Millet Breads (Bhakris)

I have already mentioned the importance of millets in our diet through some earlier posts in my blog. Millets as a part of daily alkaline diet. It is particularly recommended to include millet in our diet in winter and the body consumes a lot of energy to maintain warmth in the body.

This recipe is a traditional one and I have learnt it from my mother.

The bhakri is a simple millet bread that is usually flattened with the help of palms and then baked on a griddle preferably made of cast iron. Millets do not have gluten in them and that’s how it makes it difficult to knead and roll like our regular rotis or Parathas wherein we use wheat. Here we try to induce a glutenizing effect by pre-cooking the mixture in hot boiling water. After this is done , it is knead and rolled into Bhakris and baked without any oil on a Tawa (flat griddle). It forms a staple, wholesome, nutritious and tasty form of bread that goes well with any vegetable side dish.

With simple ingredients and easy to prepare this dish is sure to be liked by everyone at home. This recipe can be made with any kind of millet e.g. jowar, bajra, ragi or even corn(makai ka atta)

Ingredients

Bajri flour 1 cup Heaped

Water -1cup

salt -1/2 tsp

Method:

Heat the water in a kadai and let it boil. Add the salt and stir. When the water is boiling lower the flame and add the flour and stir continuously till it forms a king of dry dough. Remove from fire and cover it for 2 minutes. The final consistency is shown in the picture below. It should be dry and difficult to stir.

                             

Open the kadai and moisten your hands with some water and knead the dough carefully. You would notice that the dough actually behaves like a roti dough with the same consistency and can be made in to small balls. Flatten each ball, dust it with bajri flour and roll it out. Bake on a hot tawa on both sides.

Applying oil is not necessary and the bhakri taste best when served hot and remain soft for a longer time.

The dough needs to be thoroughly  knead with hands and care has to be taken not to hurt the hands. After repeating the  recipe for a couple of times you would know the exact consistency of the dough required to bring out perfect bhakris. I have taught this recipe to many of my friends and they have loved this tasty and low-cal recipe for a weight loss diet. These are a frequent breakfast option in my house and I usually serve them with Bottle gourd vegetable or Spinach with Pumpkin.