JoLada Rotti ~ North Karnataka Style Sorghum Flatbread
Prep time: 5 mins | Cook time: 15 mins | Yield 7-8 medium-small sized rottis
Ingredients:
- 1 cup sorghum flour (jowar atta/biLi jolada hittu)
- 1 to 1-1/4 cups boiling water
- salt to taste
Other things you will need:
- a wooden spoon/ladle
- a flat dish filled with water (about 1/4 cup)
- a clean kitchen towel or muslin cloth
Method:
1. Heat a flat tawa/griddle on medium high. Keep the dish of water and the muslin cloth ready.
2. Place the sorghum flour in a flat kneading bowl and mix in the salt to taste. Add the boiling water and use a wooden spoon to mix everything well together till it forms large lumps
3. When it is still warm, but not so very hot, begin to knead the mixture to form a smooth dough. Cover with a warm cloth – you need to work fast as the rottis are easier to roll when the dough is still warm. Once it cools it will get really hard.
4. Dust some sorghum flour on a clean working surface or a rolling board. Pinch out lemon sized balls of dough and using a rolling pin slightly flatten them and roll carefully into flat rounds. Dust extra flour if required. See notes for alternate method of rolling.
5. Transfer the flattened rotti on the hot griddle and let it cook for 20 seconds. Then moisten the muslin/kitchen towel with some water and pat the rotti. Flip to cook on the other side. Rottis that have been correctly rolled will puff up slightly. Cook for another few seconds.
6. Transfer into a hot box. Continue the process till all the dough has been used up.
7. Serve hot with badanekai yennegai (traditional North Karnataka style brinjal curry) or any other veg or non veg side dish of your choice.
Notes:
The traditional method of rolling the rotis is to pat the dough over a clean surface using brisk and swift strokes until the ball of dough flattens into a thin pancake. This is an art that requires some skill though. Once you get the hang of it, it is easier to ‘slap’ the rottis into shape than roll them using a rolling pin.
This month’s BreadBakers’ theme is Ancient Grains, hosted by Robin at A Shaggy Dough Story. Ancient grains are generally accepted to mean grains that have remained largely unchanged/un-hybridized over the last several hundred years, which means NO MODERN WHEAT. Here’s what our creative bakers came up with.
- Ancient 4 Grain Breakfast Bread from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
- Ancient Grain Carrot Bread from The Schizo Chef
- Barley Flour Donut Muffins from I Camp in my Kitchen
- Blueberry Peach Quinoa Oatmeal Muffins from Magnolia Days
- Buckwheat Savoury Pancakes from Mayuri’s Jikoni
- Dimbleby’s Breastfeeding Bread from Food Lust People Love
- Eggless Sorghum and Pearl Millet Banana Muffins (Eggless Jowar and Bajra Banana Muffins) from G’Gina’s Kitchenette
- Foxtail Millet Bagels from Cooking Club
- Garlic Cheesy Einkorn Crackers from The Wimpy Vegetarian
- Injera Bread from Spiceroots
- Little Millet Banana Bread from Sara’s Tasty Buds
- Millet Idli from Gayathri’s Cook Spot
- Quinoa Banana Bread from Wholistic Woman
- Seeded Spelt Boules from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
- Spelt and Buckwheat Soda Bread from A Shaggy Dough Story
- Spelt and Einkorn Sourdough with Caramelized Onions from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Spelt Bread from Hostess at Heart
- Spelt Sweet Potato Paratha from Cook’s Hideout
- Teff Crepes with Spinach and Mushrooms from A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Yeasted Jowar Naan from Sneha’s Recipe
#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page.
We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.
Congrats on your 500th post Shireen.
Your jolada rottis came out just perfect. I can never roll them as thin as you and they always fall apart before getting to the pan. Like you said practice is what makes these perfect. Awesome post. Bookmarked!!
@ Pavani: Thanks sooo much! Yes, you must try them out again, I guess the hot water and the rolling of the rottis when the dough is still pretty hot is the trick to getting them flat!
Congratulations on post #500. I am so glad that you are feeling better and happy that you decided to post this great recipe and let us all know about it.
Thanks so much Wendy 🙂
Hello,
I am a Marathi speaking from Hubli, North Karnataka. I know these are rottis are popular in North Karnataka as well as Maharashtra where it is called Bhakri. You say you have lived in Mumbai but it appears you are not aware of it. I have seen a couple of videos on youtube which show how to make this bread.
@ Deepti Ganguly: I am aware of the term 'Bhakri' as we in Mangalore call the thick rice rottis as Bhakris. However, I am not sure what you mean when you say that I have lived in Mumbai and was not aware of bhakri. I never mentioned that in my post. Please elaborate