samosa dough

[qualia]

i tried to make samosa samosa's tonight, and i have the problem with the dough. it comes out rubbery and not ok more like the mass produced home brand dim sims you buy at woolies or wherever. not good and not at all like the take away dough which is crunchy but soft at the same time. how do i do it? i used just flour, water and oil like every recipe i see. whats the difference between maida flour and regular plain flour? pls halp?

[random]

Did you follow the recipe correctly? Could be one of many varied problems.

Might I say though, why the fuck would you want to replicate store bought dim sims?!?!? Bahahhahaha!!! Yuk!!

oops, I was skimming again, not reading properly, my bad!!

A quick google offered this: For samosas you want to fry, use Filo Pastry and for samosas you want to cook in the oven use Puff Pastry.

But if you are making your own pastry, and I presume frying... then you probably didn't have the oil hot enough.

Need more information to do a diagnosis

edited for skimming.

Edited October 30, 2011 by meeka

[random]

Maida-flour-is-evil

Yet again, google is your friend, why am I doing your homework bro? bahahah

[qualia]

i did dread the maida flour bleaching etc. every recipe i read on the internet says use all purpose flour (plain flour), or maida. i'm pretty sure you could get unbleached flour from somewhere as i read thats just the way to make it look white. also i've never seen filo/puff for samosa, the only store bought replacements i read are to use wonton wrappers.

[qualia]

so maybe put something in with the plain flour.....i have tapioca flour and besan there, also rice flour. need to do some experimenting.

[random]

Edited for a crappy attempt at helpfulness during a period of boredom

Edited October 31, 2011 by meeka

[Rabaelthazar]

I was pretty sure there was besan flour in samosas, but googling it now doesn't seem to suggest that there is.

Just thinking about the taste though, I'm sure there's besan in there. Maybe it's not traditional, but what I think of as samosa has something like that.

Now I am confused.

.

.

.

<edit> Meeka, that site seems to be super westernised. Suggests either puff pastry or filo pastry. Filo?!?

Hang on, now I'm thinking about those hors d'oeuvres that purport themselves to be samosas, but when you dip them in the "sweet chilli"??? sauce and take a bite you realise that they were never samosas ... just filo pastry with some flavourless yellow oily curry inside. They usually come on a plate with rubbery spring rolls.

Edited October 30, 2011 by Rabaelthazar

[qualia]

relax meeka, it's not the recipe, all the dough recipes are more or less the same

225gm. plain flour

2 tspn. salt

2tblspb. vegetable oil

80 ml warm water.

flour, salt, water, oil. i've seen them, i looked. my dough is rubbery. the dough i have at the take away is not. i want to know why.

[qualia]

and the temperature of the oil was fine. at first it was too hot as it cooked them in about 10 seconds, leaving thicker parts uncooked in the middle. i adjusted the temperature of the oil so they cooked in about a minute, just enough to heat through and cook the dough through without burning the outside.

[dworx]

abandoned

Edited April 4, 2013 by dworx

[qualia]

hot water.....i think i used warm water, not hot. i'll give it a try.

[Psylo]

dont rely on western website for information on how to make them, most of them suck, and are just a fraudulent way to get around making something too complex.

I am of the mind that you need to rub animal fat into the flour. There's also various techniques that are used with many pastries for a specific outcome, as there's a lot of chemistry going on. Find out that magic tek for samosa and you're on your way.

[qualia]

most of the indian recipe sites i've seen have the basic dough recipe as well, even you tube vids with "proper indians"

i kinda thought ghee might be necessary as i remember pastry with high butter content has similar "short texture", but as i don't cook pastries i can't be sure (just remembering what my mum used to make). or are you talking actual lard?

[etherealdrifter]

relax meeka, it's not the recipe, all the dough recipes are more or less the same

225gm. plain flour

2 tspn. salt

2tblspb. vegetable oil

80 ml warm water.

flour, salt, water, oil. i've seen them, i looked. my dough is rubbery. the dough i have at the take away is not. i want to know why.

 

hello qualia.

the petal(a chef) reckons resting the dough(cling wrap the dough and put in fridge for at least 30 mins) is paramount and don't bother with hot water 'cause no yeast is being used.

hope this helps?

cheers mun

[dworx]

abandoned

Edited April 4, 2013 by dworx

[random]

Thats what you get for offering unqualified advice !!!!!!

meh.

[etherealdrifter]

No yeast in the recipe and no sugar for yeast to feed on?? - Hot water kills yeast anyway water for yeast is luke warmor a little warmer depending on ambient temps. So why would you use it with yeast?

The hot water is to promote the gluten.

 

lol.nah yes ya rite mate - i better get on me bike and do some little back peddling here, i meant warm h20 thats all.yes yes yeast no activate without sugar ,dies in hot environment. yeast not even an issue in this recipe yes yes wasnt thinking straight . my actual point to Q was whether he'd rested tha dough.

all good, thankz dworx

[dworx]

abandoned

Edited April 4, 2013 by dworx

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

Hey dude, I dated a paki girl for three years and these were her specialty, her recipe was exactly as you originally stated only she used a particular oil of, which I can't friggen remember right now, and cooked em for 2mins in the pan. It wasn't an exotic oil, just a healthier version of oil which is dirt cheap in woolies. Not canola, vege etc fuck it escapes me!

I suspect it may have something to do with your filling, possibly too runny/fluidy. Anyways peace.

D00d

[coin]

look for a recipe that has semolina (suji) in the dough - it makes it more crispy/improve texture. and perhaps a bit more oil. yes, it will taste much better if you use ghee, and the mouth-feel is better. however, that's not the key to good restaurant/street samosas...mostly they'd use veg oil because it's cheaper.

I'm guessing the main issue: rub the oil/fat into the flour to resemble fine bread crumbs before adding water. coating the glycoproteins (gliadin & glutelin)/starch in each little particle of the flour, with fat, prevents too much gluten development (which would cause a dense/rubber pastry). maybe you're also over kneading. only knead enough for ingredients to come together & become homogenous (1-2 mins hand kneading) and then rest the dough for proper hydration. this is standard technique - "cutting in the fat [shortening]" for short-crust pastry. larger chunks of the chilled fat creates a flakier pastry, and thoroughly combining the flour and fat will create a tender, mealy-er pastry.

when creating a flaky pastry generally all the ingredients should be cold (including ice cold water, and chilled flour/fat) to prevent the fat from melting too much (maintaining chunks). but you probably want to go with the tender type dough for samosas.

samosa pastry dough should be stiff, like when making puris, not wetter like chapati dough. you can't just follow a recipe to achieve that - different brands of flour have different water content.

(dough for flat bread is made with hot water because after the bread is cooked it can be cooled and stored away and will remain fairly soft)

raising agents can also make a lighter pastry.

you might find it interesting to look up recipes for malay/thai curry puffs that use both a fat dough & a water dough. these are combined in a way that creates many layers similar to the technique behind puff pastry.

to me, you gotta have ajwain seeds in the pastry

put as many tips as i can think of

Edited November 3, 2011 by coin

[qualia]

^^

thanks. i ended up putting 1:1 plain flour/besan, which gave it a much nicer "biscuity" texture and better flavour, have to work on softening it a bit though i'll def try what you said next time. cheers,

[Teljkon]

dfgdgfg

Edited December 19, 2021 by Teljkon