Indian breads are a primary food in the daily menu of most people in the Indian subcontinent. The wide variety of grains and cereals grown in the country are used to make different kinds of breads, broiled, steamed, fried and cooked over direct heat.
They are usually made of finely milled flour and water. Most breads make use of the yeast spores in the atmosphere for fermentation, others use added yeast or curds, a few use baking soda, and still others are made without fermentation.
Again there are dry, moist, soft, and hard breads. So depending upon the ingredients and method of preparation, a variety of breads are made in India - Chapati, Puran Poli, Phulka, Luchi, Puri, Roti, Paratha, Naan, Appam, Dosa, Bhatoora, Kulcha, Pathiri, Baqar Khani, and many more. Some of these, like Paratha and Roti have many varieties. Some varieties depend on the kind of grain used to prepare them, and others depend on the fillings they contain.
Most of these are cooked on a flat pan except Naan and other Tandoori class of breads. A special oven called a tandoor clay oven is used for cooking Naan directly over a flame. Naan is a flatbread usually leavened with yeast. Some breads, like Puri and Luchi, are deep fried in oil..
The Appam is a fermented bread usually prepared with finely powdered rice flour. In Kerala in South India, there are Kallappam, Vattayappam and Palappam (Vellayappam). The kallappam is made on flat iron griddles. The vattayappam is a steamed bread, and palappam is made in small shallow bottomed pans, which are kept covered while the bread cooks.
