Kurakkan (කුරක්කන්) is the Sri Lankan name for finger millet, the small reddish-brown grain known in India as ragi. Ground into a dark flour, it has long been a staple of Sri Lankan village cooking: pressed with coconut into thick kurakkan roti, cooked into a porridge called kurakkan kenda, steamed as pittu and made into the sweet helapa. Baking it into a sliced loaf is a more recent use, and it gives an everyday sandwich bread with a warm brown colour and a nutty, slightly earthy flavour.
Finger millet flour has no gluten, so on its own it cannot trap the gas that makes a loaf rise. This recipe uses one part kurakkan flour to two parts strong white bread flour, which gives a soft, springy loaf that still tastes clearly of millet. It is a yeast bread, made like any basic white loaf, with a good knead and two rises.
How to make kurakkan bread
- Makes 1 loaf (about 14 slices)
- Prep: 20 minutes (+ 1 hour 45 minutes rising)
- Cook: 35 minutes
- Difficulty: Moderate
Ingredients
- 150 g (about 1 cup) kurakkan (finger millet) flour
- 300 g (about 2 1/2 cups) strong white bread flour, plus a little for dusting
- 7 g (2 tsp) instant dried yeast
- 2 tbsp sugar or finely grated jaggery
- 1 tsp salt
- 300 ml lukewarm milk, or half milk and half water
- 25 g butter, softened, or 2 tbsp coconut oil
- A little oil, for greasing
Method
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the kurakkan flour, bread flour, yeast, sugar and salt, keeping the salt away from the yeast until they are mixed in.
- Make the dough. Pour in the lukewarm milk and mix to a shaggy dough. Add the butter and work it in with your hand.
- Knead. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 to 12 minutes, until it is smooth, elastic and only slightly tacky. Millet dough feels heavier than white dough, so keep going until it stretches without tearing easily. Add a spoonful of water if it feels stiff.
- First rise. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave in a warm place for about 1 hour, until doubled in size.
- Shape. Grease a 900 g (2 lb) loaf tin. Press the dough into a rectangle about the length of the tin, roll it up tightly from the short side and lay it in the tin, seam down.
- Second rise. Cover loosely and leave for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the dough has risen to just above the rim of the tin. Heat the oven to 190°C (170°C fan) towards the end of this time.
- Bake. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until well risen and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath. If the top darkens too quickly, cover it loosely with foil for the last 10 minutes.
- Cool. Leave the loaf in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn it onto a wire rack and let it cool for at least 1 hour before slicing.
Can you make it with more kurakkan flour?
Up to about half kurakkan and half bread flour works, but the more millet you use, the denser and heavier the loaf becomes and the more it crumbles when sliced, because there is less wheat gluten to hold it together. One part millet to two parts wheat, as above, is a good balance. A loaf made entirely of kurakkan flour needs a different, gluten-free recipe with binders; it will not rise from this method.
What does kurakkan bread taste like?
It has a soft, close crumb, a brown colour from the millet and a mild, nutty, slightly earthy taste. The spoonful of sugar or jaggery rounds out the faint bitterness that raw kurakkan flour can have. Toasting brings out the nuttiness.
What do you serve it with?
Treat it like any sandwich loaf. For a Sri Lankan breakfast, eat it with pol sambol, dhal curry or a spoonful of seeni sambol, the same way plain bread is eaten across the island. It is also good toasted with butter and jam or a drizzle of kithul treacle.
Tips for a good loaf
- Weigh the flours. Millet flour packs very differently from wheat flour, so cup measures vary; grams give a reliable dough.
- Use strong bread flour. Its higher protein carries the heavier millet flour. Plain flour gives a flatter loaf.
- Use fresh kurakkan flour. It should smell nutty. Old flour tastes bitter; keep an opened packet airtight in a cool, dark place.
- Do not slice it warm. The crumb is still setting and will be gummy until the loaf has cooled.
How do you store it?
Keep the cooled loaf wrapped in a clean cloth or a bread bag at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. For longer, slice it and freeze for up to 2 months, then toast the slices straight from the freezer.
What else is made with kurakkan?
If you enjoy the flavour, try the thin, savoury kurakkan dosa, which needs no yeast or oven, or kurakkan roti, a thick flatbread of kurakkan flour, wheat flour and grated coconut cooked on a dry pan and eaten with pol sambol or katta sambol.
Related reading
2 pages on closely related subjects.
