Atta is a fineground Indian wholewheat flour used for making many Indian flatbreads—roti, etc.
I became interested in atta (1) because it costs considerably less when you buy it from an Indian grocer than does ordinary wholemeal flour bought from a supermarket; and (2) because I use a good deal of wholemeal flour making my own bread.
Unfortunately, it seems to inhibit yeast activity. The bread dough did not rise as much and it did not rise as fast as it did when I used supermarket wholemeal. Over several different recipes and styles of bread, the crumb was denser, and while quite edible, was clearly not what I wanted. What to do with the 5kg bag of atta in the cupboard.
Well, ANZAC Day was nearly upon us, and there were biscuits—real ANZAC biscuits—to be baked. After years of tradition, deviating not one iota from the official recipe, I decided, so to speak, to put my head above the trenches, and see what was to be seen. I used atta instead of the prescribed white flour.
To be short, I got the best damned batch of ANZAC biscuits I’ve ever baked. Dunking quality, in fact.
For those who want to try it, here’s the official recipe with atta substituted for white flour: (PS You don’t have to buy 5 kg. You can get smaller quantities from the bins.)
- 1 cup medium rolled oats
- 1 cup desiccated coconut
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup atta
- 1 tablespoon golden syrup
- 125g butter
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons water
- Preheat oven to 160C
- Combine the dry ingredients well in a large bowl.
- Melt the butter, golden syrup and water together in a small saucepan.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix well.
- Roll mix in your hands into balls about 2.5cm (1 inch) across and place on lightly greased oven tray, about 20 to a standard oven tray. (Makes about 30-40 depending on size of the balls.)
- Flatten somewhat with a fork.
- Bake at 160C for 18 minutes in the centre of the oven. (People with fan ovens need to adjust appropriately.)
- Allow to cool on a rack, before storing in appropriate container.
Next up for a try is shortbread.
