Jowar Bhakri - Jowar Roti
Jowar Bhakri is a gluten-free, oil-free, and vegan Indian flatbread made with sorghum flour. Jowar roti is incredibly filling and makes a wonderful meal to enjoy with a leafy vegetable sabzi, pithla, garlic chutney, green chili thecha, or red chili thecha.
Ingredients
- 4 cup Jowar flour/ Sorghum flour +1/3 cup for dusting
- 2 tbsp Rice flour for dusting
- 1/4 tsp Salt optional
- 2 cup Water or as required
Instructions
- In a large wide bowl or parat, mix together jowar flour and salt.
- Boil some water in a saucepan and slowly add to the flour mixture. Stir the mixture with a spatula. Cover the jowar flour mixture with a lid and set aside.
- Once the mixture is lukewarm, knead the dough until smooth for about 6-8 minutes. Add some water to the mixture if you find it is not forming into a soft and smooth dough.
- Heat the skillet on medium heat, divide the dough into 12 equal balls, and set aside.
- Mix 1/3 cup jowar flour and 2 tbsp rice flour on a plate.
- Dust some jowar and rice flour mixture on a working surface or wooden chakla.
- Flatten the dough ball between your palms and spread some flour on a flatten ball at the bottom side.
- Place the flour side on a working surface, take some flour on your hands, and slowly start flattening the sides of the ball with your fingers. The bhakri should move around - do not press the sides too much or the bhakri will break.
- Gently press the middle of the disc with the bottom of your palms and keep on flattening the disc with your fingers. Lift the bhakri when it reaches 4 inch diameters, sprinkle some more flour on a working surface, place the disc, and keep on flattening the bhakri.
- Slowly lift the bhakri, transfer the flour side up on the skillet, and spread some water with your hands or a brush.
- Gently lift all the sides of the bhakri with a spatula and flip the jowar bhakri. Let the bhakri cook until golden brown, lift it with a spatula, take out the skillet, and let the bhakri cook from the other side directly on the stove to puff it well. Remove the jowar bhakri with the help of tongs or spatula.
- Set the bhakri aside on a cooling rack and repeat the same process with the leftover dough.
Notes
- Buy a good quality, fresh jowar flour.
- If the jowar flour is a little old, boil some water in a pan, remove from the heat, slowly transfer the flour to the pan, mix it well, cover with a lid, and let it sit for 10 minutes. While the dough is still warm, knead the dough very well for about 7-8 minutes until it is soft and smooth.
- You might need some more water to form it into a soft and smooth dough. The water consistency always depends on the stickiness in the flour - the bhakri should not break while patting into a disc.
- Adding some rice flour to the jowar flour for dusting helps the bhakri to move easily when flattening it with your fingers.
- Always put flour side up while roasting a bhakri to puff it well and to keep it soft.
- Applying water on the flour side of a bhakri is important to keep the bhakri soft for a longer period of time.
- Flipping the bhakri immediately after applying water keeps it soft.