Bakarkhani

A hard-crusted Mughlai bread whose sheet is stretched and folded back over ghee again and again.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (ghee).

Ingredients

• 400 g plain flour
• 100 g fine semolina
• 40 g sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• about 220 ml water
• 120 g ghee, soft but not melted
• 3 tablespoons molasses
• a large pinch of saffron threads
• 2 tablespoons nigella seeds, or poppy seeds

Method

1. THE SHEET IS STRETCHED AND FOLDED BACK OVER GHEE AGAIN AND AGAIN, and that is what makes this bread rather than any other. Its article gives the build in one sentence: the bread is made by STRETCHING A SHEET OF DOUGH REPEATEDLY AND INTERLEAVING WITH GHEE, MOLASSES, SAFFRON WATER, POPPY OR NIGELLA SEEDS before baking on a tandoor or tawa girdle. Lamination, but with the flavourings going in between the layers instead of on top.
2. WHICH IS WHY IT COMES OUT HARD. The article describes it as ALMOST BISCUIT-LIKE IN TEXTURE, WITH A HARD CRUST, and names it shukha -- meaning DRY -- naan for that reason. Many thin layers of dough separated by fat, baked until the water has gone, is a biscuit. Expect to break it rather than tear it.
3. THE DOUGH ITSELF IS PLAIN AND STIFF. Its article's kneading list is flour, ghee, in some cases cardamom, sugar and salt with water. Semolina goes in with the flour -- the article's chief ingredients include it, and it is what gives the crust its grit. Knead to a firm dough and rest it an hour; a slack one tears when it is stretched.
4. MAKE THE MOLASSES AND SAFFRON INTO ONE DARK SYRUP FIRST. The article has MOLASSES SOAKED IN SAFFRON among the chief ingredients, so warm the three tablespoons with the crushed saffron and a spoon of water and let it stand until cold.
5. ROLL, GREASE, FOLD, REST. ROLL AGAIN. Roll the dough to a large thin rectangle, spread a third of the ghee right to the edges, trickle a third of the syrup across, scatter a third of the seeds, then fold in three like a letter. Rest ten minutes. Do the whole thing twice more.
6. KEEP THE GHEE SOFT AND THE DOUGH COOL. Melted ghee soaks in and you get one thick bread; cold ghee tears through the sheet. Soft enough to spread with a knife is right.
7. CUT SIX PIECES AND ROLL EACH ONE FLAT, ABOUT HALF A CENTIMETRE. Cut, do not tear -- a cut edge shows the layers and a torn one seals them.
8. DOCK THEM AND BAKE THEM HOT FOR TWELVE MINUTES. Prick each bread all over with a fork so it stays flat, then onto a preheated tray in the hottest oven until the tops are deep brown and the bases sound hollow. Cool them on a rack: this is one of the few breads that is better an hour later than straight out.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes