Indian kitchens routinely use several different flours side by side — atta, maida, besan, suji, and increasingly oats — each suited to different dishes. Rather than one outperforming the rest, they differ mainly in what part of the grain (or which plant) they're milled from, and how that changes texture and cooking behaviour.
Atta (Whole Wheat Flour)
Atta is milled from the entire wheat kernel — bran, germ, and endosperm together. This gives it a coarser texture and brownish colour, and it's the base for roti, chapati, paratha, and puri.
Maida (Refined Wheat Flour)
Maida is also milled from wheat, but only the endosperm — the bran and germ are removed during milling. This produces a finer, whiter flour with a different behaviour in dough, commonly used for breads, pastries, and some Indian snacks and sweets.
Oats
Oats come from a different cereal plant entirely (Avena sativa), unrelated to wheat. They're most commonly rolled or milled from the oat groat and used for porridge, or increasingly ground into a flour for baking and pancakes.
Besan (Chickpea Flour)
Besan is ground from chickpeas — a legume, not a cereal grain at all — which makes it naturally gluten-free. It's used in dishes like dhokla, pakoras, cheela, and kadhi, and behaves very differently from wheat-based flours in cooking.
Suji (Semolina)
Suji is a coarser grind of durum wheat, distinct from both atta and maida in texture. Its granular quality makes it suited to dishes like upma and halwa, and it's also used in some dosa batters.
FAQs
Is atta the same as whole wheat flour?
Yes — "atta" is the Hindi term for whole wheat flour, milled from the entire wheat kernel.
What's the difference between atta and maida in milling?
Atta retains the bran and germ; maida is milled from the endosperm only, with the bran and germ removed.
Is suji the same as maida?
No. Suji (semolina) is a coarser grind of durum wheat, while maida is a fine, refined flour — the two behave quite differently in cooking.
Is besan a wheat product?
No. Besan is ground from chickpeas, a legume rather than a cereal grain, and doesn't contain gluten.
Explore TBOF's Khapli Atta and Khapli Multigrain Atta.
