Roht is a sweet, round flat bread, rich with butter and milk, glazed with egg and scattered with poppy and black cumin seeds. It is eaten at breakfast with tea or hot milk, and it is baked for the celebration held when a newborn child is forty days old. The bake is unusual: a few minutes in a very hot oven to colour the crust, then a long, gentle finish to cook it through without drying it. Wrap it while it is still warm and it stays soft.
Zone: Silk Road Table
INGREDIENTS
- 450 g chapati flour
- 110 g sugar
- 4 tsp yoghurt (optional)
- 110 ml milk
- 110 g butter (melted)
- 3.5 g fast-action dried yeast (half a 7g sachet)
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 1 egg (beaten)
- poppy seeds or sesame seeds
- black cumin seeds
METHOD
- Sift the flour into a bowl and add the sugar, yoghurt if using, milk, melted butter, yeast and baking powder. Add most of the beaten egg, keeping some back for glazing.
- Mix and knead for about 10 minutes to a soft dough, adding a little more flour if it is too sticky. Cover and leave somewhere warm for 1 hour.
- Roll the dough out 1 to 2cm thick, as one large round or two small ones, and prick all over with a fork.
- Brush with the remaining egg and sprinkle with the seeds.
- Bake on a lightly oiled tray at 250°C (230°C fan) for 5 to 8 minutes, until it begins to brown.
- Turn the oven down to 120°C (100°C fan) and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until cooked through; test with a fork.
- While still warm, put the bread in a plastic bag for about 20 minutes, then cut into wedges.
NOTES
UK adaptation: Chapati flour (atta) from any supermarket world-food aisle or South Asian grocer. Fast-action dried yeast. Poppy seeds or sesame, and black cumin or nigella seeds, from South Asian grocers. Fan ovens: 230°C, then 100°C. Everything else widely available.
US adaptation: Atta (chapati flour) from Patel Brothers, or half whole wheat and half all-purpose flour. Instant yeast. Oven at 500°F, then 250°F. Everything else widely available.
Cook’s note: Put the roht in a plastic bag while it is still warm and leave it for 20 minutes. It softens in its own steam; left on a rack, it dries out fast.
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