How To Make

Missi Roti

Using Khapli Wheat Flour? 8 Ways To Produce The Perfectly Spiced Flatbread

Quick Summary

Made with a mix of besan and whole wheat flour, missi roti is a North Indian flatbread which has a distinct nutty flavour and is super soft. This is great for khapli wheat, as the flour is naturally earthy and nutty and produces soft rotis. The push for a different atta is because khapli atta is naturally denser, and since it retains its bran and germ content, it tends to have more fibre and protein and tastes heartier, with a grainy quality to it. 

Deep Dive

Khapli wheat flour missi roti is made using the same ingredients and techniques used in the typical missi roti that uses whole wheat flour, mixed with besan, ajwain (carom seeds), chillies, onions, salt and hing (asafoetida). Because of the besan content, it is also referred to as besan roti. With the same dough, you can also make parathas, whether the plain ones or the more intricate ones and laccha parathas. 

The proportion of the flour in the typical missi roti is higher than the besan, exactly double the amount of besan, so it is important to know how to handle this nutrient-dense flour made from an ancient grain. Two things decide whether the khapli wheat flour missi roti turns out soft and pliable or crumbly and dense. One is getting the khapli-to-besan ratio right, and adjusting your kneading and cooking to account for khapli's naturally lower gluten. Read on for some more tips.

1. Get the Khapli-to-Besan Ratio Right

Any missi roti recipe uses a split of wheat flour and besan anywhere from 1:1 to 2:1, depending on how nutty and dense you want the roti. Besan itself has no gluten at all, so wheat flour is doing all the structural work in this dough. Going beyond a 1:1 split toward more besan, something several recipes already flag as risky even with regular wheat flour, is not as easy with khapli atta, so expect a stickier dough that's prone to being brittle when you roll it out. A slightly wheat-heavier ratio, closer to 2:1 or even 3:1 khapli to besan, should help in getting a good batch of missi rotis, without losing the nutty flavour of besan.

2. Rest the Dough Before Rolling

Skipping the rest time is one of the most common reasons missi roti tears while rolling. Besan continues absorbing water even after the dough looks ready, so a dough that feels perfectly kneaded can turn noticeably firmer 15 minutes later. Khapli flour also behaves the same way, only more so, since it naturally needs more time to hydrate well. A 15-20-minute covered rest time lets both flours finish absorbing water and lets whatever gluten khapli has relax.

3. Rub the Fat into the Dry Flour Before Adding Water

Most missi roti recipes rub oil or ghee into the flour and spice mix until it looks like coarse crumbs before any water goes in. With khapli wheat, this step is more important, as the atta tends to produce denser results. What happens with this step is that the fat coats the flour particles first, which keeps the roti tender and helps offset the extra dryness that comes from a wheat-heavier ratio.

4. Fix a Dough That Turns Too Sticky

If your dough feels sticky and won't roll out, it's almost always one of two things – too much besan relative to khapli flour, or water added faster than the flour could absorb it. To avoid such a mishap, work in a spoonful of khapli flour at a time while kneading, and dust the rolling surface with dry flour rather than adding more water.

5. Fix A Dough That Turns Hard or Won't Roll

The opposite problem is a dough that's stiff and resists rolling, which usually happens when it is under-hydrated to begin with or has sat out too long and dried at the surface. Knead in a little warm water at a time, as warm water helps the dough become more cohesive, and rolling out with cold water won’t produce the same results. Khapli atta will absorb more liquid than regular wheat flour; it’s in its nature, so you might need more water than what a standard missi roti recipe calls for.

6. Add Ajwain And Hing For Flavour And Digestibility

Ajwain (carom seeds) isn't optional in a proper missi roti, and serves a digestive function more than it does towards taste. It is added specifically because besan can sit heavily on the stomach, and ajwain helps offset that. A pinch of hing (asafoetida) does similar work while adding a savoury depth that plain wheat roti doesn't have. Both spices go into the dry mix before the fat and water stage.

7. Add Fresh Aromatics Without Packing Extra Moisture

Finely chopped onion, green chilli, ginger, coriander leaves, and kasuri methi all add amazing flavour to the missi roti, but they release water as the dough rests, which can undo all the hydration work if you don’t factor this in. Mince onion especially fine so it doesn't tear the dough while rolling, and hold back a little water at the kneading stage to account for what these aromatics will release on their own.

8. Cook on Lower Heat and Slowly

Missi roti is typically cooked over a medium flame rather than at higher heat or even on a naked flame, as is used for plain roti. This is a good thing, as both besan and khapli atta brown faster than typical wheat flour, and for besan especially, it can scorch before the inside of the roti has a chance to cook. So stick to the medium flame and cook each side until golden spots form. Finish with a generous brushing of ghee, which also helps offset khapli's slightly denser crumb, and serve immediately since missi roti firms up as it cools.

For more on why khapli wheat behaves this way in the first place, from its lower gluten to its faster browning, you can read up on why khapli atta is considered an ancient superfood and how the same properties play out in an enriched dough as well.

About Aashirvaad Chakki Khapli Atta

Don’t forget the atta before you attempt making missi roti with khapli atta. So, here’s Aashirvaad Chakki Khapli Atta, milled from Khapli (Emmer) wheat, an ancient low-gluten grain still grown mainly across Maharashtra, Northern Karnataka, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh. Three chapatis made from it provide close to 34% of the day's fibre requirement and around 23% of the RDA for protein, along with iron and Vitamin B1, while staying naturally low in sugar, fat, and saturated fat.

Khapli-To-Besan Ratio Explained

Making Healthier Roti Making a Breeze

All flours are good flours, but khapli atta made a comeback for good reason, because it is stone ground, like the good old chakki of yesteryears, which retains all fibrous and nutrient-rich components of the wheat. It has its challenges but is a good way to add more nutrients per meal, especially if you have a thriving social life, be it the office social butterfly or the cool dude (or dudette) everyone wants to hang out with, where hakka noodles, biryani, chaat, and pakoras are commonplace.