November 3, 2017 - 1:23pm
Costco Royal Chakki Atta
Anyone try this Indian whole wheat flour from Costco?
I made some buns using 50% organic stone ground whole wheat from India (Chakki Atta) and 50% organic white unbleached flour from one of the oldest operating mills in North America.
Super elastic, nice rise and good oven rise. Great flavor.
The Chakki Atta does not look like whole wheat flour though, very fine showing no bran. Wish I could get more information about it.
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I also bake with an atta flour (can't remember the brand at the moment) which is 100% whole Canadian durum flour. I don't know how they mill it but it is quite fine and, when sifted, produces almost no bran. I tried it with my finest sifter and ended up with about 2 tsp of very fine bran out of a cup of flour. The taste is nice. I add about 20% to my ciabatta (so, atta ciabatta!) and it's lovely. My Costco (west coast of Canada) doesn't have atta flour but it's easy to get at the supermarkets here and quite inexpensive (large Indian community here).
If yours it grown in India it might be a different variety of durum that what is grown in Canada, but as far as I know atta flour (or chakki atta) is 100% whole grain. It might contain wheat other than durum (check the label).
I'm going to see if my Costco carries it. If it is Durum I bet it would be good for pasta.
Atta, although it should've durum wheat, has become a generic term for wheat flour to make Indian flatbread. It can be any wheat which is wholegrain, made with the traditional method and the correct protein percentage.
It is also called chapati flour, and it's available at any Indian or South Asian grocery. It is indeed fine, low-gluten, and has a nice gentle flavor, all of which you want for chapatis with a soft texture and a good phulka (puffing up). Ideally, buy from a place with high sales volume to get the freshest flour. For risen breads you want to combine it with a higher-gluten flour, exactly as you did! For a larger loaf, I might drop the % a bit.
I've never tried making pasta out of it. Let us know how that turns out!