Jowar Roti
Jowar roti recipe with step by step pics. These Jowar roti also jowar bhakri or jolada roti are healthy traditional flatbreads made with sorghum flour. While there is a bit of technique required to prepare the recipe just right, it takes only 30 minutes to make with my step-by-step instructions and photos.
Sorghum is a healthy millet that is good in minerals like calcium, potassium, phosphorus and iron. Being rich in antioxidants, its good for the heart too and is diabetic friendly. Jowar is also an excellent gluten free flour.
Jowar roti has a nice soft texture and even on cooling do not become hard or chewy. On my visits to some parts of Maharashtra, we were served jowar roti in a thali with pitla (a thick but moist gram flour paste spiced dish) and green chili thecha (coarse green chili and garlic chutney). It can also be served with zunka (a dry version of pitla).
Usually when I make bajra or jowar roti, I also make a Maharashtrian based curry to go with it like batata rassa, vangi rassa, mixed sprouts curry, veg Kolhapuri, bharli vangi or usal. This time I served with mixed sprouts usal.
I make these millet and gluten free rotis season wise. In summers I make jowar roti and Ragi roti.
In winter and monsoon I make Makki ki roti (maize flour flat bread) and Bajra roti (pearl millet flatbread) and when we fast during some days, I make rajgira paratha (amaranth flour flat bread) or kuttu ka paratha (buckwheat flour flat bread).
These rotis are also called as Jolada rotti in Karnataka. These flatbreads are vegan, gluten-free and very healthy.
These jowar bhakri are fairly easy to make if you have the practice. I make them a couple of times in a month. I make small to medium sized rotis as I am not good in making large rotis.
The jowar roti can be served with any veggie gravy dish. They also taste good with a dry chutney like peanut thecha.
How to make Jowar Roti
1. In a bowl or a large plate with rim/parat take 1 cup jowar flour. Add 2 to 3 pinches of salt (about ⅛ teaspoon) and mix it with the flour.
2. Then add about ½ cup hot water.
3. With a spoon or spatula, stir and mix the water with the jowar flour.
4. Add the remaining ¼ cup water more and again mix and stir incorporating the water in the flour.
Overall I added ¾ cup water. However, the water amount depends on the type of flour, whether it is fine or slightly coarse. Hence add accordingly.
5. When the heat is enough to handle, then knead the dough with your hands. Knead really well.
The dough should be hot when you knead it. If the dough feels sticky or pasty, then add some more of the jowar flour. Cover and keep the dough aside, till it comes at room temperature.
Rolling jowar roti
6. Now make small to medium sized balls of the dough. Sprinkle a good amount of jowar flour on the rolling board. Flatten a ball and place it on the flour. Add some more flour on top.
7. With your palms, lightly press as well as rotate the roti. Add more flour if required. If you are unable to do this way, then roll the dough ball between two butter papers or ziplock bag as shown in this Bajra roti.
You can also flatten the dough ball on a moist napkin as shown in this Rajgira paratha.
8. Here the roti is done.
9. Now with a spatula gently lift up the roti.
Cooking jowar roti
10. Then place jowar roti on a hot tava or griddle with the floured side facing you.
11. Spread some water all over the jowar roti with your fingers.
12. Let the base cook ¼th and then flip the jowar roti. Allow this watered side to cook till you see light brown spots.
13. With a pair of tongs lift the roti, invert and then place it on the fire. The roti or jowar bhakri will begin to puff up.
14. Here in the below photo the jowar roti has puffed up well.
15. Invert and cook the other side of the roti on the flame.
16. When you see some charred spots and the roti has cooked well, remove and place in a roti basket.
17. Serve jowar roti hot or warm with a regional Indian veggie dish or a lentil-legume dish. If you want you can spread some oil or ghee or white butter on the jowar roti.
A few more roti varieties from Regional Indian Cuisine:
Step by Step Photo Guide Above
Ingredients
- 1 cup jowar flour (sorghum flour) or 100 grams jowar flour
- ¾ cup hot water or add as required
- ⅛ teaspoon salt or 2 to 3 pinches of salt
Instructions
kneading dough
- In a bowl or a large plate with rim/parat take 1 cup jowar flour. Add 2 to 3 pinches of salt and mix it with the flour. Then add about 1/2 cup hot water.
- With a spoon, mix the water with the jowar flour.
- Add remaining ¼ cup water more and again mix. Overall I added ¾ cup water. However, the water amount depends on the type of flour, whether it is fine or slightly coarse. Hence add accordingly.
- When the heat is enough to handle, then knead the dough with your hands.
- Knead very well. If the dough feels sticky or pasty, then add some more of the jowar flour. Cover and keep the dough aside, till it comes at room temperature.
rolling jowar roti
- Now make small to medium sized balls of the dough.
- Sprinkle a good amount of jowar flour on the rolling board. Flatten a ball and place it on the flour. Add some more flour on top.
- With your palms, lightly press as well as rotate the roti. Add more flour if required.
- If you are unable to do this way, then roll the dough ball between two butter papers or ziplock bag. You can also flatten the dough ball on a moist napkin.
making jowar roti
- Now with a spatula gently lift up the roti.
- Then place jowar roti on a hot tava with the floured side facing you. Spread some water all over the roti, on this side with your fingers.
- Let the base cook ¼th and then flip the roti.
- Allow this watered side to cook till you see light brown spots.
- With a pair of tongs lift the jowar roti, invert and then place it on the fire. The roti or bhakri will begin to puff up.
- Invert and cook the other side of the roti on the flame.
- When you see some black spots and the jowar roti cooked well, remove and place in a roti basket.
- Serve these jowar roti hot or warm with a regional indian veggie dish or a legume dish. If you want you can spread some oil or ghee or white butter on the roti.
Notes
This Jowar Roti post from the blog archives first published in April 2015 has been updated and republished on December 2022.
Hi Dassana, thanks for sharing the method for preparing jowar roti which is explained very nicely. I am sure I will be able to prepare jowar bhakri following your step by step guide.
Hi Manu, happy to know the steps are helpful. I’m sure your jowar bhakri will turn out well. Do share how it goes when you make it.
Can I store the Jowar dough in the fridge and if so how long will this keep/last? Thanks.
Yes of course. It keeps well for a day in the fridge.
Can this jowar roti be roasted on oven grill (in grill mode) instead of gas flame?
What should be average thickness of this roti?
You can try in the oven and I think it should work. You can opt to use grill mode or use the toast mode with both the top and bottom heating elements on. The thickness can be from 1 to 2 mm.
I love the variety of breads on your website. I am a fan of indian breads and so happy to find your recipes which are plenty. Thank you so much!
Happy to hear that! Most welcome.
I have tried making this rotis but it keeps breaking. If I use butter paper and roll it it sticks. My dough is perfect and by hand I don’t know how to pat as it sticks or it comes thick. What should I do?
Don’t roll the roti thin as then you won’t be able to lift it from the butter paper. Try dusting the butter paper with flour and the roti won’t stick to it. It takes practice to make jowar roti but once you get the knack of it, making the roti is not difficult.
Is it possible to freeze these rotis? Can they be halfway cooked and frozen?
I am not very sure if freezing will work for jowar roti as they are soft and should not get too dried or dense after freezing.
Do these rotis turn dry and hard if we make it in the morning and have them in the afternoon? What are the steps to ensure that they dont dry up
they do not turn hard but some dryness can be there. wrap the jowar roti in a cotton kitchen napkin. then place in an air-tight steel dabba or casserole or roti basket and they won’t dry up.
Hi Dassana
Your recipes are amazing. I wanted to know if I can cook this in night and consume it in lunch. I have a microwave at office, how much time should I keep it to warm it up?
thanks vidhi. you can do this way. in the microwave, it will take some 10 to 15 seconds to warm these rotis.
Hi Dassana,
I like your recipes n visit your website quite often. The tips,the way you share it,it’s very comfortable.
I tried your makki di roti and saag.Also the jowari roti. It came very well. The rotis were soft.
And you are first person I have written my opinion..
thank you ramya for sharing your views and feedback on the recipes. i am glad that the recipe worked well. happy cooking.
Hi Dassana, I tried making rotis with jowar flour today. Came out ok. I made them in small size, to start with.
I have a few queries. Can you answer them, please?
1. If the flour is coarse, should we add more hot water?
2. After kneading the dough, how should it be? It does not come together like dough made from wheat flour.
3. How to ensure that the rotis are soft? If we keep them in a casserole, how long can we keep them soft and fairly hot?
4. Is it better to roll the rotis and side by side prepare them on the tava? Or can we roll out the rotis first and then prepare them on the tava?
nice to know aarthi. i have answered your queries below:
1. for coarse flour, add more hot water as coarser grains will absorb more water.
2. after kneading, the dough should come together. it has to be soft and be like one ball of dough. if its not coming together means that more water (moisture) is needed.
3. if you keep them in a casserole or wrapped in a steel dabba (box) between a cotton kitchen napkin, then the jowar rotis will stay soft. they will be warm for about 30 to 45 minutes at the most and then they will cool down. but they will remain soft for a day also.
4. i usually prepare side by side. you can even make the rotis before and then roast them. but here you have to be careful to place and then remove them gently, so that they do not break.
My dough keeps breaking and doesn’t bind due to which I can’t pat it or make it in a roti shape, what am I doing wrong? I store my aata in an airtight container in the fridge, is that the issue? I so want to know where m I going wrong 🙁
if kept in the fridge, then this problem does occur. try sprinkling some more water as in the fridge the dough becomes dry. mix and knead and then make the rotis. hope this helps.
Hi thx for the recipe…The rotti dries up a lot when I pack it for lunch…Any suggestions to keep it soft
Welcome Ashwini. You can spread some oil or ghee on it and wrap it in a cloth napkin.
I am new to baking and cooking with sorghum in any form. I know this sounds silly, but reading your recipe has made me feel so much more at ease about making roti with sorghum flour. I now feel it is such a pity I am not near you, otherwise I could learn from you.
Thanks Rosa for your positive feedback. Its alright, we all learn at some stage of life.
being in northern par. t of Karnataka we always prefer jowar roti,s atleast twice a day. instead of preparing idli, dosa etc for brkfst we prefer eating rotis 4 brkfst and it suits our climatic conditions too. so i think i would like to gv few suggestions. these rotis can be rolled like chapathis bt can’t use oil to cook it. hot water is prefer able. u can cook it on tawa like chapathi b—
thanks shwetha for sharing your suggestions 🙂
Hi! Today i tried making bhakris. But my bhakri was breaking while pressing with palms??
I think something went wrong?
Or probably thts not my department?
more water in the dough. thats why the bhakri was breaking. some more flour bajra flour added could have rectified the situation.
Hey …
As you have a recipe posted on making chapati dough using kitchenaid stand mixer…. Any luck on trying this stand mixer to knead the jowar dough of this recipe?
ashwini, i always knead jowar or bajra dough with hands. i do not use kitchenaid stand mixer for this, since i do not make very large amounts of the dough. but you can try. just add water in parts and knead at medium speed in the stand mixer.
Dear D,
Thx for posting the recipe,
I’m really worried about the measuring you have done ,like you see you have used 100 gms of flour to make 6-8 rotis, I mean I make rotis of approximately 70-80 gms in wt each ,kindly update,thx in advance.
Stay blessed.
the difference is because i made small thin rotis. not big ones or thick ones. if you make big rotis, then obviously then the weight in grams of the flour will increase. also the weight of the cooked rotis will be more than the weight of the flour.
hii dassaana,
nice step by step recipe, it is an nearmost everyday 1 time roti in most of maharashtrian homes we make it directly after making the dough and we dont use any hot water for it. Best when served with steaming hot ‘Pithle’ and ‘Hirwyairchi cha thecha.
thanks vinayak. the hot water method makes the dough more pliable and easy to roll unlike when the dough is kneaded with water at room temperature. this method helps those who are not skilled in rolling the rotis. for skillful masters, plain water is good enough to knead the dough 🙂
agree best with pithle and thecha.
Good recipe to make…is it possible you make this roti without gas…have a hob…thanks
you will need to keep a wired rack on top of the hob and then place the roti on the wired rack.
what is the shelf life of bajri, jowar, raagi and makai flours??
suman, i think its 6 months or so. but it is better to check the packaging information as it is mentioned in the flour packet.
Excellent site for all recipes
Thank u so much dassanna
welcome kalpana
Somehow I feel I think something in mind & the recipe shows up in your website ;)….actually yesterday only I bought jowar & thought if busing your website to see if recipe is available 🙂
Btw I have some questions, can I add aata so that it can be rolled easily like you did in bajra roti? Also while cooking can’t it be cooked like chapati with oil directly?
TIA
thanks prerna for sharing positive feedback. glad to know this. you can add atta. i think, it can be cooked like chappati. give it a try
Thanks dear
but instead of dry rolling, it is easy to roll the ball on wet thin cloth by prressing with palm. This help in taking off roti from cloth easily and make roti soft.
I usually use this tecnique in making rice floor roti, corn floor roti, and potato kachori.
uzma, i agree with you and i have already mentioned it in the post. but its not easy for everybody.