Images

This sweet flatbread is in fact a Mughal recipe

This sweet flatbread is in fact a Mughal recipe

A bakarkhani is a thick, round, bread made by kneading fine wheat flour with oil and salt, and sometimes milk
02 Feb, 2016

Streets and lanes in downtown Rawalpindi are lined with tandoors serving crisp, golden bakarkhanis in the morning.

The round, sweet flatbread is popular with the city’s residents for breakfast, with some even serving it with their afternoon tea.

A bakarkhani is a thick, round, bread toasted in a tandoor till it is golden brown.

It is made by kneading fine wheat flour with oil and salt, and sometimes milk as well. The dough is then covered for two hours to let it rise before it is flattened on a baking board and brushed with oil. It is stretched, folded and brushed with oil a few times before being portioned into small balls and flattened into a biscuit.

The bread is toasted in a tandoor till it is flaky on the inside and a crisp golden on the outside.

There are many variants of the bread, with some bakeries and tandoors adding just a little spice to the dough and others garnishing it with sesame seeds. The flatbread is served by placing small pieces of it in a bowl and pouring hot milk or tea over it.

The bread is toasted in a tandoor till it is flaky on the inside and a crisp golden on the outside. — Photos by Tanveer Shahzad
The bread is toasted in a tandoor till it is flaky on the inside and a crisp golden on the outside. — Photos by Tanveer Shahzad

Bakarkhanis can be found in all small tandoors and bakeries in the streets of Raja Bazaar, Purana Qila, Bhabara Bazaar, Saidpuri Gate, Banni, Kartarpura and Kashmiri Bazaar.

Bakers in these bazaars believe the bread was popular with Mughal rulers as well and that it was favoured as a breakfast food well before the partition. They say the Mughals brought with them a variety of bread including sheermal, naan, kulchas and bakarkhanis.

Ijaz Butt, the owner of a tandoor on College Road well known for its bakarkhanis, said that though the bread can be stored for a week, he had to make fresh batches every morning and in the winter months, well in to the night because of the demand. He said the bread was a light substitute for Roghni naans and parathas.

The owner of another shop in Kashmiri Bazaar, Mohammad Aslam, said the bread was popular for serving in large gatherings. Demand for bakarkhanis, he said, increases in Muharram and Ramazan.

Kamran Butt, a resident of Arya Mohallah, said he loved having bakarkhanis with milk in the mornings and said eating the bread for breakfast tasted better than having oats.

Having bakarkhanis does not make him feel guilty for breaking his diet, Mr Butt said, adding that wheat and milk are healthier than junk food.

Another bakarkhani fan, Mohammad Hassan, suggested eating the bread with salted Kashmiri tea, saying it adds more to its taste than sweet milk.

“I would go to tandoors to see how they make the bread because I wanted to learn to make it for myself. And even though I make good bakarkhanis myself now, the ones from Sarafa bazaar are still my favourite,” said Ashar Ali of Westridge.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2016

Comments

Ahmed USA Feb 02, 2016 10:44am
Mughals would not have survived on Bakarkhanis… Don't think so... then who used to eat "Nihari and Pai" in breakfast and sport spy pigeons before “Qailulah” ...
Recommend
Naveed Feb 02, 2016 10:51am
Too much white flour. I am wondering if we can make this with whole wheat?
Recommend
BRILLIANT Feb 02, 2016 11:27am
Please don't keep tracing everything to Mughals. Some of the food items were known to the Turkic dynasties much before them.
Recommend
ROHIT PANDEY Feb 02, 2016 11:47am
Interesting. They look like bagels, here in Canada.:)
Recommend
ROHIT PANDEY Feb 02, 2016 11:59am
They can be made easily at home using store-bought puff pastry. Egg wash, a little sugar, and the puff pastry can be shaped into little roundels and can be cooked over stove top or in an oven.:): I got that from a You Tube video!:):):)
Recommend
RIZ Feb 02, 2016 12:00pm
One of the unhealthy foods taken by people mostly of downtown areas of big cities of Punjab. Only contains starch, fat and sugar.
Recommend
Awan Feb 02, 2016 12:03pm
@BRILLIANT Stop every association with those who never belonged here. This is the specialty of Pindi and that is all that matters. Look at French and Europeans. How proud they are of their cuisine. Only slave minded try to associate their specialties with others because they are taught like that. Kindly change this mentality. Own your cuisine. Break the shackles of slavery, once in and for all. Our food belong to us only. Market it as your own.
Recommend
Zak Feb 02, 2016 03:03pm
The Mughals brought grandeur, cuisine, culture, education, humanity, refinement to the sub continent. It's legacy persists, despite some trying to distort facts and history.
Recommend
M.Saeed Feb 02, 2016 03:40pm
As the name suggests, Baqerkhani is the invention of "Baqer Khan", the famous royal chef of 16th century, who came with Timur and settled in Kashmir.
Recommend
IN Feb 02, 2016 08:14pm
Wow this simply looks great!
Recommend
Syed Ganga Din Feb 02, 2016 08:44pm
@Naveed : You can make it with whole wheat flour but it won't look as good and would require lot more butter and taste would be slightly different.
Recommend
Imtiaz Faruqui Feb 03, 2016 09:04am
There are not many recipies for sea food, Shrimps are very easy to cook just like boiling eggs, , MOST IMPORTANT IS TO CLEAN IT. Remove the scales, Take a sharp knife a cut it from the BACK and you will see a dark veins take it out with a FORK wash it and then cook it. You can make a Sea food sauce by adding Horse radish or Muli well shredded mix it with tomato sauce ,blend it and enjoy it with Shrimp.
Recommend
Noshin Feb 05, 2016 01:20am
bakarkhani is my all time favourite
Recommend