method to make the Bhaturas:

• You will have to start the night before.
• In a bowl take the yoghurt, sugar, baking powder and white flour.

• Mix well all the above 4 ingredients.

• Cover the bowl with a cloth and set it aside in a warm place overnight or for 8 hours to allow natural fermentation to take place.
• The next day you will see tiny bubbles on the surface of the mixture. The mixture is ready for the next step when tiny bubbles appear on the surface.

• I have added a close up pic of the mixture. You can see the small bubbles in the pic below.

• In another bowl, mix together the wheat flour with salt and rub the ghee or butter into it with your fingertips. Into this bowl, add the fermenting mixture and the warm water. Form a dough with these two mixtures.

• Knead the dough for 5 to 10 minutes or until it is silky smooth. Add a little flour if it is too wet. Gather the dough into a compact ball and cover it with a damp cloth. Again set it aside in a warm place for 2 hrs.
• This is how the dough appears after 2 hours.

• Knead the dough again.
• Form it in to 15 balls and roll them into 5-6 inch discs. Heat oil or ghee and deep fry the bhaturas in the same way as you would fry pooris. Serve the bhaturas hot with chole and wedges of lemon and sliced onions.

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