About Millet

• Millet and its close relatives, sorghum and teff, are among the hardiest of cultivated grains. They'll grow in conditions of heat and drought that would reduce other grains to straw in a matter of weeks, making millet an important food crop in otherwise-barren areas of Africa and Asia. The grains themselves are very small and round, and if they're added to bread while they're whole, they remain hard and crunchy in the finished loaf. Cooked whole millet can be used in bread, but it's usually easier to add millet in the form of flour.

Millet Flour in Bread

• Millet flour can be found in many health food and bulk food stores, or ordered online. If you have a spice grinder, you can also make small quantities of millet flour by purchasing whole millet and grinding it yourself. Toasting the millet in a dry skillet before grinding it intensifies the flavor, and adds a slightly sweet note. Unlike many other grains, millet flour won't make the bread noticeably denser or chewier, unless it accounts for more than a fifth of the total flour.

Substituting Oats

• When millet isn't available, oats are a readily available substitute. Oats add a similarly nutty flavor to the load, though the finished bread will be slightly denser and chewier. If you have quick or instant oats in your cupboard, they can be added directly to the bread dough. They'll dissolve during baking and won't be detectable in the finished loaf. Old-fashioned large flake oats should be ground to coarse flour in a spice grinder, blender or food processor before they're used. Toasting the oats in a dry skillet before grinding them intensifies their nutty flavor, increasing their resemblance to millet in the bread.

Nutrition

• Multigrain breads have a richer flavor than plain white or whole wheat breads, but most bakers also appreciate them for their additional nutrition. Here, oats are an especially useful substitute for millet. According to statistics furnished by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 100 grams of oats account for slightly more calories than the corresponding weight of millet flour, but oats are higher in many nutrients. They provide three times millet's fiber, higher amounts of calcium and iron and almost twice as much thiamine and phosphorus. Oats are also a superlative source of manganese.