Girda Kashmiri bread Recipe
Girda is the traditional Kashmiri everyday flatbread much like naan but having different flavours and taste.
Ingredients
1 cup = 200 ml
FOR ACTIVATING YEAST
- 1/2 cup luke warm water
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp Yeast
FOR MAKING DOUGH
- Activated yeast
- 2 cup all purpose flour (320 gram)
- 1/2 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp desi ghee
- Water for kneading dough
FOR SHAPING & BAKING GIRDA
- Ghee for greasing
- water as required
- 1 tbsp poppy seeds
Instructions
- Add water and sugar in a bowl. Mix.
- Add yeast and mix it too.
- Leave this for 10-15 minutes and there will be frothy and bubbly surface over the water which means yeast is activated.
- Add flour, salt and ghee. Mix well.
- Now start adding little water and keep mixing the dough.
- Knead the dough for 10-12 minutes. Initially the dough will be sticky and after some time of kneading, it will become smooth.
- Grease the bowl and dough with ghee.
- Cover the bowl properly and keep it for 2 hours at some warm place in the kitchen.
- After 2 hours, dough must have been fermented and gets doubled in size.
- Knead it for 2-3 minutes.
- Divide the dough in 5 equal portions.
- Now take a portion of dough and roll it between your palm.
- Place it on a clean surface.
- Also put your oven for preheating on HIGHEST TEMPERATURE (ours is 230°C) for 15 minutes with only top coil on.
- Wet your hand with water and start spreading the ball in circular motion by pressing with palm making the ball a flat disk to about 3 mm (⅛ inches) thick and 5 cm (2 inches) in diameter. This is the traditional method of shaping Girda.
- Traditional method needs little expertise and if you are finding difficulty in shaping Girda with palm, them you can simply use the rolling pin.
- Now put the impressions on all over the disk, leaving the edges, by pressing with your finger tips. But this time, the surface of the disk has to be wet, only then it will get the impressions.
- Sprinkle poppy seeds.
- Transfer the Girda in a baking tray lined with greased butter paper. Remember, the side with poppy seeds has to be upwards. Put as many girdas as your oven tray can accomodate in one go.
- Put the baking tray CLOSEST POSSIBLE to TOP COIL of oven and bake in a pre-heated oven on highest temperature for 5-7 minutes or until top gets brown. You can use the broil or grill settings if your oven has. (Don't miss to see note nos. 4 & 5 below for understanding the actual time of baking & reason to bake close to top coil).
- When top gets brown, open the oven and turn the side of Girda.
- Bake for 2-3 minutes only again closest to top coil.
- Repeat until all 5 Girdas are ready. Enjoy.
Notes
- We used active yeast which required activation. If you have instant yeast, then no need to activate it first. Click here to know more about the usage of yeast.
- For evenly sized grida, you may scale them if have the facility. We have divided the dough in 5 equal portions. Total weight of our dough was 485 grams so each portion was of 97 gram.
- Girda dough needs no second fermentation.
- Girda is traditionally baked in tandoor (clay oven) where it is baked only for 2-3 minutes in total because the temperature of tandoor is much more higher. But as we are using regular electric oven, so it will take little extra time.
- If you don't bake it close to top coil, then baking time will increase. And if you bake Girda for a longer period, then it will turn totally hard whereas the actual texture of girda is slightly hard yet soft and chew as well.