DIY | Freezer Ready Spinach Flat Bread | Indian Palak Roti

Promise of fresh and healthy bread for dinner, in minutes!

DIY | Freezer Ready Spinach Flat Bread | Indian Palak Roti
Diet Info: DF GF F LF Na LS VG V Fa

Do you always make fresh bread for dinner?

Or let me re-phrase:

a) Do you always make bread for Indian Dinner at home? Or b) Bring that pre-rolled roti packet from store?

If your answer is (b), I can help you make the same bread at home, in advance, almost like bought-from-store-ready! How good does that sound?

Freeze your own healthy wholesome Indian Bread for dinner | chefdehome.com

In Indian cooking, breads are made just before eating. Since Indian flat breads, specially the ones consumed at home, have no leavening agent like baking soda or yeast or eggs. So if cooked and kept for long, these simple bread go dry and rigid pretty quickly! Hence, are cooked just before serving.

I never froze bread (actually, I hardly even cooked bread! lol!) before marriage. I bet, 90% of home cooks in India still don't freeze breads. When you get expert in rolling and cooking flat breads, making few breads for dinner becomes "a piece of cake". Really, I mean it! But things were very different when I started cooking and was also working full-time 9-6 jobs. Thing is, IT companies love to make you stay late, often, to finish even tomorrow's work in advance. j/k but... yes, Computer Engineer's job often gets stretched to 9pm, easily! So, on those days, I faced a big challenge, challenge of putting dinner on table, 10pm at night. I was not a foodie blogger or expert cook, or even had no clue about miracles-of-slow-cooker at that time. Often, when it got too late, my day looked like, dinner at 11pm, cleaning by 12, sleep quickly, and show up again in kitchen at 5 am.

 Ready to eat healthy Indian Spinach Flat Bread | chefdehome.com

So, one day, I spent 4 hours over the weekend and rolled Stuffed (for Breakfast) to Plain Flat Breads (for dinner). Meticulously made batches of 4-breads-each-ziploc and froze! That week I had lots of "Aha" moments! And I never looked back again. Always made sure to keep a batch of homemade "Roti" for dinner and breakfast in freezer. Even though my weekend got even more busy. The life became really good for weekday dinners. I never froze cooked breads like many people prefer to do. I froze uncooked breads. So, end experience was still a fresh bread, yet I saved time of kneading or rolling breads. And if I was alone stuck at work, Vishal had option to take-out few breads, sear and have dinner!

Today, I have complied this post to share with you method of freezing and cooking uncooked flat bread. All you need: basic flat bread ingredients, 20 spare minutes,  few round-cut sheets of parchment paper or cling wraps, and large size ziploc bags for easy storage. And I promise you never have order a bread from store for dinner! Not just Indian food, these healthy, whole wheat, spinach-packed flat breads are perfect to serve with stews, or even for tacos! I often use this bread for tacos!

Now, I will stop chattering and direct you straight to the recipe instructions.

 Freeze your own Indian Spinach Flat Bread for healthy and delicious dinner bread in no time | chefdehome.com

I hope this will help you feed fresh bread to your family, specially when your are time pressed. Flat bread will stay good in freezer for up-to 1 month. 

Have a great day!

Savita

How about some delicious curries for an Indian Dinner at home?

Morel Mushroom Curry Lychee Paneer Tikka Masala Curried Cauliflower

DIY | Freezer Ready Spinach Flat Bread | Indian Palak Roti

DIY | Freezer Ready Spinach Flat Bread | Indian Palak Roti
Total Time: (Idle Time: 10 mins) Prep Time: Cook Time: Cuisine: Indian () Difficulty: Easy
Yields: 10 Flat Breads - Serves: 5

Ingredients

Smart Swap: Replace spinach with blanched green of your choice - Kale, Arugula, Fenugreek are few of my favoirte

Directions

  • Step for Recipe - DIY | Freezer Ready Spinach Flat Bread | Indian Palak Roti 1. Blanch spinach, let it cool slightly, then squeeze all water and add to a bowl with flour, salt, black pepper, and oil.
    Step for Recipe - DIY | Freezer Ready Spinach Flat Bread | Indian Palak Roti 2. Since spinach is wet, just work on the dough with hand without adding water until dough comes together. Rub the flour and spinach together to make the process easy, then add water 1 tbsp at-a-time until dough comes together.
  • Step for Recipe - DIY | Freezer Ready Spinach Flat Bread | Indian Palak Roti 3. Knead the dough with fold and punch action for 2 minutes, then set aside.
    Step for Recipe - DIY | Freezer Ready Spinach Flat Bread | Indian Palak Roti 4. While dough is resting (10-15 minutes), cut 10, 4-5 inch diameter discs of parchment paper and set aside.
  • Step for Recipe - DIY | Freezer Ready Spinach Flat Bread | Indian Palak Roti 5. Make 10 small tennis-size balls from rested dough and place on a flour dusted board.
    Step for Recipe - DIY | Freezer Ready Spinach Flat Bread | Indian Palak Roti 6. Roll each ball into 4-5 inch diameter circle with rolling pin. Keep placing on a plate/tray with one parchment disc in-between.
  • Step for Recipe - DIY | Freezer Ready Spinach Flat Bread | Indian Palak Roti 7. Once you have rolled all roti, there will be a stack of roti with parchment-paper lined between all. This prevents flat breads from sticking together when frozen.
  • 8. Carefully transfer pile of rolled roti in a ziploc or plastic bag. Place in freezer on a flat surface so that roti stay flat when freezing.
  • Step for Recipe - DIY | Freezer Ready Spinach Flat Bread | Indian Palak Roti 9. Cooking Instructions: When your want to use flat bread. Heat a flat griddle. Take out frozen roti and remove as many as you want. Pull roti with pressure on parchment so as to separate without breaking roti. Sear frozen roti on hot griddle for 1-2 minute each side until brown spots appear all over. Additional Notes: Don't feel tempted to flip until one side of roti is fully cooked. If Roti appears to be stuck it will come out as it gets fully cooked.
    Step for Recipe - DIY | Freezer Ready Spinach Flat Bread | Indian Palak Roti 10. Slather cooked roti with a little bit of butter for more flavor (optional) Serve for dinner or roll and pack-to-go for breakfast!
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18 Responses

  1. very useful post Savita:)
    Shubha, thanks! Glad you found it useful!
  2. usefl post dear, I can understand the pressure of IT jobs..I too freeze the plain roti same way but never tried with palak..sure love to try it...
    :) Farin, I'm sure you will love palak roti too. Do try sometime.
  3. Thats a nice share , great tip here
    thanks, Jayshree!
  4. Great recipe Savita! Have a lot of spinach in the fridge and need to try and make it! :)
    Mira, thanks :) me too finished a batch of spinach with these rotis.
  5. oh man! better than anything you can find at the store, just saying ;)
    Kelsey, :)
  6. I don't eat/make chapati for dinner everyday. But I am flexible in a way, so can go with A & B both! ;) Awesome idea & fantastic share! Would try it soon! :)
    Anu, thanks! I agree, it all depends on time! The best part is, getting good homemade food on dinner table! I'm glad you like it. I'm sure you will love the convenience if you try!
  7. Oh now THOSE look FANTASTIC!!! *drool!* Thanks for sharing! - www.domesticgeekgirl.com
    Gingi, thanks :)
  8. My answer is a) :D I always make my roti/paratha at home. I know what you mean, it's so easy for me now and I make flatbreads fresh all the time but initially it wasn't this easy. This is great for beginners or anyone who's looking to save some time in rolling rotis!
    It is great to have (a). These days, I'm (a) too :) But you got it, freezing comes handy when you are time pressed. Or say, going away for a day and want to leave something for hubby to eat :)
  9. I love this! A great way to get some extra vegetables in to your diet too.
    Cannot agree more, Dannii! Indeed a good way to eat more vegetables.