How I learned to make perfect roti canai!

I finally finally figured out how to make roti canai, just like the kind I bought on Tioman Island and Mersing in Malaysia! It took a few weeks of looking for ghee in the stores and then making my own, then realizing that ghee is useless in making the kind of roti that I wanted...

The first batch of roti used just flour and butter and turned out like biscuits.
The second batch used flour and ghee and also turned out like biscuits
I used this recipe for the first two tries, it failed for me pretty horribly

The third batch was based on this youtube video and it turned out alright, much better than my previous tries.  It was more like naan bread, like a puffy tortilla, but it wasn't what I wanted, so back to the drawing board.

I took what I learned with these first three tries; you don't mix butter or ghee with flour, it simply doesn't allow the flour to become rubbery enough to stretch, instead you get biscuit dough.  I also learned that water is what you need to mix with flour to get the ultra rubbery tissue paper thin dough.  There was still something I was missing, I still couldn't get the dough thin enough without it drying out or sticking to itself and turning into another biscuit or crumbly/sticky mess.

I did three test batches at once after the first three separate tries.

The fourth batch was two balls of oil and flour mix, just to see if vegetable oil was different than ghee, it wasn't. I didn't even try cooking them, they went right into the "lapsap doi" aka garbage bag

The fifth and sixth batch I found this website and used this recipe:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup cooking oil 

In one bowl I had one ball of water and flour with a light coating of vegetable oil
In the other bowl I had 4 balls of water and flour, but soaking in oil

After letting them sit for about 4 hours I prepared them for cooking.  The one that wasn't soaking in oil was alright, it was a little sticky though, but it did get really thin, the oil coating was the secret.

The four that were soaking in oil were very easy to work with, the oil coating on the outside contains all the stickiness of the dough and it makes it a big rubber sheet that you are free to stretch to tissue paper thickness.  My technique isn't quite like this guy's but I did get my roti canai pretty thin.  I'd just work the ball in my hands like pizza dough and then flop it down on the lightly greased counter and then stretch it more there.  After a good amount of stretching you fold in the edges and throw it on the hot and greased fry pan for a few minutes where it bubbles up and then flipped.

Don't forget to crush them like the guy in the video, they did that at every place I ordered it while in Malaysia, just let it rip!

After hours of searching the internet and trying different recipes and techniques, while wasting cups and cups of flour, ghee, oil, and tears...I've found the way to make roti canai that I'm very satisfied with and I will be making it this way many more times.

My little ball of deliciousness soaking in it's glorious oil, almost ready for its transformation

 

This one is a little weird shaped but no less delicious!

 

 A little closer look at the flaky, bubbly, chewy, puffy, greasy, wonderful roti canai

 

 The finished product shortly before disappearing without a trace.