Paratha Recipe (Perfected!)

Stir together the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.

In a separate bowl, stir together the water, yogurt and oil in a stand mixer. Add this mixture to the flour and stir by hand to combine and form a shaggy dough.

Attach the dough hook and knead the dough in the stand mixer for 3 minutes. Don't worry if the dough is sticky; this is normal. Wet your hands slightly to make it easier to handle the dough, then remove it from the mixer. (Alternatively, you can knead the dough by hand for 5-7 minutes until smooth.)

Lightly oil a bench scraper or knife, then divide the sticky dough into 8 equal portions. Cover the dough pieces with a cloth and let them rest for an hour.

Flour your work surface and roll out a piece of dough thinly, not worrying too much about its shape.

Brush the rolled-out dough with melted butter and roll it up from one of the long edges.

Stretch and twist the rolled-up dough to create a long, skinny rope-like shape.

Coil this rope into a snail shape, pinching the end to secure it. Flatten it slightly and let it rest for another hour. Optionally, you can refrigerate it for up to 48 hours, but remember to bring it back to room temperature before proceeding.

Flour your surface once more and roll out one of the coiled dough pieces until thin. Use your hands to stretch gently the paratha thinner.

Preheat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes. Place a rolled-out piece of dough in the hot skillet. Flip the dough when the first golden spots appear on the underside (30-60 seconds). Continue flipping every 20 seconds, pressing gently with a spatula to encourage the paratha to puff up in spots. Frequent flipping of the paratha really helps make them puff!

Remove the cooked paratha from the skillet and place it on a cutting board. While still warm, scrunch up the paratha slightly to help the layers separate and become more visible.