What I really wanted … was a sorj.
Pete said no.
A sorj is a metal pan used for cooking Lebanese flatbreads. It’s shaped like a gigantic inverted wok. We found one at Harkola in Auburn for a very reasonable price, but I suspect Ray’s description of how it was to be used put my husband off. It was either that or the sheer size of the thing, which was nearly a metre (3′) in diameter (Wiki has a photo here).
According to Ray, the process begins with an oil drum full of burning wood. The sorj is seasoned by burning it over the fire, dome-side up, until it’s completely blackened – only then is it ready for cooking bread. I was really quite keen, but…
Pete said no.
So when I picked up this chapatti pan at Chefs’ Warehouse, my husband didn’t complain at all. It cost just $22 and is made of heavy cast iron.
Perhaps that’s the secret to successful negotiation: ask for a sorj, settle for a chapatti pan.
Pete even suggested that we call our new pan “The Sorj” and he offered to help me season it. We washed it in soapy water, then heated it over the middle gas burner until it was a red hot 370C (according to our infrared thermometer). As it heated and turned black, we used a wadded up paper towel to wipe over the surface several times with oil. At the end of the process, it looked like this…
Now, has anyone ever used one of these things? I’m hoping that it will work for all sorts of flatbreads, as well as the traditional Indian style ones. I’d love any suggestions you might have!
Edit: I’m up early this Sunday morning – here’s our first attempt:
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Oh boy, kitchen toys! I don’t have one of these (yet) but I scour (so to speak) thrift stores regularly and occasionally find goodies to add to my kitchen collection. If I ever see a sorj I’ll let you know! :-) And, will you share your chapatti recipe please? Mmmmm…
Rachel, I don’t have a chapatti recipe yet, only the pan! My friend the Spice Girl has just emailed me her mum’s recipe, so I’ll have a play with it. We made plain flatbread today just to test out the pan, and they were very nice with curry tonight. Best of all, the pan worked brilliantly, it held the heat really well!
Totally jealous! Mind you we do have a proper crepe pan that we use for flatbreads, and oil and season it just like you describe. What I’d really like is a Dosa pan :)
Oooh, don’t put ideas in my head, Claire… :)
Sorj pan, chappati pan…..Dosa pan???? *trys to look deadpan*
Sue, first Claire, now you. Pete won’t be happy if I tell him I now need another pan.. ;-)
Jane has a heavy roundel made of ironstone which her Welsh grandmother gave her. It’s for making Welsh Cakes (of course) and drop scones. Works a treat and you can always use it for weight lifting to burn off those carb calories ;-)
Peter, the pan really is quite heavy. When we used it today, it stayed at 200C the whole time we were cooking the bread, and that was with the burner turned down low!
I want one!
Sally, I’m sure you could track one down over there! :)
I can’t wait to see how this goes for you Celia! there is nothing to compare to homemade flatbreads. have you seen this book by chance? http://www.amazon.com/Flatbreads-Flavors-Jeffrey-Alford/dp/0688114113
Amanda, thanks for the link – I hadn’t seen that book before! I’ll look out for it…
I have no idea!
Then I’ll have to make sure to blog about it when I figure it out, Deb. :)
Well done- getting the pan, naming and seasoning it!
Everything done well is done better in a partnership !
I’ve only used my huge cast iron skillet for flatbreads- it’s well seasoned so no need for extra oils- although for extra sticky bread I sometimes wipe some grapeseed oil on top. Sorry- I wish I had some better advice- you are heading into new territory, Celia!
Heidi, I think there’s a lot to learn here, but it should be fun. All we have to do is figure out where we’re going to store the pan…
My 1st husband is Anglo Indian and his Mum used to cook yummy chapattis, parathas and puris just in a large flattish frying pan. She would no doubt have loved one of these pans.
I’m sure she would have! It’s funny how the older generation made do with what they had – I know my parents couldn’t get a wok when they first came to Australia!
Where would you put something that’s a metre long? I don’t have any cupboard that could fit that. And would it be legal to make a fire in an oil drum? I don’t think so. I think you’ve settled for the right pan. I have never heard of ‘The Sorj’. It looks a bit like a crepe pan. I can imaging this being perfect for flat breads. I can’t wait to see your results. xx
Charlie, I’m starting to think you’re on Pete’s side. It’s ok if he behaves like Jack with the magic beans and buys a waffle iron with our hard-saved cash, but when I want a sorj, you take his side? ;-)
(By the way, I told all this to Pete, and he was very pleased. :))
How selfish of you Pete :) actually though, storing it may have been slightly tricky… Can hardly wait to see your creations Celia, yummo!
Becca, that’s what Pete said. And he agreed with Charlie above that we couldn’t light a huge fire in an oil drum in the backyard.. ;-)
I look forward to further updates on this Celia…you simply can’t have enough bread making implements I say :)
Thanks Jane! I try that line with Pete every time I come home with a new banneton. ;-)
That looks a great addition to the kitchen Celia.
I have another In My Kitchen post if you would be so kind as to add it to your list of inspirational posts for June. Thanks Shirley http://themakingofparadise.blogspot.com.au/
Shirley, thanks for playing! Lovely things in your kitchen this month! (Love the rooster!)
Celia I will have to take a pic in my next What’s in my Kitchen for you of my flat round griddle pan bought in the US when I did a TEX MEX cooking course, corn and wheat tortillas etc. It looks like yours without the round rings.
Roz, tortillas! They would be fun to make, thanks for the inspiration!
I tell you what – I just made a lamb and lentil curry. Can we get together on this?
That would be nice! What time will you get here? :)
Looks great, Celia. I am looking forward to hearing more about it. I am running out of room, quite rapidly, so wouldn’t have anywhere for something like this. Bad enough trying to find a home for my big splatter screens and also the pizza peels!
We have just one big splatter screen, but our pizza peel is the size of a shovel! I guess storing a huge 1m wide sorj might have been tricky.. ;-)
What a fantastic purchase.
I have the feeling you’d get more use from this pan than a saj, Celia.
I make chapattis fairly often, but use a caste iron plate on the gas. This video is pretty much the one I follow: http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/2007/03/21/roti-chapati-flat-indian-bread/ if it’s of any help.
And you can also have a dabble at malsouka/ brik/ warka on there I should think – which need a gentle heat over a steaming pot, not direct flame.
Have fun fun fun
Gill, thanks for the link, I’ll check it out now! I’ll make a note to google malsouka/brik/warka as well! x
This is the malsouka, Celia. A painted batter mix, that you make “spring rolls” with: http://couzinadielnadia.canalblog.com/archives/2007/02/01/3864670.html
Hmmm…I have a ceramic non-stick saucepan that I’d be tempted to try that on, Gill, but not sure about the cast iron. Or at least, not until it’s really well seasoned. Thanks for the link!
I love this! Wonder where I could get my hands on one. I have a cast iron griddle (flat on one side, ridged on the other, like this: http://tinyurl.com/6tze38w ) that fits over two burners and I use that for flatbreads, as well as lots of other things, but it’s quite narrow so I would love a chapatti pan for making the huge round flatbreads we get at our local Indian restaurant.
Aveen, I think it’s probably available at Indian grocers? We looked at a similar cast iron griddle to the one you linked, but the flat surface wasn’t as smooth as the one on the chapatti pan…
What a wonderful purchase!
Ajoy Joshi from Nilgiri’s restaurant has a good post about making Masala dosai. We look forward to reading about Celia’s chapatti adventures.
Elaine, I’ll be sure to report back! :)
I nearly succumed to the chapatti press when I was at Chef’s warehouse today…..wasn’t it fortunate I couldn’t carry anything else.
Sigh. I did succumb and went back and got it today. We were probably there at the same time! :)
Just made fab corn tortillas with it! :)
Oh how funny is that!
I knew you would be inspired…….
Your Pete does sound like mine, sometimes!
Mum uses a tawa (which, to my ears, she pronounces as tava, there’s only one letter that corresponds to v/w so it’s often hard for me to catch which one is closest).
Anyway, lots and lots of different Indian flat bread recipes on my mum’s site (www.mamtaskitchen.com) including rotis made from different types of flours, parathas and naan breads.
Of course! I’ll head to Mamta’s site now, thanks Kavey! I should have gone there first! :)
Celia, I think Pete had a point, that thing was HUMONGOUS, I can see Phil shaking his head in disbelief if I tried to bring that baby home…;-)
What you ended up buying is so much more user-friendly!
just be careful and don t burn yourself, that would be my main problem with it
See, when Pete brings home an unbelievably expensive waffle iron, everyone thinks he shows foresight. But when I want a sorj… ;-)
But of course he was right. As was Charlie above. I wouldn’t be allowed to light a raging fire in an oil barrel in the backyard, even if I wanted to.. ;-)
I was walking past a deli last week, Sally, and they had chestnut puree at half price! I picked up a jar to try your chocolate and chestnut dessert!
Wow a special pan just for flat bread, just how big is your kitchen? Mine is the size of a postage stamp, and that’s a step up from my last one. No room for specialty anything, if it’s not multi-purpose it’s not welcome… very sad. I love your style of negotiation though – I wonder if it works for shoes?
Barbara, there’s always room for shoes! ;-) My kitchen isn’t that big, but my husband is very good with creative storage…
I just told my husband that I need to have extra closets ( my apartment is a small one bedroom in NYC) to put away my kitchen stuff..he looked at me and just shook his head. He’s gotten to the point in his life that he has given up and just goes along…LOL…poor thing…he aims to please. I LOVE GADGETS!
Hehehe…Norma, my Pete keeps putting is foot down. Good thing, too, or we wouldn’t have room to move in the kitchen!
Well, they look right – how do they taste? I don’t do flatbreads very well – I find them rather challenging.
Doc, we attempted a Lebanese mountain bread recipe. They tasted fine, albeit a little boring – they were just flour, yeast, salt and water. Delicious with last night’s curry though! I think Pete is keen to try making tortillas next, I guess we’ll get to chapattis eventually! :)
Hi Celia, do I need to add another thing to my Chef Warehouse shopping list?
Glenda, I think I might have bought the last one, and you should actually be able to get this at Indian grocers. It would be a heavy item to pack! :)
OOOH! I bet it would work great for tortillas too.
Maz
Maz, that’s what Pete wants to make next! :)
And she did! They look great!
Your first attempt looks fantastic so I can’t wait to see the rest. Ooh yes tortillas would be so good on this. I learned a tortilla tip the other day. You probably already know but to get them super thin, use the pasta roller. They’re not perfectly round but who says they have to be?!
Claire, just made tortillas! They worked brilliantly! As you can tell, I was quite excited.. ;-)
Wow! Your first attempt looks pretty impressive! I’ve started the (probably long and painful) process of convincing my husband that I need a tortilla press. I told him that I could use the press to make chapattis as well. He adores chapattis so that might be the in-road I need!
SK, you know you need one. Andy, she needs one. ;-)
Wow, this looks like a great kitchen toy! Have fun experimenting :)
Tandy, we’re already having a blast with it – it hasn’t left the top of the cooker yet!
So that’s what it’s called! A sorj! When the LOML and I were in Lebanon we were taken early to his aunt’s house to see how she made the flat breads for the village – an amazing experience and here I was thinking it was just a really big wok turned upside down over a gas burner – I think I might have to do a post about it now and dig up the photos! Love your chapatti pan too – your breads look delicious!
Shelley, I would LOVE to see a post on that, please! I first read about them in Abla’s gorgeous book on Lebanese cooking. It must have been an absolute treat to watch the bread being made!
I want a Sorj, too, but couldn’t find one. I heard it makes the most silky type of crepe and beautiful flatbread.
Tes, is it the same as a tava? When I looked on Wiki, it said the same pan was used in lots of different countries…
That’s a gorgeous Sorj – never seen one before! Love your negotiating skills – a woman could learn a thing or two from you :-)
Oz, it’s been put to good use, too! :) I’m very happy with it!
Oh my you must have cupboards like me, Hope your adventures with the flat breads is productive ( flat breads for school every one!….. actually flat breads for school are very expensive …. so you’ve done well,,tell Pete)
http://www.mykitchenstories.com.au
Tania, he was pretty happy once we made tortillas with the pan.. ;-)