Injera/Ethiopian Flat Bread

Injera is a very popular type of bread which is mainly made from Teff flour. Teff is an ancient Ethiopian grain that is rich in iron, calcium, and protein, and is gluten free. However, it can also me made by mixing different grains on eof which being Teff. For example, Teff flour mixed with barley flour, rice flour, and/or all purpose flour.

While it is a major type of bread that is served in almost every meal in Ethiopia, Injera has also become a popular bread around the world. There are different recipes to make Injera, ranging from a process taking a week to only 12 hours. What each recipe needs, though, is a starter mix. You can make the starter mix once and save a small portion of the batter every time you bake Injera to use it as a starter for the next baking. You can look in YouTube for different ways of baking Injera; feel free to try some of the recipes that work for you.

In this lesson, I will share my personal way of baking Injera which I found easier and requiring shorter time for preparation than other recipes I used in the past to make a good quality Injera.

Ingredients

1 cup of starter mix (sour dough)
6 cups of Teff flour
1 quart of warm water (more or less until the batter is a little thicker than pancake batter)
1/2 quart of seltzer water

Recipe

1. Add 6 cups of Teff flour in a bucket that has a top
2. Pour the starter mix in the bucket
3. Add warm water little by little to avoid lumps while making the batter; you can use a mixing machine or mix it by hand. keep adding water and mixing until the batter is .
4. Cover the bucket and leave it at room temperature for 12-24 hours, the batter will be fermented during this time
5. When you are ready to bake the Injera, mix the batter with unflavored seltzer water until it is thinner than a pancake batter and warm up your pan, (that has a top), to about 350 degrees
6. Once the batter is ready and the pan is warm, spread the batter on the pan in thin single layer, wait a bit until bubbles start to appear on the bread, and cover the pan. Bake it for about 1 minute and remove it from the pan. As you are making more than one Injera from your batter, keep repeating this; spread the batter, wait for the bubbles, cover the to, and remove from the pan

Put the cooked Injera on top of the other as you continue baking more. Once your Injera is done, it can be served with any of the wot (stew) types discussed in the lunch and dinner recipes.