Vitamin losses during processing of cereal grains and their food products play an important role in human vitamin intake. Therefore, experiments were conducted to optimise the baking parameters for chapati, a flat unleavened, hot-plate-baked product of Asian diet. In the experiments, whole-wheat flour (100% extraction rate) was used for the preparation of chapaties. Central composite rotatable design with three independent variables (thickness of dough sheet, time as well as temperature of baking) at five levels and nine dependent variables, i.e. vitamin B 1 and B 2 content, textural properties and overall acceptability scores, were used to conduct the experiments. The ranges for three independent variables were: thickness, 2.5-4.5 mm; time, 2.0-3.0 min; and temperature, 200-240°C. Thickness of the dough sheet had a significant (P £ 0.05) positive effect on vitamin retention, while the temperature had greater negative effect as compared with the time of baking. Based on compromise optimisation, optimum conditions for baking of chapati, especially with respect to vitamin retention were: thickness of dough sheet 3.2 mm, time of baking 2.1 min and baking temperature 216.3°C.