Marie Mitchell's Buss Up Shut Roti
Ingredients
450g bread flour
½ tbsp baking powder
½ tbsp fine sea salt
½ tbsp light brown soft sugar
½ tbsp sunflower oil
300ml hand-hot water, oat milk or whole milk
About 100ml sunflower oil and 100g melted ghee (have a bit extra, just in case),
combined
Makes six rotis
Method
Place all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir to combine, before
adding ½ tbsp of sunflower oil and mixing in with the dry ingredients. Make a well
in the centre and pour in the water or milk. Using your fingers, gradually
incorporate the dry ingredients into the liquid to form a wet dough.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead it for about 10
minutes, to a soft, springy ball that you can press lightly and have it spring back.
Grease the dough with oil, then place it in a clean bowl. Cover, and leave the dough
to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into six equal balls. One by one, hold each ball in the palm of one
hand and gently pinch the outer edge of the ball with your opposite hand, bringing
it into the centre. Repeat all around the ball edge. Use a thumb to press into the
centre to seal all the pinches together. Once you have sealed all the balls, oil them
and rest them in your mixing bowl, covered with a tea towel, for another 30
minutes (you can place them on a baking tray, if you prefer). Once they have
rested, use your hands to gently flatten each ball and rotate it to form a flat disc.
A portion at a time, shape the roti. Using a rolling pin, roll each dough ball into a
15cm disc, repeatedly rolling and turning through 180° for an even roll. Imagine
the disc as a clock face. Slice the dough disc at 12 o’clock, making a vertical slit to
the centre. Brush the disc generously with your oil and ghee mixture, all the way to
the edge, then pick up the right-hand cut edge and, in thirds, fold over the first half
of the clock face, in a clockwise direction (2 o’clock to 4 o’clock to 6 o’clock). Then,
roll the dough from the folded edge around the rest of the imaginary clock face
(clockwise to 12), so that you finish with a tight, layered cone. Holding the cone in one hand, point downward, use your opposite thumb to push all the layers into the
centre to seal the end of the cone. Return the cone to the work surface, sealed end
downward, and press in the pointed end to seal there, too. Repeat for each ball of
dough.
Transfer the roti to the fridge and rest them for at least 4 hours, but ideally
overnight, so you preserve those lovely layers. Alternatively place the cones in an
airtight container (side by side, but never stacked on top of one another, which
would deform their shape) and freeze them for up to 3 months. (Alternatively you
can freeze them once they are rolled out, before cooking, and cook them from
frozen.) Keep the remaining oil and ghee mixture for when you come to cook –
you’ll need to warm it a little to loosen it again for brushing.
When you’re ready to cook, gently flatten the dough balls into a round and roll
them out using the same motion of one direction at a time, repeatedly rotating
through 180 degrees to get a circular, flat roti, about 15 cm in diameter and
4–5mm thick (don’t worry if it’s not perfect – my roti rarely are). You don’t want to
roll too hard or too thin as you will then lose all the lovely layers.
Warm a tawa or cast iron skillet on a medium heat. When hot, brush the pan with your
oil and ghee mixture and place your first roti on or in the pan. Oil the roti a little
before flipping it over, you’ll want to make sure it is nicely coloured – no more than
30 seconds to 1 minute each side should be perfect. Then, beat each roti all over
with your spatula until it starts to break up a little, before setting aside to keep
warm while you repeat with the remaining dough. Once all the roti are cooked,
serve them straight away.