Roti Canai Recipe
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I’d been meaning to post this for awhile but before I had the chance I was asked by SBS Broadcasting last week if they could come round and take pictures of me flipping roti in my kitchen. This happened in a flash and before I knew it they wanted the recipe to post on their website along with a step-by-step slideshow of the process, so I had to quickly crunch some numbers to make about 8 roti (in hindsight my figures may have been a little off, lol).
Anyhow, here are my (correct) bulk measurements; feel free to convert them yourself in the meantime, unless I get to update this post before you get to attempt making it in your kitchen. (Sorry, if this post seems rushed, it is – I have a big catering gig first thing in the morning and I’m doing it alone.) This, for the record, is enough for about 70 pcs of roti.
Also, go ahead and check out the slideshow on SBS’s website; I’ll post my own roti-flipping video hopefully in the near future; in the meantime I managed to drag out some clips done a few weeks back of the roti dough being cut up and worked, then coated with ghee (I’ve stitched 2 clips into one as evidenced by my different hair lengths – yes, scruffy hair but I work alone in my kitchen so, whatever)
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ02qGAuHB0?rel=0]
Jackie M’s Roti Canai
5kg plain flour
1 cup gluten flour
1/2 cup salt
1 cup sugar
2 cans condensed milk
500ml vegetable oil
500ml egg whites
2.25-2.5L water
(for coating the dough) about 3 cups ghee
1. Throw all the ingredients except the ghee in a dough mixer.
2. Using a dough-hook attachment, work the dough for about 20mins (less if smaller portion)
3. Cut dough into even pieces.
4. Work each piece so that it’s a smooth round ball (this is important; there should be no folds and as much as possible, no creases in each portion).
5. Coat with ghee and arrange on grease-lined tray. And yeah, even though they shouldn’t stick together thanks to the ghee, I prefer to set them apart since sometimes, they do, and once you have to pull them apart, they get out of shape, which makes them tricky to work with.
6. Cover and allow to rest for about 8 hours.
7. The dough really works best at room temperature. In colder months, I usually pop the tray into an oven that’s been heated at the lowest setting for a couple of minutes, then turned off. I’d leave the tray in there for about 2 hours before I flip the dough.
8. Flatten a piece of dough with the palm of your hand.
9. Assuming you’re right-handed,position your left hand facing downwards on the flattened dough, and your right hand a few inches apart and under it, facing upwards.
10. Lift with your right hand and ‘throw’ the dough away from you to your right, creating a figure 8 with your elbows in the air as you do.
11. Keep flipping until paper thin, then stretch the edges without tearing it. Dab a little ghee in the middle of the dough sheet.
12. Fold in the sides envelope-style; if the dough wants to shrink back in, leave it to rest for a couple of minutes before cooking.
13. Cook on medium heat on a griddle for a minute or so each side.
Lala is a sucker for roti! this might have to do until i can take her to your place… thanks for sharing!
No worries; hope it works, LOL
hey jackie, nice work! is it okay to use just gluten flour alone or is it necessary to mix it in with plain flour? thanks!
Hi Benny, thanks for the feedback! I need to clarify by gluten flour I meant this gluten extract which I buy from Chinese grocery stores (don’t think they’re readily available at your local supermarket). This needs to be mixed with regular plain flour.
If by ‘gluten flour’ you mean eg. ‘Bread Flour’ or ‘Gluten-enriched Flour’ or ‘Strong Flour’ then yes, you definitely can use it ‘as-is’ 🙂
Hi thanks for the recipe!
I was wondering if I could mix strong bread and plain flour together since I only have little bit of both of them lol thanks
Yes definitely. You would want to reduce the amount of water used if that’s the case, but to be honest the amount of water used is dependent on humidity levels etc. I’ve found lately that I’ve had to use quite a lot less water in all my dough-based recipes so while I’m not sure if there’s an overriding cause for that, keep in mind that you should add water in stages to gauge how much you really need 🙂
Hi Jackie – I’m new at this. What is plain flour? All Purpose Flour?
Also, what is gluten flour? I purchase a bag of flour and on it has the word “high gluten” flour and it’s a brownish color. Is that okay to use?
Thanks so much!
Remember I emailed asking for recipe. Lol, I finally found it here in your blog.
Since I’m trying this out, will cut the batch into half portion.
The next thing is, I’ve the roti but where is my curry ? Hahaha
Do you have good dhal or “mamak style” curry where I can try out ?
“Emm Koi Sai” [Hakka]
Fabulous, so you found it – unlike the last guy! Good luck, it’ll take a few ruined batches and adjusting the amount of water. And yes, I do have a dhal recipe and video that I filmed a few weeks ago, but it’s with a production company and they’re still editing it. Subscribe to my channel – youtube.com/jackiemsydney so you get notified when it’s up 😉
Never wanted it and never will, but I guess your genuine heart of cooking Malaysian food brings me a step closer to social media. You are my first I subscribed on YouTube and will continue to stay tune in your channel.
Have fun making good videos and happy cooking !
Thank you Simon, don’t hesitate to comment on the videos if you have any questions 🙂
Hi Jackie M . I want to ask you a question is what is gluten flour ? Haha , i really confuse with that . Thank you.
Hi Alex, sorry for the late response – I’ve just wrapped up my busiest month of the year 🙂 Gluten flour is something I found at the Asian grocery store – which is something I add to plain flour to make it more “rubbery” for want of a better expression. Gluten exists in plain wheat flour anyway, but adding it helps prevent it from tearing so easily when the dough is stretched/flipped. You can also use “bread flour” which basically has the same effect. “Cake flour” is the opposite – it has very low gluten because cakes, unlike bread/roti, don’t need to be stretchy in texture. Bread flour would be the kind of flour you buy at supermarkets for use in baking bread. This is not to be confused with bread pre-mixes which also have yeast in them – the yeast makes the dough rise, which isn’t what we want when making roti, which is meant to be a flat bread.