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Indian · Bangladeshi

Bakarkhani (Hyderabadi style)

Vegetarian

باقرخانی · baqarkhani

A crisp, flaky, faintly sweet layered bread made by folding ghee into a milk dough, rolled thin and baked until golden. This version follows the biscuit-like style of Hyderabad's bakeries, eaten with tea.

Bakarkhani (Hyderabadi style) is an Indian bread, ready in about 2 hours and made with all-purpose flour and ghee. It serves 8 and is rated advanced to cook.

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Prep
40 min
Cook
20 min
Rest
1 h
Total
2 h
Serves
8
Level
Advanced
Calories
266

Ingredients

8 bakarkhanis

Dough

For layering

Topping

Equipment

Method

  1. Step 1

    Mix the flour, semolina (opens in a new tab), sugar (opens in a new tab) and salt; rub in 30 g ghee (opens in a new tab), add the cold milk (opens in a new tab) and knead 5 minutes into a firm, smooth dough. Wrap and rest 30 minutes in the fridge.

    Hands kneading dough on a floured surface
    How it looks · Photo: Klaus Nielsen on Pexels

  2. Step 2

    Beat the layering ghee (opens in a new tab) with 15 g flour into a smooth paste. Roll the dough into a 30 × 20 cm rectangle, spread a third of the paste over two-thirds of it and fold in three like a letter. Turn 90°, roll out again and repeat twice more, chilling 10 minutes between turns if the ghee softens.

    Dough being rolled out with a rolling pin
    How it looks · Photo: Katerina Holmes on Pexels

  3. Step 3

    Rest the folded dough 20 minutes in the fridge. Preheat the oven (opens in a new tab) to 200 °C.

    • 20 min
    • 200°C

  4. Step 4

    Roll to 5 mm and cut 10 cm rounds (or roll 8 balls into discs). Prick all over with a fork, brush with milk (opens in a new tab) and sprinkle with sesame (opens in a new tab).

    Fresh herbs scattered over a finished dish
    How it looks · Photo: Klaus Nielsen on Pexels

  5. Step 5

    Bake on a lined tray for 16–20 minutes until golden and crisp throughout; cool on the tray, where they finish crisping.

About this dish

Origin
Indian subcontinent (Hyderabad, Old Dhaka, Kashmir, Lucknow) · Origin disputedSeveral cities claim bakarkhani, and versions differ widely — from Dhaka's thin crisp rounds to Kashmir's sesame-topped breakfast bread. Origin stories naming individuals are popular but undocumented.Also popular in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan
Dish
Breakfast · Snack · Breads & flatbreads · Sweets & confectionery
Cooking method
Oven-baked
Taste
buttery, sweet, nutty
Diet
Vegetarian (lacto-ovo) · No nut ingredients
All labelsVegetarian (lacto-ovo) · Eggetarian · Lacto-vegetarian · Pescatarian · Flexitarian-friendly · Egg-free · No nut ingredients · Alcohol-free · Pork-free · Beef-free
Worked out from the ingredients. How labels work
Good for
Make-ahead · Portable / lunchbox
Cook more with
All-purpose flour · Ghee · Semolina · Sugar · Milk
Techniques
Baking · Kneading

Allergens

  • Contains: Milkfrom milk, ghee
  • Contains: Wheatfrom all-purpose flour, semolina
  • Contains: Glutenfrom all-purpose flour, semolina
  • Contains, can be adapted: Sesamefrom sesame seeds

Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

Nutrition

266 kcal per serving

Calculated

1 serving ≈ 63 g · recipe makes 8

Where the energy comes from

  • Protein 7%
  • Carbohydrate 48%
  • Fat 45%
Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
NutrientPer servingPer 100 g
Energy266 kcal425 kcal
Protein4.4 g7 g
Carbohydrate32.1 g51.3 g
Net carbohydrate31.1 g49.7 g
Sugars4.6 g7.4 g
Added sugars3.8 g6 g
Fibre1 g1.6 g
Fat13.3 g21.3 g
Saturated fat8.1 g13 g
Trans fat——
Cholesterol34 mg54 mg
Sodium154 mg246 mg
Salt equivalent0.4 g0.6 g
Vitamins & minerals per serving
Potassium
63 mg
Calcium
24 mg
Iron
1.7 mg
Magnesium
10 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)
112 µg
Vitamin C
0 mg
Vitamin D
0.2 µg
Vitamin B12
0.1 µg
Folate (DFE)
105 µg

How these numbers were made

  • Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
  • Optional ingredients are not included: sesame seeds.
  • “—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
  • Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

Good to know

Tips

  • Keep everything cool; warm ghee soaks into the dough instead of forming layers.

Common mistakes

  • Under-baking leaves a soft, doughy centre — bake until golden right through.

Serve with

  • Serve with Irani chai, or with haleem or nihari for a richer meal.

Storage

  • Keeps 1 week in an airtight tin.

Reheating

  • Re-crisp in a 160 °C oven for 5 minutes.

Variations

  • Kashmiri bakarkhani (India): A larger, layered breakfast bread from the kandur (baker), topped with sesame and eaten with noon chai.

Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated

Recipe DNA

How this dish is built

Built from the recipe’s own sections. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

What the dish is built around

Main ingredient

Used in steps 1, 2, 4

Baker’s notes

Customise in Bread & Bakery

Timeline and readiness cues

  1. Mix and knead · about 40 min

    Keep the butter and dough at the same cool, pliable temperature; chill between folds.

  2. Rest · about 1 h

    Covered so it doesn't dry out; relaxed dough rolls and shapes without springing back.

  3. Bake · about 20 min at 200 °C

    Deep golden; bread sounds hollow when tapped underneath, or reads 93–96 °C inside (enriched breads 88–90 °C).

  4. Cool · about 15 min

    Cool on a rack before slicing — the crumb is still setting; cutting hot bread makes it gummy.

  5. Start to finish: about 2 h 15 min. Times are a guide — warmth changes everything; follow the cues.

The dough

The dough in baker's percentages. Flour = 100%.
IngredientRoleWeightBaker’s %
All-purpose flourFlour15 g100%
GheeFat70 g466.7%
Total flour
15 g
Hydration
—
With milk, eggs…
0%
Wholegrain
0%

Hydration = water ÷ flour × 100. Milk is about 87% water and eggs about 75%, so they’re shown separately as “with milk, eggs…”.

  • Fat 466.7% — a rich, tender dough.

If something goes wrong

  • Pale crust

    Likely causes

    • Oven too cool
    • Too little sugar or no milk/egg for browning
    • Over-fermented (yeast ate the sugars)

    What to do

    • Check the oven with a thermometer
    • Brush with egg wash or milk
    • Shorten the fermentation
  • Burnt bottom

    Likely causes

    • Tray too close to the heat
    • Dark tray absorbs more heat
    • Too much sugar in the dough

    What to do

    • Bake on the middle shelf
    • Double up trays or use a light-coloured one
    • Lower the temperature 10–15 °C and bake a little longer
  • Tough or chewy flatbread

    Likely causes

    • Dough too stiff
    • Not rested
    • Cooked too slowly on too cool a pan

    What to do

    • Add water until the dough is soft and slightly tacky
    • Rest 20–30 minutes covered so the gluten relaxes
    • Cook on a very hot tawa or pan — quickly

Reviews & corrections

Reviews come from signed-in cooks and appear after a moderator checks them. We never show made-up ratings.

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