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
Family classic now made every week- thank you so much! I didn’t rate this the first time but I’ve made it probably 20 odd times- it’s brilliant
awesome!
Thanks a lot for this recipe. I just changed to 50-50 whole wheat flour and plain flour and other as per your recipe. It turned out yummm!❤️
glad to know!
Hi Manali
Followed the recipe….Bhaturas turned out awesome everybody loved it. I ran short of the dough as everyone wanted more?
awesome!
I followed the recipe exactly and it came out just perfect ,colour and taste too good. Just a suggestion if you can add a short video of the kneading part it might be useful for others.
Keep posting such wonderful recipes.
I will try to post video!
Perfect and instant (excluding the rest time). Even Yam will say Yummy!!!
awesome!
Can I keep aside for more than one hour after kneading
yes!
I made these for Father’s Day today. Hubby loved these. One question: will 1/8 teaspoon baking soda be the right amount? Two pinched of baking soda seems somewhat subjective to me.
Thank you so much!
yes sounds fine
Hi! Going to try it tomm. Can the dough be made the previous night and stored in the fridge? Or will it go flat?
I have tried that, the bhaturas don’t puff up as much and also seem to soak more oil. Best would be to use the dough fresh.
Thanks for the recipe. It was excellent everyone enjoyed it. They were the best lve ever made
Thanks for the recipe. Ive been making bhaturas for very long. But this time l followed your recipe. They turned out to be excellent. Everyone enjoyed them . Thanks again
Hey! Can i skip yogurt?
you can’t, makes the bhatura soft and also needed to reach with the baking soda!
Thanks for the receipe, would be good if you could regarding the rolling, , if a little flour is required whilst rolling the bhatura . Or oil. You haven’t specified. Cuz I feel the rolling part is the most important, it’s how well your roll, that decides the fluffing in the oil..
I actually don’t use anything, neither flour nor oil while rolling. Just roll it lengthwise and then width wise, like stretching it.
Hi,
Can I skip sugar from this recipe?
you can but it adds to flavor and also helps give that nice brown color to the bhatura
Is maida self raising flour (blue ) for the bhaturas
I don’t know what’s blue? this is simple all purpose flour! not self raising flour
Hi Manali,
Tried the recipe for the first time and it turned out perfect. My family members enjoyed it. I have tried so many of your recipes and they have never disappointed me. Thanks again!
Hi Manali,
Tried making bhaturas for the first time and they were amazing! Thank you for making a seemingly daunting task simple and yum! I will be attempting to replicate some of your other indian recipes going forward. 🙂
Hi! Could I make with whole wheat flour? I can’t find all purpose flour anywhere these days…
it will be dense, haven’t tested this recipe with whole wheat.
Manali-You mentioned baking soda and baking powder.
Do you use both or any one?
both since both are mentioned in the recipe
Worked great the first time! Didn’t have baking powder so I added more baking soda and added some vinegar. Still great! My son and my wife loved them! Thank you
We have tried many bhatura recipes. But yours is the best. Thanks.
Adding milk makes the dough too loose and the sugar proportion is too much, making the bhatura very red, even before it is cooked from inside
Sorry it didn’t workout for you, it has worked well for so many and is a tried and tested recipe.
Hey Manali, I tried the bhatura recipe for first time. The bhaturas were lovely for a first timer. But while pressing/rolling them, they were shrinking. May be I activated gluten a lot by kneading too much?
Also not all of my bhaturas fluffed up and crisped. probably oil temperature?
Hello, they already shrink a little just like naan does too. IF they are shrinking a lot, let the dough rest for some time and then try again.
Hi manali, great recipe. Just a quick question. Is it okay if I add Amla the chole while following this recipe?
you mean add dried amla to chole? sure why not
Can I prepare the dough and leave it on the fridge overnight ? thanks
hmm you can try but best would be to make them after a rest of 1-2 hours
I made it and it turned out great. Thank you for the recipe!
Best bhatura recipe!! Every single bhatura puffed up beautifully… And there were no leftovers! Loved it!! Thankyou!!!
yay! welcome 🙂
I tried this recipe and it came out sooooo good. Soft and delicious. Thank you Manali. Looking forward to more of your recipes
I tried this recipe and it came out sooooo good. Soft and delicious. Love it!
Can i make without sooji or rice flour?
you can skip the sooji, there’s no rice flour in the recipe
do you know if this can be made in a bread machine?
I meant make the dough and allow it to rise in the bread machine, I would take it out and roll it and fry it of course
you can try, sorry I don’t have a bread machine so can’t comment
Omg amazing….no need to drive out to eat these anymore 🙂
yay 🙂
Hi Manali,
I tried your recipe ditto and the bhaturas turned out excellent! keep it up!
Tried bhature for the first time as per ur recipe… And indeed it came out wonderful and delicious ? ? ?…. Thanks a lot!!! ? ? ?
U can leave dough over night
In winters where to keep dough in which warm place for 1 hour..no sunlight..
inside a microwave or inside a oven (you can pre-heat the oven for a bit and then turn it off and then keep the dough inside)
Your recipe is excellent!! What I tried from my own side, keeping it for much longer than what you told in your recipe is not a good idea at all. It is only making them way too heavy and oily. Thank you so much!! You are too good!!
glad it worked!
My bhaturas r not rolling properly
As I try to put in kadai it’s gets shrink
Can u tell me wat to do
I would suggest resting the dough for some more time and then roll again
Excellent recipe! Thank you so much!
Made bhatura for first time and it turned out perfect. Thanks to you !!
Awesome! glad to hear!
This is my go to recipe for bhatura. I’ve made it three times now in my kitchen aid stand mixer and it always turns out perfectly. Thank you!
I tried it out and it turned super soft, fluffy and tasty! My husband loved it! Thanks a ton for this wonderful recipe. I followed all the exact propotions you mentioned.
Welcome! glad you liked it
greetings from Pakistan! the batura turned out superb and thank you for a superb recipe. my only question is what should be the consistency of dough? soft or hard? many thanks
soft!
Instead of maida can i use atta???♀️
I have not tried this recipe with atta Avanthika so I can’t comment on it… maybe you can try 50% atta and 50% maida and see if it works
I shared this recipe with my daughters and they both instantly asked me to make them the day they get home from college. I can’t wait to see them and make this specially requested meal for them. Thanks for sharing.
Welcome Mina! I hope your daughters enjoy it 🙂
Superb recipe. Tried bhature first time and it came out like a pro. Thank you Malini for the superb recipe.
Welcome! Glad to know! 🙂
I can not make dough with 3-4 tablet spoon milk????
What’s wrong? Can you explain? And if you can’t make the dough, simply add more milk to knead!
If you use yogurt like it’s mentioned, 3-4 tbsn milk is more than enough.Hope this helps.
Very nice I really love it thanks for tips
WOW, Bhatura is new to me but in looking over your recipe and photos I think I’m an instant devotee! This looks absolutely wonderful.
Oh my gosh, I’ve GOT to try this bread at home! I’m seriously in love with how puffy and crunchy it looks, Manali!
Bet they are very delicious and addictive!