Baking with Millet Flour
Story, Recipes, and Photography Alanna Taylor-Tobin
Whether you have a bag of millet flour lying around or want to broaden your alternative flour-use horizons, there’s reason to learn more about baking with millet flour.
Tender, mild, and finely ground, millet flour lends loft and tender texture to baked goods. When combined with other gluten-free flours, such as gluten-free oat flour and sweet rice flour or tapioca flour, it creates a versatile all-purpose-like blend. Learn all about the versatile flour here and discover how to use the divine trinity of millet flour, GF oat flour, and sweet rice flour or tapioca flour in delicious savory and sweet recipes, including buttery lemon sheet cake, berry-topped vanilla tres leches cake, and savory ricotta chive biscuits.
Millet Flour Overview:
Millet seed has been a food staple for humans for more than 10,000 years, particularly in India and parts of Africa, where it’s thought to have evolved. Millet actually refers to several different varieties of a cereal grass, the most common in North America being the proso variety, while “pearl millet” is the most common variety cultivated worldwide.
Primarily grown in the United States for use as animal feed or birdseed, millet has gained popularity as an alternative grain for human consumption. The small, butter-yellow grains cook up light and fluffy, similar to couscous. When ground to a flour, millet’s soft, starchy consistency makes it ideal for gluten-free baking. On its own, millet can taste somewhat bitter, which is why it’s best blended with other mild flours; doing so allows millet’s other flavor notes (buttery, nutty, grassy) to shine.
Flavor: Mild, buttery, nutty, grassy, slightly bitter
Feel: Fine, powdery, slightly clumpy
Nutrition: High in protein, fiber, and the minerals iron, phosphorous, manganese, magnesium, and copper. Avoid eating too much millet if you suffer from hypothyroidism; the condition can be exacerbated by consuming large amounts of the grain.
Availability: Stocked with other alternative flours at health food stores and well-stocked grocers or online
Storage: Room temperature for up to 1 year
Ready to bake with millet flour? Click on any of the recipe titles or images below to go to these delicious millet-flour recipes!
Lemon Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
GF, DF Vanilla Tres Leches Cake with Berries
Ready for More Alternative-Baking Fun?
Find more gluten-free recipes in the wonderful cookbook, Alternative Baker: Reinventing Dessert with Gluten-Free Grains and Flours. Signed copies are available on gffmag.com!
18 Comments on “Baking with Millet Flour”
i am interested in your magazine i am learning what kind of food i woudf like to make anything
My son is a type 2 diabetic. Is this bread truly best for him to eat since it still has carbohydrates in it?
Hi Darlene. I’m not sure which bread you are referring to, but there are some pretty tasty keto breads out there. I would look to those, as they have far less carbs than any other breads on the market and they can taste pretty good too!
Are there any simple recipes? 10 or 12 ingredients make life difficult.
I get it, Laura! Yes! Plenty of simple recipes. Are you looking specifically for recipes with millet flour?
Hello, what cookie recipe can you give me using honey instead of sugar?
Hi! Good question. We don’t have any on the site, but will put it on our to-do list for sure!
My Pearl Millet is greyish in colour !!!
Why is that ?
Looking for a power bar recipe using millett flour..bake preferably
Hi Sue! Thanks for letting me know. We don’t often do power bars, but now it’s on my mind!
Where can you buy different varieties of millet grain–e.g. kodo, brown top, finger (ragi), pearl (bajra), foxtail…? Do you happen to know how cdn dollars convert to the Indian currency? Amazon.in does not seem to show the relationship between the two?
Thanks kindly,
Murray
Hi Murry! Thanks for the questions. There are a couple of millets at Bob’s Red Mill, but we don’t regularly try to find all the varieties you asked about. Converting dollars is also not something we normally do, but there are great applications that do that online! https://www.bobsredmill.com/shop/flours-and-meals.html
I tried Millet flour on a bread, 100 grs of millet and 400 grs of bread flour. Taste was so bitter all the little rolls went to the garbage. Use just a little bit, bitter taste is very strong.
@Murray Watson – I just read your question on millet. From your question, it appears you are in Canada. You can buy millet from most Indian stores. Here is an example that I saw on the web: https://www.singals.ca/search?type=product&q=millet
@erika – great recipes, thank you for sharing.
Thanks, Harry! Hooray!
What is the best type of millet to use in making gluten free bread?
Where are the easy recipes?
Thanks for writing…if you click the food images, they will lead you to the recipes.