There are many articles and videos about making this flatbread, but most recipes belong to people who make it every day and don’t need to measure ingredients anymore. The results on pictures are different — more or less thick, more or less soft, with more or less defined layers. So, where to begin?
Traditional flour for Parotta is maida, chemically bleached low protein (8-10%) wheat flour. Here in the U.S., it can be substituted with cake flour (the same level of protein) or even all-purpose (11%) flour without any problem. Two types of fat are suitable for the Parotta recipes: Ghee (clarified butter) and cooking oil. The difference between ghee and clarified butter is milk proteins – ghee keeps them and gives a better taste to everything cooked with it versus clarified butter, which is pure milk fat. If the goal is to stay close to traditional recipes, ghee is preferred. Wheat flour, water, and fat are used to make plain Parotta. There is also an enriched variation when the dough is made with eggs and milk.
