My neighbor and good friend grew up in Eritrea, Africa. She taught me how to make her native food staple, injera. Injera is a sourdough flatbread and is made from teff, a gluten-free super grain native to Ethiopia. Injera is thicker than a crepe and thinner than a pancake and has a delightfully sour taste. Natives use injera as a plate and a spoon. The delicious salty flavors of the native veggies and stew dishes complement the slightly sour of the injera...
Original Recipe From daringgourmet.com
Authentic Injera (Ethiopian Sourdough Flatbread)
Experience the unique flavor and texture of this famous fermented Ethiopian bread!
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 20 mins
Fermentation Time: 3-4 days
Total Time: 4 d 20 mins
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: ethiopian
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 146kcal
Author: Kimberly Killebrew
Ingredients
- 6 cups teff flour, brown or ivory , or substitute a portion of it with some barley or wheat flour
- 1 cup self-rising flour (or 1 c. all-purpose white flour + 2 tsp baking powder + 6 shakes of salt)
- 6 cups cold tap water
- 1-2+ cup cold tap water at the end
Instructions
*See Daring Gourmet blog post for detailed instructions*
In a small 2 gallon plastic bucket, place the teff flour. Then add 6 cups water. Add starter if you have it. Starter is 8oz of a combo of refrigerated batter and too water from a previous batch of injera.
Stir the lumps with your hands. It should be a very thin liquid.
Use an extra 1-2 cup of water to clean the sides of the bowl as you are mixing the last little bit, to make a total of 7+ cups of water in the batter. The inside sides of the bowl should be very clean
Loosely place a lid or some plastic wrap on the bowl (it needs some air circulation, you just want to keep any critters out). Let the mixture sit undisturbed at room temperature for 3-4 days (the longer it ferments, the deeper the flavor). Check it periodically. The dough should sink. The liquid should rise to the top. Depending on what kind of flour you're using, you may need to add a little more water if the mixture is becoming dry.
At the end of fermentation, the mixture should be fizzy and double in size. The color will be very dark. Depending on the humidity, a layer of aerobic yeast will have formed on the top. Aerobic yeast is a normal result of fermentation. If however your batter forms mold on it, it will need to be discarded. Prior to stirring, pour the yeasty liquid and as much of the other liquid as possible into a jar. A clay-like batter will remain. Give it a good stir.
In a separate bowl, mix by hand 1-1/2 cup water and 1 cup self rising flour (or 1 all purpose flour + 2 tsp baking powder + 6 shakes salt). Add to batter and stir.
In a small saucepan, bring 1 cup of water to a boil. Stir in 1/2 cup of the injera batter, whisking constantly until it is thickened. This will happen pretty quickly. Then stir the cooked/thickened batter back into the original fermented batter. Add water to the batter to thin it out to the consistency of crepe batter. Then add more water to clean sides of bowl and to make it thinner than crepe batter. I added about 3/4 cup water after the 1 cup boiling water but this amt will vary from batch to batch. The batter will have a sweet-soured nutty smell...
Let rest for 4 -12 hours in the fridge, then remove the yeast layer. And add or remove water to make the batter a little thinner than crepe batter.
Heat a non-stick skillet or crepe pan over medium heat. Depending on how good your non-stick pan is, you may need to very lightly spray it with some oil. Spread the bottom of the skillet with the injera batter - not as THIN as crepes but not as THICK as traditional pancakes.
Allow the injera to bubble and let the bubbles pop. Once the bubbles have popped, place a lid on top of the pan and turn off the heat. Let the injera steam cook for a couple or so more minutes until cooked through. Be careful not to overcook the injera, or they will become gummy and soggy.
Remove the injera with a spatula and place on breathable uncoated paper plate. Let cool, then fold into quarters.
Repeat.
Eat fresh, Store covered at room temp for 4-5 days, refrigerate, or Freeze
IMPORTANT NOTE: Both the texture and color of the injera will vary greatly depending on what kind of teff you use (dark or ivory) and whether or not you're combining it with other flours. Gluten-based flours (e.g. wheat and barley) will yield a much different texture than 100% teff. In the pictures and recipe below I'm using 100% dark teff, something you will not find in restaurants and will look different than what most are accustomed to, but is traditional to Ethiopian home cooking. Make your injera according to what you prefer.
Serving: 1flatbread | Calories: 146kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 1g | Sodium: 12mg | Fiber: 5g | Calcium: 68mg | Iron: 3mg
