Steamed Wheat Flour

Steamed wheat flour, sometimes sold as steamed atta flour, is a fixture of Sri Lankan and Jaffna Tamil kitchens. Plain flour is steamed in cloth until cooked through, then dried and sieved. The cooking changes the starch and removes the raw taste, so the flour can be mixed with hot water and coconut into crumbly pittu, pressed into string hoppers, or kneaded into soft roti.

It is not the same as chapati atta, which is raw flour for kneading and rolling. Use steamed wheat flour for wheat pittu with coconut, wheat idiyappam, kozhukattai and soft flatbreads. Some families mix it half and half with roasted rice flour for pittu with a softer crumb. Small bags suit occasional use, larger ones a regular family breakfast.

For pittu, rub the flour with salt and warm water until it looks like damp breadcrumbs and holds when squeezed, then layer it with grated coconut in a pittu steamer. Sift the flour before use if it has clumped in storage. For other wheat flours, see maida and chapati atta within wheat flour.