Zanzibar Chapati Flatbread
Flour, salt, water, and oil are all it takes to make a simple flatbread. If your craving bread, give it a go, and you'll be happy eating it with any dish or dip. It's fried like a tortilla but denser. This recipe and prepping method are traditional of the people of Zanzibar adapted from International Cuisine. The prepping method will take you back to your childhood when you use to make playdough using the same ingredients!
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour plus more as needed for kneading
- ½ cup water plus more as needed
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp coconut oil plus more for cooking
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, add 2 cups of flour and salt. Mix well to disperse the salt. Add little less than ½ cup of water and mix with your hand adding more water as needing until the mixture turns into a ball.
- Add about a tablespoon of oil and knead well for a few minutes. You can knead in the bowl or on a flat surface.
- Once the ball of dough is soft and supple, divide the dough into 2 pieces and flatten them each out using a rolling pin into large circle about the thickness of a tortilla. Add flour as necessary to keep from sticking.
- For each dough round, make a hole in the middle with your fingers and continue to increase the hole all while gather up the dough around the edges and thinning it out to make a round rope.
- Once you've formed each dough round into a rope, cut the rope so you have it separated into one long piece.
- Starting at one end, coil the dough up like a snake or snail and tuck in the other end to seal it.
- Brush a little oil on top of each round and set them aside to rest for about 20 minutes or so.
- After the resting time, roll each coiled round into a flat circle about the thickness of a tortilla.
- Heat a large skillet on high until a spritz of water sizzles (that's when you know it's hot enough). Turn down the heat to medium (or a little higher) and add a little oil.
- Add one flattened dough round to the skillet and cook until brown spots appear on the underside adding oil if necessary.
- Brush a little oil on the unbaked side and flip over the flatbread.
- Continue cooking until the second side is nice and brown and the flatbread is baked throughout.
- Remove the flatbread from the skillet, set it aside, and follow the same procedure to cook the other one.
- Cut or tear into pieces and serve warm!