Pakistani Bread Recipe

One of my absolute favourite foods, if not my favourite, is bread. Not only do I eat bread with pretty much every meal, but I also make bread almost every day!

This may seem intimidating at first if you’ve never made bread but trust me this recipe is super simple once you get the hang of it, and you’ll want to be eating this bread all the time once you try it! So, continue reading to discover my everyday Pakistani bread recipe!

BREAD: AN ESSENTIAL PART OF LIFE IN PAKISTAN

Growing up in Pakistan if there was anything that was more essential for daily consumption than chai it would have to be bread. Everyday when I would come home from school there would be freshly prepared flatbread (usually roti) waiting inside a container meant to keep the bread warm called a “hot pot” (you can see one in my Jackson Heights Food Tour video on YouTube).

This was essential because while in other parts of South Asia rice may be the carbohydrate of choice I can’t really think of a meal that we would eat without bread. In fact, there is a joke in my family that you haven’t eaten unless you’ve eaten bread, no matter how much other food you eat during a meal.

This is why being able to share things like my chai recipe and bread recipe are so important to me, not only are they foods I really enjoy eating but they are also an essential part of my culture that I want to share with the world!

PAKISTANI BREAD RECIPE

Step 1: Fill a container with durum atta flour approximately 3/4 full. This will allow enough room for the water and for the dough to rise in the container. The flour below is the one that I use and I highly recommend it, you should be able to find this brand at most South Asian grocery stores.

Step 2: Add salt to taste (I usually add 1-2 teaspoons).

Step 3: Add 1-1.5 tablespoons of quick rise yeast. I use the one pictured below because it is readily available in Canadian grocery stores.

Step 4: Add water until sticky dough forms. I don’t really have a measurement estimation for this, just add a little bit at a time until you get a slightly sticky pliable dough. I would say it’s better for it to be more on the wet/sticky side than dry.

Step 5: Leave your dough to rest with the lid on the container (not shown here so you can see how the dough looks) for 2 hours on the counter or in the fridge overnight.

Step 6: After the dough is risen, take a dinner plate and add a ball of dough roughly the diameter of 1/3 – 1/4 of the plate along with some of the same flour we used to make the dough.

Step 7: Roll out your dough with a rolling pin, or if you want to be more traditional you can use a belan as pictured here! If you don’t want to roll it out on the countertop you can also roll it out on a chakla but sadly mine is broken right now. It should be about the size of a small-medium frying pan or tawa as we’ll see in Step 9.

Step 8: Your dough should look something like this before it hits the pan!

Step 9: Get out a medium sized frying pan, or tawa as pictured here, and put it on the stove at medium heat. Don’t worry about adding oil or anything to the pan, it’s not necessary at all for this recipe!

Step 10: Place your bread on the pan.

Step 11: Once the bread is on the pan, make indentations with a fork evenly across the surface.

Step 12: You’ll want to leave the bread on the pan until it begins to brown on the bottom. This should take ~1-2 minutes.

Step 13: Place the bread in the oven at the “high broil” setting same side up as when it was in the pan.

Step 14: Remove the bread once the top is browned, it should look like the bread on the left in the image below. This should take ~2-3 minutes. If you remove it and feel the bottom did not brown enough on the pan you can also flip the bread and leave it in an extra minute or two.

Step 15: Remove your delicious freshly baked bread from the oven and enjoy!

Step 16 (optional): For a more aesthetic presentation you can quarter the bread and garnish with cilantro!

SUMMARY

Step 1: Fill a container with durum atta flour approximately 3/4 full.

Step 2: Add salt to taste (I usually add 1-2 teaspoons).

Step 3: Add 1-1.5 tablespoons of quick rise yeast.

Step 4: Add water until sticky dough forms.

Step 5: Leave your dough to rest with the lid on the container (not shown here so you can see how the dough looks) for 2 hours on the counter or in the fridge overnight

Step 6: After the dough is risen, take a dinner plate and add a ball of dough roughly the diameter of 1/3 – 1/4 of the plate along with some of the same flour we used to make the dough.

Step 7: Roll out your dough with a rolling pin to the size of a small-medium sized frying pan or tawa.

Step 8: See image for how the bread should look before it goes on the pan.

Step 9: Get out a medium sized frying pan or tawa and put it on the stove at medium heat.

Step 10: Place your bread on the pan.

Step 11: Once the bread is on the pan, make indentations with a fork evenly across the surface.

Step 12: You’ll want to leave the bread on the pan until it begins to brown on the bottom. This should take ~1-2 minutes.

Step 13: Place the bread in the oven at the “high broil” setting same side up as when it was in the pan.

Step 14: Remove the bread once the top is browned (~2-3 minutes)

Step 15: Remove your delicious freshly baked bread from the oven and enjoy!

Step 16 (optional): For a more aesthetic presentation you can quarter the bread and garnish with cilantro!

That is all for this post! I hope you guys enjoy this bread recipe and it becomes a staple in your home just like how it is in mine. Make sure to checkout my other blog posts for more recipes, restaurant recommendations, and other foodie content. Also, if you want to see a recipe uploaded leave a comment under my TikTok or YouTube videos, or shoot me an email!