What is the maximum time for which the dough should be allowed to rest before making Parathas?
Have heard that dough should be allowed to rest for the Gluten formation to occur.
Question: What is the maximum time after which resting the dough won't make any difference to the taste and the texture of the Parathas/Rotis?
Assuming: Dough is made of 100% wheat flour (no Maida), and water only.
Best Answer
Why resting longer?
Resting the dough not only let's gluten linking begin, but also allows enzymes to "transform" starches into sugars. There are some technics for making bread that take profit of that to extract more taste from the wheat, such as autolyse (invented by Raymond Calvel) or Pain à l’ancienne (which uses autolyse and other delaying methods that you won't use in not leavened breads).
Originally Monsieur Calvel stated an autolyse time of between 20 and 40 minutes (that link might be in Spanish, but I don't understand why it's not in English), but nowadays people are experimenting with 2 hours, and even 4 or 6 hours of autolisis.
That enzymatic activity won't be affected by lipids, so adding fat or oil for Parathas or Rotis will work the same. They can be affected by a PH<4 or 3.3, but I don't think you'll reach that PH in a Paratha's dough.
So, how long is too long?
The longer you let enzymes make sugars, the tastier the dough will be. But if you rest too long a dough, the gluten will finally get broken: the dough will look more like a puree than a kneaded dough. It will depend on the enzymatic activity of the flour, and can vary a lot from one flour to another. It is measured by a value called falling number (you can see why is it important here).
That index is very rarely labelled in packages, but you can try getting in contact with the millers and ask them. Or you can also try to find the answer to your question empirically for the brands of flour you use (that value shouldn't vary from different batches of the same brand of flour). Touch the dough every hour to feel if it still has a workable consistency.
Note that your dough will be stickier, due to the sugars released by autolisis.
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Quick Answer about "What is the maximum time for which the dough should be allowed to rest before making Parathas?"
Resting: Cover with a clean cloth and let it rest for about 20 minutes before you start rolling it. Letting the dough rest helps it settle the moisture.How long is too long for resting dough?
Dough that's left to rise at room temperature typically takes between two and four hours to double in size. If left overnight, dough rises so high forcing it will likely collapse on the weight of itself, making the dough deflate. For best results always keep dough in the refrigerator when leaving to rise overnight.How long should flour dough rest?
To make, mix the dough and let it sit overnight (or for 10 hours). While you may have to plan for the 10 hours rise time, it's a much easier process than kneading the bread by hand. Plus, it's the perfect bread to mix in the morning before work and then pop in the oven that evening to enjoy a fresh slice with dinner.How long should dough rest after kneading?
Allowing the bread dough to rest for the 18 hours will allow the bread to develop the gluten which gives the bread the chewy texture.How long let dough rest before baking?
If you want to let you dough proof for longer, try bulk-fermenting it in a cooler place, but don't allow it to go longer than three hours or structure and flavor may be compromised. For the workhorse loaf, a bulk proof of approximately two hours gives us the optimal balance of flavor and texture.How to make Paratha Dough (Aatta)
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Answer 2
The rule behind doughs is to let it in a warm place (~ 50 Celcius Degrees) until it doubles it's size. Usually this could take something between 45 minutes-2 hours, depending on the ingredients.
So there isn't a golden rule concerning time, but you should just check volume!
If you let it over-double, the dough will be very sensitive and will loose its volume easily, so be careful! All the above are tips concerning dough which contain any bulking ingredient, such as yeast.
For doughs that don't need to be bulked, usually there is no need to let it rest. However a resting time of about 10-15min is of vital importance for poor doughs which contain only flour, water and salt. This ammount of time is more than enough for gluten formation which will dwarf the intense and rather annoying taste of flour.
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