Bajare ki Roti

Millet Bread

VegetarianOrigin RajasthanPrep 10–15 minutes, plus standing timeCook 15 minutesMakes 8

A traditional, earthy flatbread made from millet flour, featuring a hearty crumb, crisp borders, and a mild, nutty taste.

Ingredients

500 g

flour

~0.3 gpinch

salt

Butter · Makhanmelted, for oiling and serving

78 g5½ tablespoons

dairy

Sieve 500 g millet flour and 0.3 g salt into a wide mixing bowl. Make a hollow in the middle and gradually pour in enough water to bring the ingredients together into a firm dough.
Transfer the mixture to a work surface dusted with extra flour and knead thoroughly for 5 minutes. Place the dough into a bowl greased with a small smear of the 77.5 g melted butter, cover with a damp cloth, and let it rest in a warm area for 30 minutes.
Split the rested dough into 8 uniform portions, roll them into smooth spheres, and let them rest beneath the damp cloth for 5 minutes.
Flatten each sphere between your palms into a thin, round disc.
Warm a heavy skillet or tawa over medium heat until thoroughly hot.
Lay a dough disc onto the dry, hot surface and cook for 1 minute. Turn it over, pressing down gently with a clean dry cloth, and cook until it puffs up, browns with dark spots, and crisps at the rim.
Transfer the cooked flatbread to a plate and keep it warm while repeating the process for the remaining portions, then brush each with the remaining melted butter to finish.

Millet flour

Whole wheat flour
Use the same weight; it has gluten so the dough will be stretchier and less crumbly, but the flavour will be less nutty. Add water gradually.
Rice flour
Use 70% rice flour with 30% whole wheat flour by weight, otherwise rotis will crack; texture is sandier and cooking is similar.
Plain flour
Use the same weight; it binds well but tastes bland and lacks millet's nuttiness. Add water slowly.

Butter

Unsalted butter
Use 100% of the weight. If the original recipe relies on salted table butter, add a pinch of salt to balance.
Ghee
Use 80% to 85% of the weight. Ghee is pure butterfat with moisture removed; it yields a deeper, nuttier flavour and handles high heat better.
Vegetable oil
Use 80% of the weight for frying or tempering. The dish loses sweet dairy richness but remains glossy and light.

Same: Ragi Halwa also uses millet flour prepared with dairy fat.
Different: Instead of a savory griddled flatbread made with butter and salt, Ragi Halwa is a stovetop pudding cooked with ghee, jaggery syrup, green cardamom, and raisins.

Same: Bajre ki Kheer also uses pearl millet as its core grain alongside dairy fat.
Different: Instead of being kneaded with salt and griddled as a flatbread, Bajre ki Kheer is slow-simmered into a pudding with milk, sugar, saffron, and ghee.

Same: Bajari-Methi na Tepla is also a flatbread made with millet flour and seasoned with salt.
Different: Unlike this dish, it incorporates fresh fenugreek leaves, ginger paste, jaggery, and spices like cumin, coriander, turmeric, and chilli powder, and is shallow-fried in vegetable oil rather than finished with butter.

Same: Saanth-Bajrae ka Soweta shares the use of earthy pearl millet and salt with this dish.
Different: Instead of being a griddled flatbread served with butter, Saanth-Bajrae ka Soweta is a simmered meat stew containing pork skin, milk, yogurt, ghee, onion, ginger, garlic, coriander, and chilli powder.