Bhatura Recipe- How To Make Bhature

Bhatura is an Indian leavened fried bread made with all purpose flour or plain flour. It is soft with a slightly chewy texture and a unique flavor. Tastes super delicious with spicy chickpea curry called chole or chana masala.

Chole bhature is a popular and most loved dish from Punjabi dhabas, street food and north Indian restaurants. Here I am sharing 2 ways to make bhatura at home. My detailed recipe with step by step photos will help you make soft chewy puffy bhatura just like dhaba ones at home just like the ones from north India.

For more Indian bread recipes plain paratha, butter naan, plain kulcha, tandoori roti recipes.

There are few dishes that remain our forever favorite no matter how many new dishes we get to explore right? Chole bhature is surely one such dish for me from childhood. It is called as chola poori in south Indian restaurants and must have for me whenever we eat out 🙂

Over the years, I have tasted some of the best bhatura chole in many restaurants and also have collected recipes for the same. The recipe of bhatura I am sharing here is a mix of mom’s recipe along with my tweaks. This is a no yeast bhatura recipe where the leavening agent is baking soda and yogurt.

I am also sharing another easy instant bhature recipe where you need not rest the dough for long hours. You can choose your preferred method and make.

So here we go with the recipe along with all the tips and tricks you need to make perfect bhatura at home 🙂

About This Recipe

What is Bhatura?

Bhatura is a fried Indian bread from Punjab made of plain flour or maida along with some sooji, yogurt and a leavening agent. This deep fried bread is immensely popular across the country.

As I have mentioned above there many ways to make bhatura recipe. The traditional method is to let the dough ferment or leaven for at least 4 hours with baking soda and yogurt.

Just like most of the elaborate recipes, there are instant versions of bhatura too. The most popular ones are made using fruit salt like eno and another version uses bread slices.

I have made the instant versions few times but I always come back to traditional fermented method. I feel that the chewy texture and unique flavor that comes from fermented bhatura dough is missing in instant methods.

The same goes with making bhatura with whole wheat flour. While you can easily replace plain flour with wheat flour in this recipe, the taste and flavor is just not the same. It tastes only like puri and not bhature.

As I rarely make bhatura at home, I use plain flour and ferment the dough. Here I am sharing all the methods so that you can choose the one you prefer.

Ingredients For Bhature

Flour– Plain flour or all purpose flour known as maida is traditionally used to make bhatura. To get the real taste and flavor I suggest you stick to the same. However if you must you can use wheat flour or 1 cup wheat flour and 1 cup plain flour.

Leavening Agent– Usually this flatbread is leavened with baking soda or yeast. I prefer to use baking soda as it yields more dhaba style bhatura. I have given instructions for making this with yeast too.

Yogurt– Curd or plain yogurt is used to leaven the dough along with baking soda. Use good quality yogurt for best results. Vegans can use cahsew or almond yogurt.

Sooji– A small amount of rava or sooji or semolina is added for crispiness. It also makes the bhatura lighter.

A dash of sugar helps in leavening the dough. You can also add honey or maple too.

Salt to taste

Oil– I prefer to use peanut oil or groundnut oil to fry the bhature. You can use any neutral cooking oil for frying these flatbreads.

How To Make Bhatura Recipe

Combine 2 cups all purpose flour maida, 2 tablespoons rava, 1/2 cup yogurt, 1 tablespoon oil, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl.

Add 1/2 tsp baking soda and mix well and add water little by little. You can also add 1/2 teaspoon baking powder but do not skip baking soda.

Knead the dough well. You have to knead it to a soft yet firm somewhat sticky dough. Cover the dough well. Set aside the bhatura dough for 3-6 hours to leaven at room temperature. You have to knead the dough really well until it is nicely stretches and turns elastic. You can use a stand mixer to knead the dough or even a food processor with dough blade.

After the dough has fermented a bit, it will slightly increase in volume. Now divide the dough into 9-10 equal portions. Take one dough ball and roll into circle as shown in picture using a rolling pin.

Heat oil for deep frying. The oil should be hot but not smoking. If using a thermometer it should read 190 C or 350 F. Once the oil is hot slide the rolled dough into the hot oil. It will puff up immediately.

Flip gently and fry the bhatura well from both sides until completely puffed, light and golden brown. Remove the deep fried bhatura to a plate lined with a kitchen towel.

Serve bhatura hot with chole masala or any spicy curry.

Instant Bhature Recipe

Method 1: To make super quick instant bhatura that does not require the fermentation process we will add fruit salt like eno to instantly leaven the dough. Use 1 teaspoon fruit salt instead of baking powder baking soda. Please note that after adding eno you have to use the dough immediately. Do not let it sit.

Method-2 For this method we will use plain bread slices. The yeast in bread slices will leaven the dough immediately.

You will need 6 bread slices for 2 cups flour. Just pulse the bread into fine crumbs and add along with along ingredients. Do not use bread crumbs for this recipe, we need fresh soft bread powdered into crumbs. The other ingredients and method remain the same. After kneading a soft dough you can immediately roll and fry them into bhature.

Tips To Make Good Bhatura At Home

First point to make chewy bhature at home is to use all purpose flour. Sure there are many recipes with whole wheat flour but they are no where near the real ones.

Next it is important to knead the dough really well to get that chewy texture in the fried bread. You have to pull and fold the dough several times to make the dough stretchy and elastic.

You can knead the dough by hand if you do not mind the work. If kneading by hand you have to knead it at least for 10 minutes. You can also use a stand mixer with dough hook for kneading or a food processor too. If using a stand mixer knead for 5-7 minutes or until the dough is soft, pliable and elastic.

If you are following the traditional method to make bhatura it is very important to leaven the dough very well. Let the dough ferment for at least 2 hours for best results.

Next while rolling the dough into circles do not use dry flour as it will create a dry layer on frying as well mess up the oil. Instead apply some oil all over the rolling pin while rolling.

Next make sure to roll the dough slightly thicker than poori but thinner than naan bread. It should be of around 3-4 mm thickness. If you roll very thin, the chewy texture unique to bhatura will be missing.

Serving Suggestions

Chole bhatura- the classic combination of piping hot fried bhature with spicy chickpea curry. You can serve with any one of these chana curries

Punjabi chole

Amritsari chole

Vegan chickpea curry

Palak chole

Paneer chole

Aloo chana

Chickpea cauliflower curry

With other Indian curries– These bhature also taste very good with delicious Indian curries like palak paneer, kadai paneer, veg makhanwala, navratan korma, tofu tikka masala etc.

Frequently Asked Questions

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