What can compare to the taste of warm homemade rotis fresh off the tava. Various brands from Swad to Swarna to Sujata, toot their horn selling their premium atta, which deliver the softest healthiest whole wheat rotis.
However eating roti, using freshly ground atta made from Organic Non-GMO wheat berries is a whole new experience, that we enjoyed today!
Ever since I bought my new Vitamix blender with its dry jar attachment, I’ve been wanting to make my own flour. So I went in search of wheat berries to make my whole wheat flour. This task was easier said than done. Wheat berries are not easily available….and when I went online, there were a whole range.
So how do we decide which wheat berries would work best for our Indian Rotis? In American produce, there were three different types that caught my attention…
1) Hard Red Wheat Berries
2) Hard White Wheat Berries
3) Soft White Wheat Berries.
Now the search began, to find out which wheat berry suits which end use? I searched high n low, googling different key words trying to find out the closest substitute to our Indian wheat, before I finally solved this puzzle!
And here is the gist of what I found…
Soft White Wheat Berries are best used for baking purposes.
Hard Red Wheat Berries are best used for sprouting.
And finally…Hard White Wheat Berries is the closest and best suited to make atta for Indian Rotis.
Next step was procurement of wheat berries…
And my preferred source after much research was Amazon where I found Organic and Non-GMO wheat berries which you can get easily shipped to your house!
Here I would like to clarify that being organic does not necessarily mean it is also Non-GMO. So if you are looking for both, be sure to read labels carefully.
Making the Flour…
Once the wheat berries arrived, I set to make flour.
I used my Vitamix Dry Jar and processed 1 1/2 cup of wheat berries at one time.
I used the mixer for 3 minutes, stopping at 1 minute intervals to open, cool and aerate the flour using a spoon.
After 3 minutes, the flour was evenly ground and ready to be made into dough….for Rotis! 🙂
To make roti dough…
Use freshly ground whole wheat flour and warm water in the ratio of 2:1 (amount of water can vary slightly, depending on local climate) and bring it together into a rough shaggy dough.
Let this rest (Autolyse) for about 10 minutes.
Now sprinkle 3-4 tsp of flour over dough,
Add a tsp of oil if you like, I do, as it helps keep rotis soft, for a longer period.
and knead it to become a slightly sticky mass.
If the dough appears too sticky…you can spray lightly with nonstick spray (optional) for easier handling
and knead for another 3-4 minutes….
Till it forms a smooth ball of dough.
To make Rotis
Pull a small lemon size piece of dough.
Form into round ball and dab with dry flour.
Roll out into a small disc.
Pat with dry flour one again.
Roll out again into a thin round circle.
Place on hot tava for a few seconds. (never put roti on cold tava, you will get hard rotis!)
Flip and cook on other side for a few seconds.
Flip and place on roti grill or open gas flame to puff up.
Flip once again to puff from other side.
Place on paper towel, apply ghee, while still warm
and serve immediately!
Or you can store covered packed tightly between layers of paper towel and foil.