Kulcha

The dough is fermented in earthen pots before it goes anywhere near the tandoor.

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

Ingredients

• 450 g maida, or plain white flour
• 150 g plain live yogurt
• 150 ml water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 tablespoons ghee
• 1 teaspoon nigella or sesame seeds

Method

1. THE DOUGH IS FERMENTED IN EARTHEN POTS BEFORE IT GOES ANYWHERE NEAR THE TANDOOR. Its article gives the definition in one line -- made from refined wheat flour, FERMENTED IN EARTHEN POTS and baked in a tandoor -- and the pot is the part worth keeping. Unglazed clay does two things to a fermenting dough that a steel bowl does not: it breathes, so the surface dries slightly instead of sweating, and it holds a steady mild warmth rather than following the room. The result ferments more slowly and evenly, and the bread is denser and chewier than the yeasted bread on another page of this site.
2. A CLAY POT OR TERRACOTTA PLANTER WILL DO, UNGLAZED AND SCRUBBED. Covered with a cloth rather than a lid, so it can still breathe.
3. SIX TO EIGHT HOURS AT ROOM TEMPERATURE, NOT AN HOUR IN THE WARM. The point of the pot is a slow ferment. Rushing it in a warm oven defeats the method.
4. IT IS REFINED FLOUR, WHICH ITS ARTICLE SPECIFIES. Maida. Wholemeal makes a good bread and not this one -- the pale, close, slightly tough crumb is what distinguishes a kulcha.
5. YOGURT IS THE LEAVEN AND THERE IS NO YEAST. The slow ferment comes from the culture in the yogurt. A teaspoon of sugar gives it something to work on.
6. IT IS ROLLED THICK AND DOCKED. Half a centimetre, and pricked all over with a fork so it does not dome into a balloon -- a kulcha is meant to stay flat and layered, unlike the breads here that are supposed to inflate.
7. IT IS BAKED AS HOT AS THE OVEN GOES, ON A PREHEATED STONE. 250C with a baking stone or an upturned heavy tray given forty minutes to heat. Seven or eight minutes, until blistered and patchily brown.
8. THE SWEET VERSION HAS ITS OWN NAME. Its article records khatai, or sweet kulcha, as a variant -- and notes that in India the word is also used for ordinary disc-shaped English bread, which is why a search for it turns up both.

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