I love rye bread, but rye is not something you get easily in India. And anyway, being a fan of eating locally grown foods, I figured that finding a decent substitute was in order.  Enter ragi.

Now, ragi is wonderful. It contains lesser fat and higher fibre than brown rice and wheat. The amount of calcium contained in ragi is around ten times that contained in wheat or rice!

But there was a problem. Good bread needs gluten, and ragi is gluten free, so breads turned out to be dense and heavy, not exactly how I like them. I was at a loss.

The best dishes are usually created by accident. One day, I used ragi huri hittu (popped ragi flour) because I ran out of ragi flour. And what a difference it made!

Ragi huri hittu is available in most supermarkets in Bangalore, usually next to the rice flours and the like. It is tremendously nutritious and easy to digest, and is used almost all over Karnataka as baby food – the first solid food introduced to an infant. It is not usually cooked again, so it is possible that there may be a slight nutrition loss as a result of the baking – a loss I’m ok with.

Ok, so here goes.

Time: ~ 3 hours
Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

1 cup ragi huri hittu
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup refined flour
½ cup mixed seeds ( flax, sunflower, pumpkin, chia, sesame, poppy)
1 tbsp active dry yeast or 2 tbsp of fresh yeast
2 cups warm water (just a tad above body temperature)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg (optional)

Method

Proof the yeast. That is, place the yeast, sugar and a little of the water in a bowl and let it sit for about 10 min until frothy.

Now mix the yeast with the flours, salt, oil, seeds (save 2-3 tbsp of the seeds for later) and water, adding slowly to bring it to a dough consistency.

Knead the dough patiently, for about 10-15min. Shape it into a ball, pat the surface with a little oil, cover with a damp towel and set aside for about 45 min to an hour or until more than double in size.

Gently punch down and shape into a loaf. Moisten the top with a little water and pat down the remaining seeds on top of the loaf.

Let it rest another 20 min. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Brush the top with beaten egg if you want a glossy finish (I haven’t used it on the loaf pictured above). You could make a few slits on the top surface as well if you like, but I find that it sometimes makes it harder to slice the bread cleanly.

Bake for about 40-45 min until the bread makes a hollow sound when tapped with the back of a knife. Take it out of the oven and cover with a towel until cool.

Let it cool completely before slicing, although a slice of oven-fresh bread with a dollop of butter has its own charm.

Tip:

Smear some butter on the knife before slicing the bread. I find that it helps slice it thinner.

Variation:

Add chopped basil, red bell pepper, olives, raisins and onion seeds to the flour along with the seeds for a nice Mediterranean flavor.