Ever wondered who we have to thank for the bread on our table in India? We certainly don’t think of its origins as pau bhaji, laddy pau, vada pau, a spicy potato patty sandwiched in hot flat bread, bun mashka, a soft roti hot and cut in half and dipped in butter, or sugar or maali roti, where a thick slice of white bread Toasted and topped with white sugar or malai or heavy cream.
One of my fondest memories of roti goes back to my childhood in Calcutta. At the age of 12, struggling with Bengali lessons, my parents sent me to a very sick woman for tuition. At their house, a man – on a cycle with containers on his back – shows up every Sunday morning. He would take the softest breads and buns out of those containers, slice them to the customer’s preference, and even remove the crust if asked.
Arrival of Roti in India
Baking bread was foreign to India until about four centuries ago – we neither had ovens nor used yeast or refined flour/flour. It was traders and colonists who introduced bread to Indian shores.
Bread came to Bengal, thanks to the French. The French East India Company established Fort d’Orleans at Chandranagar. Although they brought with them French wine and cheese, their most important contribution was a loaf of plain white bread called “pau roti”. Although the Goans claim that the word “pau” is the Goan version of the Portuguese “pao”, in Bengal, the French word for this bread— believed to be derived from “pain”.
In Goa, bread was introduced by the Portuguese and the origins are very well documented. While maida or refined flour was not commonly used in India or Goa, the Portuguese used atta or whole wheat flour. Yeast was replaced with toddy as the fermenting agent. And a device with a heated surface was created to replace the oven. When the dough has been mixed, left to rise and fermented, it is kneaded into a roll or round shape and placed on a hot surface. Pao usually takes 10 to 15 minutes to cook.
Goan bread remains different: doughy and less risen than traditional bread. Over time, the Portuguese developed a variety of breads, from the pocket-like poi to the hard-crusted undu, the crispy ring-shaped cacon and the soft square cutare pao.
Another story is that Portuguese Jesuit missionaries offered to teach bread baking to the Catholic Goans. This process gradually traveled up the northwest coast and eventually reached Bombay – resulting in the use of pao kima pao and vada pao.
Bread from the Middle East
Speaking of kima pao, roti has a second route to reach India. Maida or refined flour came to India from the Middle East. Like the concept of an oven. Bakeries soon appeared all over India and it seems that Muslim bakeries all over India began to bake bread, and even Christmas cakes––I will discuss this in another piece. It would also explain the creation of Keema Pao found across Maharashtra, especially in Irani bakeries.
British and Double Bread
Each place the colonists established trading posts or principalities became home to a version of the bread. After the signing of the Treaty of Benares in 1773, the British established a military cantonment and trading post at Kanpur (then Kanpur). And with them came the “double loaf”–commonly called a loaf because it was twice the size. When cooked. Kanpur chef Kunal Kapur describes the Kanpuri Bun Kebab in detail. A flat kebab placed inside a freshly baked roti with green chilli sauce and spicy onions. The perfect marriage Foreign and Indian flavors and cooking.
So, the next time you bite into a piece of bread, remember to thank not only the Lord for your daily bread but also the merchants and colonists who introduced bread to our kitchens.
Next week, I will be writing about that winter favourite – halwa. How to make it, where it came from and its infinite varieties.
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