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Cereals and bread from India

Finger-millet and horse-gram dosaರಾಗಿ ದೋಸೆ

A dosa batter made from finger millet (ragi) and horse gram instead of rice and black gram. The blend is left to ferment on its own; in a lab study the pH fell from 6.6 to 4.2 by 16 hours, and a 4:1 blend fermented 16 hours made the best-liked dosa.

Fully documentedCereals and bread16 h

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceProportions of the lab batter in Palanisamy et al. 2012 (abstract). The abstract gives no water amount or batch size.
Finger millet flour4 partsBlends of 2:1, 3:1, 4:1 and 5:1 were tested; 4:1 scored best as dosa[palanisamy2012]
Horse gram flour1 part[palanisamy2012]
No starterNatural fermentation; a later study added a starter of lactic bacteria and yeast instead[palanisamy2012][devi2021]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 16 h

Start
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What changes: Finger millet and horse gram flours are mixed into a batter

Step 1 of 3
Blend finger millet and horse gram into a batter
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: batter.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

A dosa batter made from finger millet (ragi) and horse gram instead of rice and black gram. The blend is left to ferment on its own; in a lab study the pH fell from 6.6 to 4.2 by 16 hours, and a 4:1 blend fermented 16 hours made the best-liked dosa. Made in 3 steps over 16 h. The longest step, ferment, takes 16 h (Palanisamy B.D 2012). Lactic acid bacteria, which outnumber yeasts all through the fermentation and Yeasts, fewer than the lactic acid bacteria do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step16 hReported[palanisamy2012]Ferment
AciditypH 6.6 → 4.2Measured[palanisamy2012]Ferment

What makes this one different

Finger millet and horse gram take the place of rice and black gram. The lab blend is 4 parts millet to 1 part horse gram, and it sours to pH 4.2 in 16 hours with lactic bacteria in the lead.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Starter-fermented batterA mixed starter of Lactobacillus plantarum, Enterococcus faecalis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae at 5% ferments the batter in 8 hours (Devi and Rajendran 2021).

Safety

The batter is soured to about pH 4.2 and then cooked on a hot griddle.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The dosa is described as an Indian breakfast food. Palanisamy et al. 2012 co-fermented finger millet with horse gram flour as an inexpensive protein-rich dosa. Devi and Rajendran 2021 repeated the idea with a mixed starter that fermented the batter for 8 hours. A 2022 review of fermented minor grain foods lists the finger millet and horse gram co-fermentation, citing the 2012 study (Qin et al. 2022).

  1. [palanisamy2012] Palanisamy B.D., Rajendran V., Sathyaseelan S., Bhat R., Venkatesan B.P. 2012, Enhancement of nutritional value of finger millet-based food (Indian dosa) by co-fermentation with horse gram flour, International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition 63:5–15, doi:10.3109/09637486.2011.591367 (abstract)paper
  2. [devi2021] Devi P.B., Rajendran S. 2021, Impact of starter culture on nutraceutical and functional properties of underutilized millet-legume co-fermented Indian traditional product, LWT 149:111818, doi:10.1016/j.lwt.2021.111818 (abstract)paper
  3. [qin2022] Qin H., Wu H., Shen K., Liu Y., Li M., Wang H., Qiao Z., Mu Z. 2022, Fermented Minor Grain Foods, Classification, Functional Components, and Probiotic Potential, Foods 11(20):3155 (review; its finger millet and horse gram paragraph restates Palanisamy et al. 2012)paper