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Jowar Roti
Maharashtra Lunch / Dinner

Jowar Roti

Bhakri, properly — with the smeared-water step that makes it puff

Jowar Bhakri (Marathi) Jolada Rotti (Kannada) Jonna Rotte (Telugu) Jowar Ki Roti (Hindi)
30 min
Makes 4 bhakris
Medium
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Jowar bhakri is the everyday bread of Maharashtra and North Karnataka, and it has a reputation for being difficult that is only half deserved. The dough is not the hard part — it is the same scalded-flour dough that bajra rotla uses, and our ragi roti page explains why a gluten-free flour needs that treatment at all.

Two things are specific to bhakri, and they are the two that people skip. The first is how you lift the patted disc onto the tawa, which is where most bhakris tear. The second is the smear of cold water across the top once it is on the pan — a step that looks fussy, takes three seconds, and is the entire reason a bhakri puffs and stays soft instead of drying into a board.

Instructions

1

Scald the flour

Put the jowar flour and salt in a wide bowl. Pour over about three quarters of the boiling water and stir it through with the handle of a wooden spoon. Cover and rest 5 minutes. Jowar has no gluten, so hot water swelling the starch is the only thing that will bind this dough at all.

2

Knead it warm, and longer than feels necessary

Knead for a full 5 minutes while the dough is still warm, adding the rest of the hot water a little at a time, until it is completely smooth and shows no cracks when you press a ball flat with your thumb.

Jowar is drier and less forgiving than bajra. Any grittiness you leave in the dough now becomes a tear when you try to lift the bhakri later.

3

Pat it out on a dusted counter

Dust the counter well with dry jowar flour. Flatten a lemon-sized ball on it and pat outward with the flat of your palm, turning the disc a quarter turn every few pats so it stays round and even. Work to about 15 cm across and 3–4 mm thick — thinner than a bajra rotla. Dust underneath the moment it starts to grip.

4

Lift it on the flat of your hand

Brush the loose flour off the top. Slide your fingers flat underneath, lift the whole bhakri onto your open palm, and lay it top-side down onto a hot tawa in one movement.

This is where most bhakris are lost. Lifting from the edge or with fingertips leaves part of the disc unsupported, and a gluten-free bread has no strength to hold its own weight.

5

Smear the top with cold water

Within a few seconds of it landing, wet your palm in the bowl of cold water and smear a thin film right across the top of the bhakri.

This is the step that makes it a bhakri. That water turns to steam between the top surface and the layer beneath, prising them apart — which is what makes the bread puff and stay soft. It also washes off the dusting flour that would otherwise scorch.

6

Flip, then puff on the flame

When the smeared surface has dried and the underside has pale brown spots, flip it and cook a minute. Then lift the bhakri with tongs and hold it directly over an open flame until it balloons. Serve at once with ghee or white butter, alongside zunka, pitla, thecha or plain curd.

Made with
Orggu Jowar Flour Stone-ground sorghum flour, farm-direct
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Why jowar is the fussiest of the three

Ragi, bajra and jowar are all gluten-free and all get patted rather than rolled, but they are not equally forgiving, and it is worth knowing which one you are fighting.

Ragi has a very fine, thirsty starch, so a wet-fingered dough knits itself back together as you pat it — small tears close on their own. Bajra is oily enough that its dough stays pliable and takes a bit of rough handling. Jowar has neither advantage: it is dry, its flour is coarser, and its dough will happily crack along any line you give it. That is the whole reason the bhakri method builds in two compensations that the other two breads do not need — a longer knead to eliminate cracks before they can propagate, and the smear of water on the tawa to add moisture back at the surface just as the bread sets.

The upside is that jowar's mildness is exactly why it became an everyday staple across the Deccan while ragi and bajra stayed more regional. It tastes of very little, which means it goes with everything. If you want the ratios and soak times for cooking whole millets rather than flours, our complete guide to cooking millets has the full chart.

Pro Tips

Press a ball flat with your thumb before you start patting. If the edges crack, the dough needs more kneading or more hot water.

Hold the patted disc up to the light before lifting it. Bright patches are thin spots, and thin spots are where it will tear.

Beginners: pat it on a square of parchment or a banana leaf and invert that onto the tawa. No lifting, no tearing.

For jolada rotti, pat thinner and roast longer until it dries crisp — that is what lets it stack and keep for days.

Nutrition Facts

Per serving — two bhakris, from about 90 g jowar flour

300 Calories
9.0g Protein
9.2g Fiber
3.6mg Iron

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Where those numbers come from:

  • Sorghum carries about 10 g protein, 10.2 g dietary fibre and 4 mg iron per 100 g
  • It is the leanest of the three roti millets at roughly 1.7 g fat per 100 g — which is also why jowar flour keeps better than bajra flour
  • Naturally gluten-free, which is why the dough needs boiling water rather than kneading
  • Jowar sits in the medium GI band; eaten with dal, zunka or curd the meal is slower than the flour figure alone suggests

Tap to flip back

Sorghum composition from the Indian Food Composition Tables (IFCT 2017), NIN / ICMR. Serving figures are calculated from those tables for the quantities listed above; the ghee or butter served alongside is not included.

Did You Know?

The same dough gives two different breads depending only on how thin it is patted and how long it is roasted. Maharashtra's bhakri stays thick and soft and is eaten within minutes; North Karnataka's jolada rotti is patted thin and roasted until it dries, so a stack of them keeps for days and can be carried out to the fields. One is a bread for the table and the other is a bread for the road, and the only difference is a millimetre of thickness and a few minutes on the tawa.

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Millet Atta for Roti Millet Flours Gluten-Free Flours Millet GI Chart

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my jowar bhakri break when I lift it?

Because it is being lifted from the edge. A gluten-free disc has no tensile strength, so any unsupported part tears under its own weight. Slide your fingers flat underneath and bring the whole bhakri up on your open palm in one movement, then lay it straight onto the tawa. If it still breaks, the dough is too dry or was not kneaded long enough — a well-kneaded jowar dough shows no cracks at all when you press a ball flat with your thumb.

Why do you smear water on jowar roti while it cooks?

It is what makes a bhakri a bhakri. The film of water on top turns to steam as the bread heats, and that steam separates the top layer from the one beneath, which is what makes it puff and stay soft. It also washes off the dusting flour that would otherwise scorch. Skip it and you get a flat, dry roti that hardens within minutes.

Should jowar roti dough be made with hot or cold water?

Hot, just off the boil — exactly as for bajra rotla. Sorghum has no gluten to form an elastic dough, so the binding has to come from gelatinised starch, and only near-boiling water will do that. Knead while it is still warm and keep the rest covered, because a jowar dough that cools turns crumbly faster than a bajra one.

Why does my jowar bhakri not puff?

Usually an uneven thickness, a tear letting the steam escape, or a skipped water smear. Pat the disc as evenly as you can and hold it up to the light to find thin patches before you lift it. The tawa must be properly hot before the bhakri goes on, and the flame stage should follow straight after the flip, while the bread is still full of steam.

Is jowar bhakri the same as jolada rotti?

Same bread, two regional personalities. The Maharashtrian bhakri is thicker, softer and eaten hot off the tawa with zunka or pitla. North Karnataka jolada rotti is patted thinner and roasted longer so it dries crisp, which lets it be stacked and kept for days — which is why it travels to the fields. Same flour, same hot-water dough; different thickness and roasting time.

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Orggu Jowar Flour Stone-ground sorghum flour from small farmers
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Orggu Jowar Flour Stone-ground sorghum flour for bhakri
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