If you are looking for that classic, fluffy, and soft kulcha recipe, then look no further than this Wheat Kulcha recipe. It tastes exactly like the famous kulchas from your local bakery shop. Plus, it takes only a few minutes of put together (minus the fermentation time) and produces the softest flatbread that just so happens to be dairy-free and nut-free!
In addition to that, these kulchas tastes divine when served with a smear of homemade ghee next to a homemade matar recipe or pindi chole recipe.
What is Kulcha?
Kulcha is an Indian-style flatbread traditionally baked in a tandoor oven.
When cooked in a clay oven or tandoor, kulchas bakes up instantly and becomes perfectly brown on the outside and pillowy soft on the inside. It tastes amazing!
So, today, I have a wheat kulcha recipe that tastes exactly like your neighborhood bakery –
- one method shows kulchas being baked in a convection oven, and
- the other one is cooked on a skillet.
Before I advance, I have a small story to share with you all!
Growing up, I remember this vendor from Chandni Chow, New Delhi, who used to come around noon with his little daughter to sell Matar kulchas on his portable kiosk.
People would wait eagerly for him. He would park his street stall/kiosk in a corner, make his daughter sit on the side of the stall, and start serving his customer continuously for 2-3 hours.
To everyone’s surprise, his matar-kulchas would be all sold by 3:00 pm. He was that good.
Then, he would wrap up his kiosk and leave – to prepare his delicacies for the next day. Such a hardworking man!
Talking about him has made me hungry all over again.
So, raise your hands if you are ready to bake some soft and fluffy wheat kulchas? I think we can all agree that when it comes to baking bread- homemade is the BEST!
Just the incredible aroma of bread baking in the oven is so irresistible!
And I’m telling you once you realize how easy it’s cook homemade kulchas, you’re going to make it again and again.
So, bring out your inner baker and let’s bake some homemade Wheat Kulchas from scratch – all the detailed instructions and tips are included.
This Wheat Kulcha recipe is the best!
Guys, I promise you will love this amazing Wheat kulcha recipe as it has everything you crave for in a delicious flatbread. To begin with, it’s –heat kulcha recipe
- 100% whole wheat,
- Egg-free
- No preservatives and artificial flavors added
- Light, airy, and flavorful.
Once you try my version, you’ll never have store-bought kulchas again!
What Ingredients Do You Need For Wheat Kulcha Recipe?
This Wheat Kulcha recipe requires less than ten ingredients that I am sure you’ll already have in your pantry!
» Wheat Flour – whole wheat flour is perfect, but all-purpose flour will also work great. wheat kulcha recipe
» Milk – add flavor and moisture to our kulchas.
» Butter/oil – I prefer to use unsalted butter in this kulcha recipe because we have already added salt. Any neutral oil will also work great.
» Instant Yeast – you can use active dry yeast too. If you chose to use active dry yeast, then that needs to be activated before adding to the kulchas.
» Sugar – a must-have for the yeast. Sugar feeds the yeast and helps it activate.
» Arrowroot slurry – arrowroot flour + water. In flatbreads, arrowroot flour improves the texture of baked Kulcha. It lightens the texture and creates a brown crust.
» Salt – to flavor our wheat kulcha recipe.
» Water – use lukewarm water. Too hot water will kill your yeast and do not use tap water as the yeast will not bloom in cold water.
» Toppings – crushed coriander seeds, red chili powder, or dried mint leaves – optional, but tastes great if sprinkled over kulchas.
How to make Wheat Kulcha recipe?
The dough for this wheat kulcha bread is actually quite simple. We start by preparing arrowroot slurry.
1. Combine arrowroot flour and water in a bowl.
2. Mix until lump-free. Set it aside.
3. Pour milk and sugar in a pour. wheat kulcha recipe
4. Sprinkle with instant yeast.
5. Whisk to combine the ingredients.
6. Add unsalted butter.
7. Pour in the arrowroot slurry.
8. And salt. wheat kulcha recipe
9. Mix until combined. wheat kulcha recipe
10. Slowly spoon in the wheat flour into this mixture.
11. Whisk until blended. Keep adding flour until all is used up.
12. Add the mixture starts to come together like dough. Grease the entire ball of dough with 1 teaspoon of oil.
13. Spread it all over the dough. wheat kulcha recipe
14. Cover the kulcha dough with a clean damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let it rise for 40 minutes in a warm, draft-free environment.
15. Within 40 minutes, the dough should double in size quickly, assuming your yeast is good.
16. Dust your countertop with flour. Transfer the kulcha dough onto the dusted surface and knead it well.
17. Divide the dough into equal pieces. Roll out each piece into a circle and form it into a ball. Arrange the balls on the tray.
18. Cover the wheat kulcha dough balls with a wet towel and let it rise for another 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. wheat kulcha recipe
19. Once doubled, take a dough ball and sprinkle a bit of flour over it. To prevent drying, keep the rest of the dough balls covered while you are working on this one. Using your fingers, spread out the dough ball so that it’s about 5 inches in diameter.
20. Sprinkle spices and freshly chopped cilantro leaves on top.
21. Transfer the wheat kulcha onto a baking tray or skillet.
22. Bake the wheat kulcha in a preheated oven until golden brown, about 7-8 minutes. Once cooked, remove from oven and generously apply butter on top. wheat kulcha recipe
Serve hot with warm matar or Pindi chole.
My dough didn’t rise well in the oven?
The kulcha dough needs a warm, draft-free environment to rise. The best place beside the Instant pot will be your heated oven.
To make the dough rise –
- Preheat your oven to the lowest temperature (180- 200 degrees F).
- Once the oven is nice and warm, then turn it off.
- Let it cool for 5 minutes.
- Transfer the dough to the hot oven.
- Your dough will rise beautifully in a nicely heated oven.
How to store leftover Wheat Kulchas?
Once the kulchas have cooled completely, wrap it in aluminum foil and store at room temperature. It will stay fresh at room temperature for up to 3 days. You can also refrigerate the leftover wheat kulchas for up to 4 days.
This wheat kulcha recipe is freezer-friendly too!
Wrap the cooled wheat kulchas tightly with aluminum foil, then place it in a freezer-safe bag and freeze for up to 2 months.
How to reheat the leftover wheat kulchas?
If you froze the kulchas, thaw it out at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Unwrap the kulchas and transfer it to a baking sheet or airfryer and bake for about 5-7 min at 350 F degrees or until heated through. Serve hot with chole.
Do give this Homemade wheat kulcha recipe a try. Let me know in the comments when you make it.
Feel free to contact me with any questions or inquiries, and I would be happy to answer them.
CRAVING FOR MORE, TRY MY OTHER Bread RECIPES-
Wheat Kulcha Recipe
INGREDIENTS
- 4 cups Wheat Flour (Atta)
- 1½ cups Milk lukewarm ( plant-based)
- ¼ cup Water lukewarm
- ¼ cup Vegan Unsalted Butter
- 1 tablespoon Instant Yeast
- 2 teaspoons Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Oil
ARROWROOT SLURRY
- 1¼ tablespoons Arrowroot flour
- 1 tablespoon Lukewarm water
TOPPINGS
- – – Coriander seeds
- – – Chili powder
- – – Dried mint leaves
- – – Freshly chopped cilantro leaves
INSTRUCTIONS
ARROWROOT SLURRY
- Combine arrowroot flour and water in a bowl. Mix until lump-free. Set it aside.
KULCHA DOUGH
- Pour milk and sugar in a pour. Sprinkle with instant yeast.
- Whisk to combine the ingredients.
- Add unsalted butter. Pour in the arrowroot slurry and salt. Mix until combined.
- Slowly spoon in the wheat flour into this mixture. Whisk until blended. Keep adding flour until all is used up.
- Add the mixture starts to come together like dough. Grease the entire ball of dough with 1 teaspoon of oil. Spread it all over the dough.
- Cover the kulcha dough with a clean damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let it rise for 40 minutes in a warm, draft-free environment.
- Within 40 minutes, the dough should double in size quickly, assuming your yeast is good.
- Dust your countertop with flour. Transfer the kulcha dough onto the dusted surface and knead it well.
- Divide the dough into equal pieces. Roll out each piece into a circle and form it into a ball. Arrange the balls on the tray.
- Cover the wheat mulch dough balls with a wet towel and let it rise for another 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.
- Once doubled, take a dough ball and sprinkle a bit of flour over it. To prevent drying, keep the rest of the dough balls covered while you are working on this one. Using your fingers, spread out the dough ball so that it’s about 5 inches in diameter.
- Sprinkle spices and freshly chopped cilantro leaves on top.
- Transfer the wheat kulcha onto a baking tray or skillet.
- Bake the wheat kulcha in a preheated oven until golden brown, about 7-8 minutes. Once cooked, remove from oven and generously apply butter on top.
- Serve hot with warm matar or Pindi chole.
VIDEO
RECIPE NOTES
Cooking tips to make the best Homemade Kulchas!
» I have used whole wheat flour for this recipe, but you can use half whole wheat and half all-purpose as well. » Arrowroot slurry is the key ingredient in this wheat Kulcha recipe. It makes a huge difference. If no arrowroot starch on hand, substitute arrowroot for cornstarch or 1 egg. » If using active dry yeast or fresh yeast, that needs to be rehydrated in lukewarm water before adding to the kulcha dough. » Substitute plant-based milk with regular milk. Likewise, vegan butter can be swapped with regular butter or oil. » When it comes to bread making, wet, sticky dough is the best. Wet, sticky produces the lightest and fluffy kulchas. » Allow the dough to rise in a warm, draft-free environment. » You can cook wheat kulchas on the stovetop too. The step-by-step method is shown below.NUTRITION
Stovetop Wheat kulcha recipe without yeast
If you are on a hunt for wheat kulcha recipe without yeast and is cooked on a stovetop, then follow the step-by-recipe below.
Wheat Kulcha Recipe without yeast
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups Wheat Flour (Atta)
- ½ cup Curd plant-based
- 1 tablespoon Vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ cup Lukewarm water to knead the dough
- – – Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons Oil to cook the kulchas
INSTRUCTIONS
WHEAT KULCHA
- Knead a soft and pliable dough by mixing all the ingredients mentioned above. Cover and let the dough rest in a warm place for 1 hour. Do not skip vinegar as it preserves the kulchas from going bad so fast.
- After the rest time is over, divide the dough into equal pieces. Roll and spread out the dough ball so that it’s about 5 inches in diameter.
- Heat a skillet. Transfer the kulcha onto a hot griddle. The kulchas will cook fairly quickly, about a minute per side. You will notice some bubbles developing on the surface.
- Sprinkle cilantro leaves on top.
- Flip and cook from the other side. I usually add a teaspoon on each side to brown my kulchas.
- Cook evenly from both sides until evenly cooked.
- Remove from heat and serve hot!
Awesome bro.
can you please tell me the recipe of gulab jamun and jalebi?
As of now I don’t have Jalebi recipe on my blog but recipe of Gulab Jamun is published on the blog – http://www.ruchiskitchen.com/recipe/angoori-gulab-jamun/
Which griddle is good to buy for this recipe
Welcome to the blog Ric!! I have used 11 inch square griddle for making Kulchas. Any nonstick griddle will work just fine.
Hi Ruchi,
lovely explanation ! I always follow your recipes. In this case, can i use eno powder? If yes, then how much ? And should i skip the vinegar in that case ?
Please let me know. Wishing you the very best and Best Regards !
Thank you, Sulekha!
Haven’t tried kulchas with eno but I think you should be good. Just wondering, do you want to swap baking soda for eno?
Thank you for responding. Yes, i was thinking of swapping both baking powder and soda with eno powder. How much do i use?
Best Regards!
Sulekha, I haven’t tried with eno but I think you should be could. Use 1 teaspoon of eno for this recipe.
Would look forward to your feedback.
What is the size of the cup in grams? I mean how much does 1 cup of ingredients weigh in grams?
Banaja, please change the conversion to ‘METRIC’ at the bottom of ingredients and the recipe will adjust itself to grams.
Good morning! Regarding steps 4 & 5, am I doing a double rise? Thank you!
Good morning, Kristen!
Oops, that step was written twice, have updated the recipe.
Hope you like it.
Why have uou not used yeast in wheat kulcha also?Any particular reason?
Sure, let me explain that.
Kulchas made with all-purpose flour are baked in the oven. Therefore, for fluffy kulchas, it needs a leavening agent to ferment the dough. That’s the reason yeast is added for fermentation.
On the other hand, for stovetop kulchas, the duo of chemical leavening agents (baking soda and baking powder) are enough to produce soft-textured kulchas.
Thanks for asking!
Hi Ruchi…
If we want to make wholewheat flour Kulcha using yeast in oven….the recipe will be same as your Maida Kulcha recipe ??
Thanks….
Another thing Dont we need to put kulcha for second proofing for some time before putting in oven…? Or will it bake fine, immediately after rolling ??
Poonam,
You can surely try the second proofing with the kulcha recipe, but it’s not required.
You got it!
Yes, the recipe remains the same for wheat flour.
Will self raising flour work for this recipe instead of Wheat Flour?
You sure can. 😊
Just an FYI, self-rising flour contains all-purpose flour ( maida).
Hello Mam, i tried recipe, but don’t know why crust was hard. Otherwise it was good in taste. Please guide what went wrong. Thanks. God bless u.
Kittu, thank you for the feedback!
Hard crust means, kulchas were baked for long. A slightly firm crust is expected because we have used whole wheat flour in the recipe, but after brushing with ghee or butter, the crust becomes soft.
Tell me please Ruchi, 16 servings maybe too much for me. If I follow your 1X recipe, I will have dough left over. What do you suggest: 1. make them all and freeze the kulchas – in which case how to thaw and refresh? 2. Take the extra dough into the fridge and use next day or even after 2 days. In that case kindly tell me when to get the dough out of the fridge, how to make the dough rise again… etc. Please. Many many thanks.
Meera, I would suggest doing the first step – make the kulchas and freeze for later. You can wrap the cooled kulchas in a plastic bag but before storing, line each kulcha with parchment paper. When ready to eat, thaw them over the counter for 2-3 hours or until soft. To reheat, grease a griddle, warm the kulcha over it for 2-3 minutes, or until heated through.
Sorry about the typo, have fixed that!
Self-raising flour proportion is approximately 1 tsp baking powder to 1 cup of All purpose flour.
Feel free to give it a try.
With yeast, kulchas will taste more like a pita bread. Like the recipe here – https://www.ruchiskitchen.com/recipe/how-to-make-pita-bread-or-pita-pockets/