Bread by Hand

January has brought a new year, and it has brought increasingly cold weather as well.  It’s been dry, so we haven’t yet had any snow, but dressing in four or five layers is now our daily routine.  Living in West Africa, I was always on the lookout for shade; here, it’s warm places that magnetically draw me.  On my afternoon visits, I find myself heading in the direction of neighbors with warm kitchens!

Some of the best visits take place in kitchens where I arrive just in time for fresh bread with my chai.  This bread is almost identical to Mexican tortillas, and is made, with regional variations, all over India. roti #1  Here, the local name for it translates in English as “hand-bread.”  The reason is obvious as I watch the process.  This young woman is the daughter-in-law in the house;  daughters-in-law are often the ones told to make bread and serve chai, as they are hostesses-in-training.  She has made a simple dough with flour, water, salt, and oil, which she shapes into small balls.  She takes each ball, stretches it, then pats it between her hands to flatten it. Then she rolls it on a round board with a small rolling pin.  I watch as she expertly turns the bread just a little between each roll so that it comes out nicely circular, earning a small nod of approval from her mother-in-law.

She tosses the bread onto a hot griddle over an electric hotplate, along with a dab of oil. roti #2 If it looks like she is sitting on the floor to do all this, that’s right—and her griddle is set up in the space under the counter (where there are cupboards in our kitchen).  This is how many of my neighbors have their kitchen set up—I guess they figure why stand up to work when you can sit?  I think this young woman’s fingers must already be calloused, because she can grab the hot bread with them and quickly flip it on the pan.  It only takes a few minutes to cook, and in that time she has another one rolled out and ready.  I asked her mother-in-law if every woman knows how to make “hand-bread” and she said yes, then asked me if I knew how.  Well… I told her I probably needed a few lessons, and she invited me back to learn.  That might be a good way to keep my fingers warm!


Posted in Uncategorized and tagged by