What Is Roti Canai?
Roti canai if translated directly from Malay language would be “Flattened bread”. Roti is bread. Canai is flattened or more accurately is the method of throwing the bread dough in the air in a spinning motion, intending to get thinner and bigger flat dough.
Roti canai is a very well-known dish in my home country Malaysia. It’s a flatbread with influences from India. It’s usually sold in Mamak restaurants and eaten with dhal curry. You can also have it with fish curry and sambal or with any of these curry recipes:
Save This Recipe!
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Roti Canai And Us
In my whole life back in my home country, I’ve only bought roti canai at our favorite Mamak restaurants.
When the whole family got together or when relatives came to visit, I would get up very early in the morning and go to buy 30-40 pieces of roti canai for breakfast. My nephews or nieces would tag along. And yes, we’re that many.
I remember on my 11th birthday my father asked me what I wanted, I said I wanted roti canai. And so he bought me roti canai.
Roti canai for me is not only a flatbread that I eat with dhal curry. For me, it reminds me of all those wonderful memories that I cherish of my family.
And now that I’m living here in Spain, I don’t want to lose all that. I started making my roti canai. Something that I thought I would never be able to do. But I did it. Until now.
My husband is a fan of roti canai after I introduced it to him. He just fell in love with roti canai and dhal curry. Sometimes I think he’s a bigger fan than I am.
And now for me making roti canai is nothing rare. I like to use my standing mixer to do all the kneading, just like in my amazing Lebanese flatbreads (Man'oushe za'atar). It does take quite some minutes to knead as we want the dough to be very elastic. This will make it easier to stretch later.
I don’t do the flying dough method. No, nope. I simply stretch the dough on my kitchen top until it’s transparent and thin. Then I would make it into a round or square shape. In the video below you can see how I always do it. It’s very simple.
My husband, on the other hand, is practicing the flying dough method. Once he nails it, maybe we film it for the channel.
So if you’re living abroad and missing your roti canai, do try this recipe. Or if you’re back home and simply want to make homemade roti canai, this recipe is for you. I hope you will like the roti canai as we do.
Video Recipe
📖 Recipe
Malaysian Flatbread (Roti Canai)
Ingredients
- 4 cups bread flour (520 g)
- 1 egg , room temperature
- 3 tablespoon unsalted butter (40 g), melted
- 1 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk
- 1 ¼ cup water (310 ml)
- 1 teaspoon salt (not shown in video)
Instructions
The Dough
- In a standing mixer bowl, add in flour, salt, egg, melted butter, condensed milk and water. Mix to incorporate and knead for 10 minutes. Leave to rest for 10 minutes and knead for another 5 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 10 small balls. Coat each ball generously with unsalted butter and place them in a container that has been generously buttered. Cover the container tightly with cling film and keep in the fridge overnight.
Shaping
- The next day. Spread some unsalted butter on the working surface. Take one ball and lightly flatten it. Press and push the dough with the heel of your palm to make it bigger. Stretch it as thin as possible, until you can almost see through it. Now and then spread some soften unsalted butter on it to help the stretching. Optional, lift up one edge of the dough and gently pull to stretch it even more.
- Scrape and push the upper end of the dough to the middle. Do the same to the lower end, forming a wrinkle thin log. Starting at one end of the log, roll it into a circle and tuck the other end inside. Leave aside for 10 minutes before cooking. Meanwhile you can continue with the rest of the balls.
Cooking
- Once ready to cook, take one rolled circle and flatten it into more or less 10-15 cm diameter. Heat some unsalted butter on a pan using medium heat. Place the flatten dough on the pan. Cook for several minutes and then flip. Continue cooking for some minutes more.
- This is important for a fluffy roti canai. Remove the cooked roti canai and place it on a working surface. Immediately yet carefully grab it using both of your hands and squeeze it to the center. We want to fluff it. You can see this part more clear in the video above.
- Keep the roti canai under a kitchen cloth to keep them warm. They're best eaten with dhal curry or any type of curry with some sambal. Enjoy!
Notes
- If the balls are a bit difficult to spread (the next day), rest them at room temperature for 10-15 minutes.
- This roti canai is with less salt because it's not intended to be eaten alone. It's usually dipped in varieties of curries. Add more salt as needed, depending on how you want to eat it.
- Using All Purpose Flour
- I've tried using all purpose flour and my verdict is; although it's not as flexible as using bread flour (due to lack of gluten developed), it is still workable. The dough also tends to break when you stretch it very thin.
- Use LESS water. I'd suggest start with 1 cup (250 ml). When kneading, look inside the standing mixer bowl, the dough shouldn't stick to the bottom or side and the bowl should be clean of dough (nothing sticks). Add flour bit by bit as needed. I ended up adding around 4-6 tablespoon (30-50 g) more.
- The dough should be soft but not sticky. Watch the video above to see the right texture.
- Substitute To Sweetened Condensed Milk
- I've tried using ½ tablespoon (10 g) honey, it works just fine.
Nutrition Facts
The nutrition facts provided are an estimate per serving. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chooi Si says
Thanks for sharing the recipe! I’m living in Melbourne and roti canai is expensive here. It’s been great having homemade roti 🙂
Tried it a couple of times and found that room temperature dough works much better in stretching, therefore requiring some time out of the fridge before frying.
My roti however turned out more chewy / doughy rather than the desired light and fluffy. I kneaded it like crazy too!
Could it be my kneading technique or temperature of frying/amount of oil? Or perhaps temperature of tap water not being warm enough? Getting real technical here!
Cheers
Bea says
Hi Chooi! Yes it’s always great to be able to make our own roti Canai at home (in my case since I haven’t seen any cafés or restaurants selling any 🤣.) Sorry to hear about your dough. Maybe it’s because of the water? I don’t use warm water that’s why I didn’t specify it (warm water) in both the video and recipe card. Also try stretch it as thin as you can (till transparent). As for the kneading goes, the dough shouldn’t break when you start pulling it. It should feel very elastic and on the soft side. Let me know how it goes if you make it again next time. Hope it helps 😊.
Michelle says
Is there a way to make half of this recipe?
Bea says
Hi Michelle! What you can do is weigh the egg (large), whisk it a bit and then just use half amount. That's how I do it when I make recipe testings with half egg. Hope it helps.
Dennis says
Hi, Bea. Thanks for the great video and recipe. I tried it and mine turned out to be flaky and crumble apart after it's cook and when I use both hands to "clap it together". I knead it by hand. Is it because I didn't knead long enough. Also I used regular flour and rest it for 6 hours. Appreciate your response. Thanks
Bea says
Hi Dennis! All purpose flour doesn't have high protein content like bread flour (which needed to form gluten and give structure and chewiness to the bread). If you don't have bread flour now (I know it's difficult to get it these days), try kneading it until you get a smooth surface and when you press your finger on it, it makes a dent and then bounce back. Hope it helps, and thank you!
Dennis says
Thanks for the prompt response. I will try it as suggested. By the way, what speed did you use for your mixer?
Bea says
No problem! For my Kitchenaid, I always use speed 1 to incorporate ingredients and then change to speed 2 for kneading 🙂
Scott and Jenny says
Best tutorial video and recipe ever!!!
Thanks to you now I can make roti canai at home. We loved it so much when we spent 1 month in Malaysia for vacation. God bless!!!
Bea says
Oh that's awesome! Yes, roti canai is one of the delicious food in Malaysia. Thank you! XOXO
Sara says
Hi - I am trying this recipe for the first time. Can I do it without milk? I don’t have that type of milk at home.. 🙂
Cyd Larkin says
I am anxious to make this bread; but I have a question. Condensed milk? It looks like sweetened condensed milk, or is it very thick evaporated milk? The only condensed milk we have in the States is sweetened condensed milk.: is that what I should use?
Bea says
Yes it is sweetened condensed milk, let me know how it goes 😊
Alvrie says
Hola Bea y Marco!
Gracias por la receta! Reminds our days when we were living in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
If i may ask, where are you from in Malaysia? Im from Indonesia & my wife is Spanish. We met in while we working in Malaysia.
Bea says
Hola Alvrie! De nada, espero que te guste! I'm from Pahang. And where are you both from in Indonesia and Spain?
Nathan M. says
I made this roti and your murtabak. They came out delicious. Thank you for putting very detail video for the process of making it.
Bea says
Oh that's great! I'm happy to know you find it very useful. Thank you Nathan!
Heather says
Found this recipe on Pinterest. Trust it tastes as good as it looks. Thank you so much for sharing this delicious recipe. Watching the video really helped. Everyone in my family loved it as well!!
Bea says
Oh I'm so excited to hear that, Heather! I'm happy that everybody loved it, thank you so much!
Dian Yuanti says
Thank you for the recipe.. this was my first time for making roti canai by myself.. my Jani really love it!! Sy suka... ❤❤
Bea says
Awesome, thanks Dian! XO
Kim says
Thank you for sharing the recipe.
My son is sensitive to egg ingredients (allergies).. Is there a way to make this recipe without eggs?
Bea says
I haven't tried it without egg, sorry though!
FD says
Thank you very much, it was well worth the effort! The grandchildren enjoyed it
Bea says
That's awesome to know, thank you so much!
mary says
you say " condensed milk". is this condensed milk such as carnation condensed, or is sweetened condensed milk such as eaglebrand condensed milk? one is sweet, and the other is not. one is thicker, and the other thinner.
Bea says
It's sweetened condensed milk, the thicker one. Hope it helps.
Jade says
hi!
i was making this recipe when i realised that i have too much dough. is it okay to leave the leftover dough in the freezer to use another time? if yes, how long do you think it would be okay in the freezer?
- jade.
Bea says
Hi Jade! I would recommend you making and cooking all of them. Then freeze them individually wrapped in cling film, in ziploc bag. Hope it helps.
samantha says
we loved the thousand layer bread we had at wonderful malaysian restaunrant called rangoon am excited to try to make an all orgnaic version at home !
can i substitute the condensed milk with something else if cant find orgnaic one?thank you !
Bek says
Hi Bea,
I’ve just spent two years in Malaysia and miss the roti canal soooo much! I’m excited to try it and I’m wondering if you might have a recipe for the gravy or Dahl we used to dip it in, was bright orange and we always had the chicken one, quite a thin texture.
Would very much appreciate it if you did!
Bea says
Yea? I'm excited to hear that 🙂 . And yes, I do have the dhal recipe, it's here. The dhal freezes really good (I do it all the time). Have fun making both, thank you Bek!
Mary says
Is that sweetened condensed milk?
Bea says
Yes it is.
Michelle D. says
Hi. Is it necessary to use condensed milk or can I use regular fresh milk?
Bea says
Hi! Just use 1/2 of sugar instead. Hope it helps.