Leaven (Starter):
Take a tablespoon of atta and add water to make it chutney consistency, and leave for 4 hours.Dilute this (after 4 hours) and discard half the "batter". Add more atta to get it back to chutney consistency.
Repeat this at least 5 times over two days (You can leave it for 8 hours overnight and 4 hours in the day).
Now for the Dough for the bread:
Starting with the chutney consistency leaven, add water to dilute, discard half and add atta to make it one measure of leaven. Leave for 4 hours (or 8 if overnight). Now dilute with water and 3 measures atta and knead to get the dough for your bread. Leave to rise (not in a warm place : The rise is a slow rise unlike Yeast bread) for 2 1/4 hours.
At the end of the rise, add salt and oil and fold it all in gently and briskly.
Dust and grease your tin, and gently "fold" the dough into the tin. Slash the top with a knife to facilitate rising. Let it rise for another 2 1/4 hours.
(At this stage, you need to make the leaven for the next bread and store: You can wash your hands and use what is sticking to the paraath: Dilute and then add atta to make it into a fairly stiff ball. This will keep for 2 or 3 days. If you want to keep for longer, dunk it in the Atta bin or Perhaps you can try refrigerating. I keep it generally in a stainless steel pan with lid and a cloth to absorb moisture as it is generated. Some white sweet smelling 'mycelium' is formed on the outside: This is supposed to be good stuff, but you can ignore it. Use the inside as leaven for your next bread)
Now, bake for an hour at 180 C in an oven preheated to 210 C .
This is not going to work with packeted atta. Chakki ground is of course best, but we use mill ground and it turns out fine
Warmer the weather, stiffer the dough/leaven should be. In Madras, the chutney consistency should perhaps be stiff chutney consistency when you start making the leaven