Sorghum flour...

[Tri2Cook]

A friend gave me an unusual but very much appreciated birthday gift yesterday. A selection of assorted flours and starches and a bag of adzuki beans. Most of the flours and starches I'm familiar with and have worked with before but sorghum flour is a new one for me. I've heard of it but never worked with it and was never curious enough about it to do any reading. A quick google search tells me it's bland and mainly used in gluten free baking. Gluten free is a non-issue for me but I'm determined to find something interesting to do with it. Being unfamiliar with it, I'm not sure how it behaves. The "bland" descriptor takes some of the potential fun away as well. There's only about a lb. of it so I thought checking into eGullet to fish for information would be a better plan than just throwing it into things. Obviously it's not going to be a candidate for anything where a gluten network is important but does it actually have no contribution flavor-wise? In addition to information, I'd love to see any interesting recipes if they exist.

[andiesenji]

You can look for Indian recipes under the name "jowar" or "juwar" for sorghum flour.

Here's one I tried a while back that turned out pretty good.

You can also find it called milo.

It is used a lot in gluten free baking because it behaves somewhat like wheat but you have to add binders to the mix, often xanthan gum, otherwise the baked item falls apart.

I buy both the flour and the whole grain from Barry Farm.

It is sweet so you can reduce the amount of sugar in a recipe - I'm diabetic - and when I mix the whole grain with others for breakfast cereal, I add no sugar at all.

It's an interesting grain to work with. The farm on which I was raised grew a lot of sorghum, 90% was the "heavy" high sugar content, pressed for the juice that was cooked down into molasses and only 10% was the taller "light" sorghum grown for the grain. The dried grains were used to feed show cattle and game birds, pheasant, quail, partridge, etc., only occasionally was it made into people food.

Edited November 25, 2011 by andiesenji (log)

[Jenni]

Jowar ki roti is one of the best things ever, with a big dollop of home made white butter. It is far from bland, in fact some people don't like the strong taste.

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[Tri2Cook]

andiesenji: thanks for the information! There's a lot there I didn't find in my quick google search.

Jenni: "One of the best things ever" will make me pay attention every time. I'm finding a lot of variation in the recipes that turn up though. Ranging from the sweet, thick-porridge sounding version andiesenji linked to a basic flour and water flatbread to some more elaborate flat breads that add herbs and spices to the basic flour and water base. Is there a "the" version I should be looking for/starting with?

[Jenni]

What andienji linked to was for a sweet, burfi. Jowar ki roti is a simple flat bread. There are various different ones, some with seasonings, some very plain. You need very fresh flour. Old flour does not taste good and is very hard to roll. Actually jowar ki roti has a knack to it anyway. Here's how I make a type of roti called bhakri:

Make one bread at a time, as the dough should not sit. Put all the flour in a bowl and mix with the salt. Then get a metal plate and take a heaped 1/3 cup (50g) – ½ cup (70g) of the flour you have seasoned, depending on how good you are at rolling out and how big you like your breads. Add hot water slowly, mixing to make a dough. Gather up all the flour as you do this so that the plate is clear. It should be soft but not at all sticky – think of very soft play dough. Knead well for at least 5 minutes. The dough should be soft and pliable. Roll between your hands to make a ball, then flatten between palms slightly to make a disk. If the dough is cracking around the edges at this stage it may be too dry or not well kneaded enough.

Put a tawa on the heat ready.

Spread out plenty of flour on the plate and flour the palm of your dominant hand. Put the disk of dough on the plate and, with a rotating motion, press down rhythmically on it with your palm so that the disk rotates and slowly widens into a larger circle. Use brisk, even motions and check for tearing, cracking and sticking. Tearing and cracking early on indicates that your dough wasn’t soft or kneaded enough, but inevitably the edges will be get slightly raggedy when the bread is much bigger. Aim to make a bread 6-7 inches in diameter to start with. Experts can make very thin big ones, but beginners should not feel embarrassed to start smaller.

Pick up the bread and put on the hot tawa. You may find it easier to tip up the plate slightly to get rid of excess flour and then tip it up fully so that the bread goes on to your palm. When the bread is on the tawa, take a palmful of water and spread it on the top surface so that it is all well moistened. Cook the bread on that side until you can see that the water has evaporated off. Flip the bread over. Cook until both sides have a few light brown spots. Your bread may puff up on the pan. If this happens, you can cook it completely on the tawa until there are darker brown spots. Otherwise, take the bread off the tawa and hold it over a naked flame. It will puff up and get brown spots.

The puffing up separates the layers and is important for fully cooking the bread.

Serve hot, straight away. It will not be nice if left! Serve with a big blob of homemade white butter or some ghee.

Pithle (a kind of custard-y textured dish of gram flour) with bhakri and chilli-garlic chutney is heaven.