Bread Baking Babes fly to India

Another month, another Kitchen princess and another recipe to bake with the Bread Baking Babes. This time we're off to India, Karen, the Kitchen princess of this month ("Bake my Day!") found a wonderful recipe of an Indian flatbread for us to bake. It's a flatbread baked on the stove and it's filled with a potato filling. 

The recipe didn't state how many aloo's can be made from this, but I guess I've made about 9. The potato filling was too much, so in the recipe below I adjusted that. When rolling these out some had the filling coming out at the edges. It went better when I gave them a minute of five to relax and roll them out again. Even so, some of the filling spilled, I don't think it had a bad effect on the end result, they baked just fine. Taking a little more time on a more medium heat gave the best result for me.
I thought they would be spicier, so next time I'd add more pepper, salt, spices to them. We ate them with a spicy chicken Maroccan tajine dish, so we had heat anyway. Very nice.
We had one left and the kids fought over who was to eat this at breakfast. Our daughter won and had it heated in the morning.

You can make the filling in advance to make your time planning easier and eat it with soup, curry or whatever you fancy. Wanna bake, wanna share with us? Send your details to Karen and you'll be send a Bread Baking Buddy Badge to add to your post. Have fun. Don't forget to check out the other babes (links in the side bar on the left) too, for more inspiration.

Aloo Paratha
(about 8-9 breads)

(PRINT recipe)

200 g whole wheat flour

200 g white bread flour plus more for rolling out the dough
salt
1 tsp ground cumin

175-190 g water
2 Tbsp neutral oil, plus more for brushing the breads
500 g starchy potatoes, peeled and cut in half
1 red chili pepper, seeded and minced

2 tsp ground coriander
freshly ground pepper
juice of 1/2 small lemon
melted butter

Combine the flours with 1 teaspoon salt and the thyme in a food processor. Turn the machine on and add the oil and 3/4 cup water through the feed tube. Process for about 30 seconds, until the mixture forms a ball and is slightly sticky to the touch. If it is dry, add another tablespoon or two of water and process for another 10 seconds. Remove the dough and, using flour as necessary, shape into a ball; wrap in plastic and let rest while you make the potato mixture. (At this point, you may wrap the dough tightly in plastic and refrigerate for up to a day or freeze for up to a week; bring back to room temperature before proceeding.)

Put the potatoes in a large saucepan and add water to cover and a large pinch of salt. Turn the heat to high, bring to a boil, and adjust the heat so the mixture simmers steadily; cook until the potatoes are tender, 15 to 20 minutes, then drain. Mash the potatoes along with half the chile, the coriander, a large pinch of salt, some pepper and the lemon juice; taste and adjust the seasoning.

When the dough has rested, set out a bowl of all-purpose flour and a small bowl of oil, with a spoon or brush, on your work surface. Lightly flour your work surface and your rolling pin. Break off a piece of dough about the size of a golf ball. Toss it in the bowl of flour and then roll it in your hands to make a ball. Flatten it into a 2-inch disk, then use a floured rolling pin to roll it into a thin round, about 5 inches in diameter, dusting with flour as necessary.

Mound about 2 tablespoons of the filling into the center. Bring the edges of the round up over the top of the filling and press them together to make a pouch. Press down on the “neck” of the pouch with the palm of one hand to make a slightly rounded disk. Roll it out again into a round 15 cm in diameter. Pat it between your hands to brush off the excess flour. Put on a plate and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap. Continue to roll all of the remaining dough and stack them on the plate with a sheet of plastic wrap between them. You can keep the paratha stacked like this for an hour or two in the refrigerator before cooking them if necessary.

Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat for a minute or two, then put on a paratha and cook until it darkens slightly, usually less than a minute. Flip the paratha with a spatula and cook for another 30 seconds on the second side. Use a brush to coat the top with oil. Flip and coat the other side with oil. Continue cooking until the bottom of the bread has browned, flip and repeat. Do this a few times until both sides of the paratha are golden brown and very crisp, 2 to 3 minutes total for each paratha. Remove them from the pan and brush with melted butter if you’re serving them hot; otherwise wait until you’ve reheated them.

(source "How to cook everything “ - Mark Bittman)