Multigrain Atta (Mixed Flour): Worth It, and a Home Mix Recipe

Most multigrain atta is wheat atta with a sprinkle of other grains, so a pack is only worth the extra money if the label shows a real share of jau, chana, bajra or oats. Often the better deal is making multigrain atta at home. Here’s a home mix by weight, how to get it ground at the chakki, why it goes bitter faster than plain atta, and what it can and can’t do for blood sugar.

What’s really inside a pack of multigrain atta

Turn the pack over. Ingredients are printed from the biggest share to the smallest, by weight, so the first word tells you what you’re mostly buying, and on almost every multigrain atta that word is wheat.

After it comes a string of smaller items: soya, chana, oats, maize, jau (barley), ragi, sometimes isabgol husk or methi. When a brand prints the percentage next to each grain, wheat is normally the large majority and the rest share what’s left.

That isn’t a scam. Wheat is what makes a roti stretch, puff and roll thin, so a good mix needs plenty of it, but you may be paying a third or more over good chakki atta for a small handful of other grains. Work out the price per kg. Then decide.

• First ingredient: whole wheat flour or atta, never refined wheat flour or maida.
• Percentages: add up the non-wheat grains. Under about a fifth is a light sprinkle.
• Fibre per 100 g: plain whole wheat atta is already around 10 to 12 g, so a pack showing the same number hasn’t added much.
• Packing date: mixes with soya, bajra or oats go stale sooner. Pick the freshest bag.

Multigrain atta vs chakki atta: which one is better?

Plain chakki atta is already a whole grain, with the bran and germ still in it. The full chakki-versus-fine-atta story, and how to knead it soft, is in our chakki atta guide.

So what does a mix add on top? Less than people hope, because although chana brings a little more protein, jau and whole chana a little more fibre, and bajra and ragi their own minerals and taste, at 30 percent of the flour those gains, spread over one roti made from about 30 g of atta, come to fractions of a gram.

Calories barely move. Wheat, jau, bajra, jowar and chana flour all sit at roughly 330 to 360 kcal per 100 g, so a multigrain roti isn’t a lighter roti.

The honest reason to use a mix is variety and taste. That’s reason enough.

How to make multigrain atta at home

This makes about 5 kg, the smallest amount many chakki owners will grind in one go. At 70 percent wheat the rotis still roll thin.

1. Weigh: 3.5 kg wheat (gandum), 500 g hulled jau, 500 g kala chana or chana daal, 250 g bajra and 250 g jowar (or 250 g rolled oats).
2. Pick clean: spread each grain on a thaal and pull out stones, husk, shrivelled grains and anything with a tiny weevil hole.
3. Wash only if you can dry fully: after a rinse the grain needs a full day or two of sun, until a grain snaps cleanly. Damp grain clogs the chakki and grows mould.
4. Roast lightly: chana for 5 to 7 minutes and bajra for 3 to 4 minutes in a dry kadhai on low heat, stirring, until nutty. It softens the beany taste and slows bitterness in the bajra.
5. Cool and mix: let everything cool completely, then combine in one bag.
6. Grind: ask for medium-fine. With an allergy in the house, ask what was ground just before yours.
7. Cool the flour: spread it on a clean sheet for an hour or two before filling tins, because warm flour sweats in a closed tin.

Using a mixer grinder instead? Grind 250 g at a time in short bursts, rest the jar between runs, sieve, and regrind the coarse bits.

Add alsi (flaxseed) fresh rather than into the batch, since its oil turns rancid within days once cracked; a teaspoon of freshly ground alsi in the dough for two or three rotis is plenty.

Kneading multigrain roti that stays soft

The mix is thirstier and less stretchy. Use lukewarm water, knead a minute longer, rest the dough covered for 20 to 30 minutes and roll a touch thicker, and if the edges still crack, go back to 80:20 next time. Above about 40 percent non-wheat grain, thin rotis get hard to roll.

Why homemade multigrain atta goes bitter faster

Every whole grain keeps a little oil in its germ, and bajra, soya, oats and flax keep more than wheat. Grind it, and that oil meets air and the grain’s own fat-splitting enzymes and slowly turns rancid. The smell is stale and sharp, a bit like old crayons. Bajra goes first. In a hot kitchen it can start within a week or two.

• Grind small: enough for 3 to 4 weeks, not a season.
• Store airtight: steel or glass with a tight lid, on the coolest dark shelf.
• Fridge in summer: about 2 months, longer in the freezer. Let the tin reach room temperature before opening.
• Weevils: the weevil-proof storage steps work for mixes too.

Throw out flour that’s damp, clumped, musty or speckled grey, green or black. Mouldy grain can carry aflatoxin, and cooking doesn’t destroy it.

Multigrain atta side effects, thyroid and gluten

Side effects are mostly about change: jumping from plain atta to a mix heavy in chana, soya or besan often brings gas for a week or two, so start with one multigrain roti a meal and drink enough water.

Gluten: multigrain atta is not gluten-free. Wheat and jau both contain gluten, and shop oats are often cross-contaminated; for coeliac disease, see our guide to gluten-free desi eating.

Thyroid: soya and some millets contain natural substances that, in large amounts, affect how the thyroid uses iodine. Normal roti portions with iodised salt are generally fine. Soya can also get in the way of thyroid medicine, so ask your doctor about timing if your mix is soya-rich.

Kidneys and uric acid: chana, bajra and soya add a little potassium, phosphorus and protein to each roti. With kidney disease or gout, ask your doctor or dietitian.

Is multigrain atta good for diabetes?

It’s a fine choice, but no atta controls blood sugar. Every roti is mostly starch. The extra fibre and chana protein may make the rise a little gentler than a maida naan would, yet next to good chakki atta the gap is small.

What really moves your numbers is on the plate: how many rotis and how big, eating the sabzi, salad and daal before the roti, and a 10 to 15 minute walk after the meal. A thin roti with a full katori of daal beats two thick multigrain rotis with a little achaar.

If you already check your sugar at home, test it honestly by eating the same meal twice, once with plain atta and once with your mix, and checking two hours after starting each. The meter knows. The label doesn’t.

A fasting sugar of 126 mg/dL or more, or an HbA1c of 6.5 percent or more, is where diabetes is diagnosed. Portions and weight are covered in our guide to weight loss with type 2 diabetes.

More flour guides live in our Grains, Daals & Pulses section.

Multigrain atta questions people ask