What's the right grain for chappati flour?
I home mill my own flour and need to know what is the correct grain to buy to make whole wheat chapati and other breads that are cooked on the stove top using a griddle (or cast iron frying pan).
According to my Indian cook books, chapati flour is called *atta*; this is generally defined as a very fine whole wheat flour milled from the entire wheat berry. My problem - what kind of wheat is used for chapati flour?
When I research it on the 'net, I get articles that say it is hard wheat or durum wheat. However, my cookbook "The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking" (by Yamuna Devi) says atta is made from *soft* wheat flour and goes on to suggest mixing two parts whole wheat *pastry* flour with 1 part unbleached white flour or *cake* flour if you can't get imported atta flour. This certainly suggests that *soft* wheat, not hard, would be the better grain choice.
I use a Nutrimill grain mill which can produce a finely milled flour. But what grain should I use - hard wheat? soft wheat? durum wheat?
Looking forward to your answers - thanks