Poori: How to Make Soft and Puffy Puri at Home

If you love making your own breads at home, you’ll love this recipe. Homemade Poori (also known as “puri”) is an Indian recipe for making fried, unleavened bread. The texture is crispy and fluffy, and slightly puffy. To make it, you need only a handful of pantry staples (flour, water, sugar, etc). Mix the ingredients together, flatten with a rolling pin and fry until golden. In Indian culture, poori is often served with a potato curry called puri bhaji. But you can serve the puri with anything you like. Much like naan and roti, it’s a great way to mop up delicious sauces!

What is Poori?

According to the dictionary, poori refers to unleavened bread or cake. But what is poori exactly? Poori is a bread made from unleavened dough, which is flattened and fried until they puff up. Other breads like naan and roti can sometimes contain small amounts of leavener.

Traditional puri is made with only three ingredients: wholewheat flour (also called atta), salt, and water. The atta flour gives it a nutty flavor, but all-purpose flour can also be used.

Puri Ingredients

Flour – traditionally, wholewheat flour is used, which gives the poori a nutty flavor. You can also use all-purpose flour or gluten-free flour.

Semolina flour – the semolina flour adds slight crispiness to the pooris. Some say that the semolina also helps the poori to keep its puffy shape.

Butter – everything is better with butter! In this recipe, the butter just adds more flavor.

Vegetable oil – choose a neutral oil for frying. Sunflower or canola oil will also work well. Don’t use an oil with a low smoking point like olive oil.

How To Make Poori

Making your own homemade puri is super easy. First, mix together your dry ingredients and then gradually add water until you can form a dough. Knead until the dough is smooth, divide into eight equal pieces and roll into balls. Flatten the balls with a rolling pin and fry until golden. Enjoy!

What to serve with Puri

Serve the poori with your favorite saucy curry. It will also taste great with a hearty stew or soup. They taste best when served right after frying!

Expert Tips for Homemade Poori

The puri itself is best served right after cooking, but the dough can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge.

To cook the puri in an Airfryer, preheat the Airfryer for 7 minutes at 350°F, then cook the puri for 3 minutes, flip and cook another 2 minutes.

There’s no need to add milk to this recipe, although using all-purpose flour will give the puri a milky flavor.

To prevent oiliness, the dough shouldn’t be too soft, so make sure that you don’t over knead the dough. This will also prevent the puris from puffing up.

The oil should also be nice and hot, if it’s too cold, the puris will absorb too much oil and become oily.

If the pooris aren’t puffing up, make sure that you’re not rolling them out too thinly. To prevent the puri from collapsing, add a little bit of semolina, which will make them crispy and prevent excess moisture which causes them to collapse.

If the puri is too hard, it could be that you rolled them out too thin, or your dough was too dry.

Poori Variations

Spinach poori – use cooked spinach pureed with water to make the dough.

Spiced poori – add a pinch of ground cumin, cayenne pepper, and garam masala to the dough.

How to store Homemade Poori

Store the homemade puri at room temperature (in an airtight container) for up to 3 days, or in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Instructions

Put the flour into a bowl. Add salt, a pinch of sugar, semolina, melted butter and mix well to make a friable mixture.

Gradually add water and make the dough. It should be smooth and stiff, but not hard.

Stir well between your palms for several minutes. It will become smooth and soft. Divide the dough into equal parts.

Make small balls. Sprinkle the balls with flour and roll.

Heat oil until deep-fried. Fry.

Notes

Make the poori dough ahead of time, and keep it in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can also freeze it for up to one month.

More Recipes You'll Like

Want to make more homemade breads? Try these delicious recipes:

Naan bread

Garlic naan

Chapati bread

Roti