What would be the benefit of folding and rerolling chapati dough?

Question

I am a new person to cooking. My mom used to make chapathis, and I saw, that sometimes, she used to fold them up and rolled them out again in an attempt to make softer chapathis.

I just wanted to know, how does this work(if it does)?

And if it works, would rolling the dough into a strand and twisting it into a knot instead of into a disk over and over work as well? I tried this method once and it seemed to kind of work.

Answer 1

There are different ways of adding layers to dough, but you will have to decide which one you prefer, or if it’s necessary. Two common techniques for flatbreads:

• Oil the dough, then fold it in half, oil again, fold in the other direction, then possibly roll it out gently before cooking: https://kiss100.co.ke/lifestyle/2023-05-13-how-to-prepare-soft-layered-kenyan-chapatis/
• Oil the dough, roll it into a snake, flatten the snake, roll it into a cylinder (tucking the outside end in), flatten the cylinder with your hand then roll it out to the desired size: https://thefoodietakesflight.com/scallion-bing-chinese-flat-bread/

The example recipes were selected simply because they did a good job of explaining the technique and had reference pictures. Although the second one added other fillings, you don’t need to for the lamination technique.

Answer 2

I would have thought it could be to layer the final chapatti. I've seen them both ways, single-layered & multiple. It seems to depend on the chef.

^{I was just eating lunch at my desk when I was reminded of this question.
Home made chicken nihari, tarka dahl, onion bhaji, mint sauce & basmati - just to make you hungry. The bread was bought though, mine isn't as good.}