Bhatura – How to make Bhatura
Feb 22, 2018, Updated Apr 26, 2018
Step by step instructions on how to make Bhatura, the popular puffed deep fried Indian bread!
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Popular puffed Indian deep fried bread, bhatura is best enjoyed with chole (spiced chickpea curry). Chole Bhature is one of North India’s most popular dish!
People often ask me what is your favorite dish? That’s pretty tough to answer, isn’t it? As a foodie, I like so many things from different cuisines so its hard to pick a favorite. But if you ask the same question to Sarvesh, he will have a definite answer – Chole Bhature.
For those who don’t know chole is chickpea curry where chickpeas are cooked with lots of spices, onion and tomatoes and bhatura is the puffed deep fried bread.
They are served together with sliced onions, pickles and is a very popular north-Indian dish. It’s also very common on the streets of Delhi.
However Sarvesh is very specific about the type of chole bhature he likes, only homemade! I think he finds the restaurant bhature too oily and so prefer homemade.
Since bhatura is deep-fried, I don’t really make it often at home. I think I have mentioned it several times here that I am not very fond of deep-frying food. More than the calories, I just find it stressful and so I do it when absolutely essential.
Since Sarvesh likes only homemade bhatura, I treat him to it once or twice a year.
I made this chole bature for new years actually but didn’t get the time to share the recipe. Now with Holi just around the corner, I thought it would be the perfect time to share this recipe.
At my place, we often ate chole bhature for our lunch on Holi. It was like a family tradition. My house help in India makes really amazing bhature and so we never missed the opportunity to gulp down few plates on festivals!
How to Make Bhatura – Tips to make Good Bhatura at Home
Bhatura dough is made with plain flour, you may add semolina to it to make it little crispier. The recipe I am sharing today has added yogurt, baking powder and oil too. Here are few things to keep in mind while making bhatura at home.
✓ the dough for the bhatura needs to be kneaded well. important. I kneaded the dough in my stand mixer for 5 to 6 minutes.
✓ it’s also important for the dough to rest a little before you make the bhaturas. I suggest to rest the dough for minimum of 1 hour before frying the bhaturas.
✓ when you fry the bhatura, make sure the oil is sufficiently hot else the bhatura wont puff up and absorb a lot of oil.
✓ for softer bhaturas, knead the dough with milk.
I have seen people getting little intimidated by bhatura but honestly it’s pretty easy and straight forward. In case you have difficulty in rolling the dough, just let it rest a little and then try to roll again.
These yummy bhaturas are best enjoyed with chole/chana masala, it’s like you can’t enjoy them with anything else. They are meant for each other!
Method
In a late bowl whisk together flour/maida with semolina/sooji, sugar and salt. Add baking powder, 2 pinches of baking soda and mix well.
Then add oil and rub it into the flour mix with your hands.
Add yogurt and mix.
Add milk, little at a time to knead the dough.
Use a stand mixer to knead well for 5-6 minutes or knead for 10 minutes with your hands until smooth dough is formed. Apply little oil on top of the dough, cover it with a damp cloth and then keep in a warm place for at least 1 hour.
After 1 hour, divide dough into 7 to 8 equal parts, let the dough balls rest for 5 minutes. Meanwhile heat oil in a kadai on medium-high heat. Oil should be sufficiently hot, if you drop a piece of dough into the oil it should come up briskly. That’s when the oil is ready to fry the bhatura. Roll each dough into circle or oval shape, it should neither be too thick nor thin.
Add the rolled bhatura to hot oil and press gently with a ladle, until it starts to puff.
Fry both the sides until brown.
Transfer to tissue paper to drain oil. Serve bhatura with chole!
How to make Bhatura
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour 260 grams, also known as maida
- 1.5 tablespoons semolina also known as sooji
- 1.5 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 pinch baking soda
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
- 3-4 tablespoons milk as needed to knead the dough
- oil for deep frying use vegetable or canola
Instructions
- In a late bowl whisk together flour/maida with semolina/sooji, sugar and salt. Add baking powder, 2 pinches of baking soda and mix well.
- Then add oil and rub it into the flour mix with your hands.
- Add yogurt and mix. Then add milk, little at a time to knead the dough.
- Use a stand mixer to knead well for 5-6 minutes or knead for 10 minutes with your hands until smooth dough is formed.
- Apply little oil on top of the dough, cover it with a damp cloth and then keep in a warm place for at least 1 hour.
- After 1 hour, divide dough into 7 to 8 equal parts, let the dough balls rest for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile heat oil in a kadai/wok on medium-high heat. Oil should be sufficiently hot, if you drop a piece of dough into the oil it should come up briskly. That's when the oil is ready to fry the bhatura.
- Roll each dough into circle or oval shape, it should neither be too thick nor thin. Add the rolled bhatura to hot oil and press gently with a ladle, until it starts to puff. Fry both the sides until brown.
- Transfer to tissue paper to drain oil. Serve bhatura with chole!
Notes
- The prep time includes the resting dough time of 1 hour.
- You may use water in place of milk to knead the dough.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
How to make Bhatura
This is my go to bhatura recipe. Have made it several times and it is always a hit! Thanks Manali.
Excellent results.
Thank you for sharing the recipe.
I have tried it several times by now and everyone says i m pro in it, lol, thanks to you for sharing it.
Glad to know! 🙂
Hi,
Can we use bread flour instead of all purpose flour for this recipe?
Thank you!
I would recommend using the all purpose flour. Although it can be replaced, bread flour has more protein content and hence might result is a little different texture but should be fine.
Hi Manali. I tried this recipe yesterday and tasted amazing but the bhatura were very oily. Any ideas please.
it was probably the temperature of the oil, make sure it’s hot enough when you are frying them.
Just went through the process of getting the ingredients together, in place of maida can I use regular atta.
hmm they won’t turn our light if you will use atta, they will be rather dense
Hi manali!
This recipe is for 8 bhatura servings. I need to make double that amount so should I double the quantities required of all the ingredients? Please let me know.
yes!
I used it to make Bhatura today, I left the dough overnight.
First time for me to try this although I have made puris before.
The results….. AMAZING!!!
Thank you so much
Virinder Sethi
Hi Manali
My bhatura r not rolling properly. I kept the dough 3 hours for rest. It’s not puffing like puri n bhatura.it getting hard
Thank u
Hi Aditi, problem can be at every step. roll the bhatura evenly, also make sure the oil is quite hot when you add the bhatura to it else they won’t puff.
Hi Manali, thank you for this recipe, I have tried many of your recipes and they are always detailed and helpful. I made the bhature first time today but it didn’t puff, turned out flat. Can you give me ideas on what I could have done wrong? I make Puri and it usually turns out good.
Hi Kajal, it would be several things, how hot was the oil, if it isn’t hot enough then it won’t puff. Just like any fried bread, if you want it to puff you have to make sure several things are right. Maybe it wasn’t rolled well or the dough needed more time to ferment but I really think it’s the temperature of the oil that was the problem.
Hi Manali, Thanks for sharing the recipe. The Bhature came out perfect all puff and recipe easy to follow.
Hi Manali,
Can I use semolina from a regular grocery store instead of sooji? I’m looking at Bob’s Red Mill Brand.
Thanks!
should be fine
Is the dough meant to be quite wet?
it’s not wet at all, please see step pictures
Tried it for the first time and it was a HIT.
Thanks for the recipe
Made bhatura fist time today. What a easy and delicious recipe. Bhatura came out perfect.
awesome!
I’ve tried other recipes but this one was fantastic. Thank you
Tried these today for the first time. Came out great!!! My entire family enjoyed these. I also ran out of the dough as other reviewer mentioned. Next time I will make 2X the recipe. I got 2 bites out of my husband’s plate and they tasted better than store bought. Thank you for taking the time to share this recipe.
Made bhature for the second time, with your recipe and they turned out very yummy! best ever!! thanks for the wonderful recipe.
Fantastic! Made for the first time. Easy instructions. My wife asked me to make them. I had never heard of them before! Very tasty! I served with a spiced chickpea and chicken heart dish. I can recommend this recipe 100%. Thankyou!
The Bhaturas came out perfect! Thanks for the recipe!
I tried your recipe of Bhature yesterday for Diwali dinner, they came out so good ! Everyone in my loved it and enjoyed it ! I am so happy to find a perfect recipe. Thank you so much for all your hard work to help us to become better cooks.?
glad to know Madhu 🙂
About how many inches should I roll the bhaturas out to?
6-7 inches maybe
It was my first time making bhaturas and they turned out amazing! I rolled them to about 8-9” before I saw your reply, but they still worked out well. I love that you provide gram measurements for your ingredients, makes it very easy to measure out stuff. Not many Indian cooking blogs do that. Keep up the good work!
Tried to make Bhatura’s for the first time, and it came out superb just like a pro. Thanks Manali
welcome! glad to know!