injera

Experience the unique flavor and texture of this famous fermented Ethiopian bread!

Authentic Injera (Ethiopian Flatbread)

Note: If you're new

water

Note: This method involves wild yeast fermentation. See blog post

*See blog post for detailed instructions*NOTE:  Using mostly or all teff (which is the traditional Ethiopian way) will NOT produce the spongy, fluffy injera served in most restaurants which are adapted to the western palate and use mostly wheat, sometimes a little barley, and occasionally a little teff added in.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and water (and yeast if you&#039;re using it). Loosely place some plastic wrap on the bowl (it needs some air circulation, you just want to keep any critters out) and let the mixture sit undisturbed at room temperature for 4-5 days (the longer it ferments, the deeper the flavor). (Depending on what kind of flour you&#039;re using, you may need to add a little more water if the mixture is becoming dry.)  The mixture will be fizzy, the color will be very dark and, 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.)  Pour off the aerobic yeast and as much of the liquid as possible. A clay-like batter will remain. Give it a good 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 some water to the batter to thin it out to the consistency of crepe batter. I added about 2/3 cup water but this will vary from batch to batch. The batter will have a sweet-soured nutty smell.

Heat a non-stick skillet 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 repeat.

IMPORTANT NOTE:&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; Gluten-based flours (e.g. wheat and barley) will yield a much different texture than 100% teff.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; Make your injera according to what you prefer.

Well, I’ve finally done it! After three years of experimentation, I’ve come up with a foolproof Ethiopian injera recipe that is quick and easy. If you are craving Ethiopian food and have some sourdough starter on hand, this is a bread you can create from start to finish in as little as 20 minutes.

Danielle's Foolproof Quick Injera

teff flour (approximately 1 cup by volume)

all-purpose flour

sourdough starter (approximately 1 cup by volume)

water (4 cups by volume)

tbsp baking powder (12 grams)

cornstarch (12 grams)

In a blender add 4 cups water and 1 cup teff flour. Blend on slow initially just to combine ingredients. Use a rubber spatula if necessary to scrape the dough from the sides of the blender. Test the teff by rubbing a bit of wet dough between your fingers. In the beginning, it feels grainy like a fine, wet sand. Turn blender up gradually until on high speed. Blend for one to two minutes. You can tell when the teff is ready when it is no longer very grainy. It will never be perfectly smooth but will be much less grainy than in the beginning.

Add all-purpose flour. Blend on low to combine. Turn off blender and scrape sides. Resume mixing on high only long enough to remove lumps, 15 to 30 seconds. Do not over-blend. (This will overdevelop the gluten in the flour and will result in a rubbery texture.)

Add sourdough starter and blend to combine. While the blender is still running, add baking powder and cornstarch. Gradually increase speed to high and blend for 30 seconds.

Allow batter or "leet" to rest for 15 minutes.

Heat a non-stick skillet with a lid on high heat. It is ready when a drop of water on the surface of the skillet sizzles and burns off quickly.

Pour 1/2 to 3/4 cup batter into the hot pan and tilt the pan on all sides unit the batter spreads evenly across the bottom of the pan. The amount of batter you use depends upon the size of your pan. I use a 12" flat-bottom skillet with straight sides with a lid.

Cook on high heat for 15 seconds or until holes form on the top of the pancakes and the batter begins to firm. Cover and continue cooking until the edges of the pancake begin to lift from the sides of the pan and begin to curl. Depending on the heat of your stove, the entire process should take 1 1/2 to 3 minutes. As moisture accumulates on the inside of the lid, wipe it off with a paper towel or a clean cotton cloth so the moisture does not drop onto the injera and cause gummy spots. The pancake should be filled with little holes the Ethiopians call "eyes". The injera should also easily slide in the pan when shaken.

Slide onto a clean cloth on a countertop or table. I like to use flour sack towels (I also use one for wiping the moisture from the pan's lid). While the injera is cooling begin another in exactly the same manner. When the injera has cooled completely, you may stack them on top of each other. The injera must be completely cooled, not room temperature but rather cool to the touch, before they are stacked. Otherwise they will stick together and become unusable.

This recipe should make eight to ten 12-inch injeras, depending on how thick you make them. One should be used as a the plate for Ethiopian stews. The rest should be rolled up like cigars and served on the side. These will be used to eat the stews by pinching the stews between pieces of injera. Then just pop it into your mouth! No utensils, no problem!

Injera is a spongy, slightly sour flatbread from Ethiopia and Eritrea, considered to be the national dish of these two countries.

Injera Recipe &ndash; Ethiopian Flat Bread

teff flour

g rice flour

½ Tbsp active dry yeast

½ Tbsp white sugar

rice flour

70 g Injera starter

litre tepid water

tsp salt (added right at the end (Final Injera batter, step 2))

vegetable oil or ghee for cooking

250 g plain flour or rice flour

dry active yeast

salt

800 - 1 litre ml warm water

Place the teff flour, rice flour, yeast, sugar and water in a large ceramic bowl and mix thoroughly.

Cover with a kitchen paper and leave somewhere warm to sit for 2 hours, to rise.If you don&#39;t have anywhere that&#39;s not cold (if it&#39;s winter), turn your oven light on, and place the starter in there. BUT DO NOT TURN THE OVEN ON.I place mine in the airing cupboard, in winter time.

The Starter

Place the teff and rice flours in a large bowl.

Add 70g (&frac12; cup) of the starter.

Gradually add 250ml (1 cup) of the water, mixing with a wooden spoon. Add more water, a little at a time, until you have a very thick batter that resists the spoon.

Let the batter now sit for 2-3 days, covered with a kitchen paper or loosely covered with a lid, on your kitchen counter. This is the point where the batter will ferment, and at the end of it, you&#39;ll get a sour smell, much like sourdough.If you live in a warm climate, 2 days will do, otherwise, you might want to go for the whole 3 days. Some of my readers have had to go 4 days. So many factors affect this.What you are looking for is when you can see a clear fluid layer and the batter is beginning to release bubbles.In the summer, I start checking after 1 day. And the same goes if I&#39;m keeping the batter somewhere warm like the airing cupboard.

Traditional Injera Batter (you need 2-3 days for this)

When you&#39;ve reached the right stage, as described above, pour off the liquid at the top.

In a small saucepan over high heat, boil 250ml water (1 cup). Add 80 ml (&#8531; cup - use a proper measuring cup) of the injera batter to the boiling water, stirring continuously. Keep stirring until you get a thick porridge like batter. This is called absit.

Take the saucepan off the heat and transfer the absit to a bowl and leave to cool to almost room temperature. This will take about an hour.

Making Injera Absit

When the absit has cooled, we are going to use a blender to mix everything up to give us a smooth batter. This is the Ethiopian way.In 2-3 batches, place some of the earlier Injera batter and some of the absit in your blender and blend to create a smooth batter.Place back into the original fermentation container that you used and leave to sit, covered loosely for another 1-2 hours, until there are plenty of bubbles in the batter. If you want this process to be fast, find a warm place. Otherwise, it may take a good 6 hours before you see those bubbles, which are crucial.

When the batter is bubbly, using a wooden spoon, stir in 250ml (1 cup) of lukewarm water and 1 tsp salt. Mix well.You are going for a pancake batter consistency. If you dip your fingers in the batter, it should all just run off, leaving a thin coat on your fingers, much like warm custard.

Final Injera Batter (another 1-2 hours) - done in a blender

Ethiopians cook their Injera on a non stick electric griddle. If you have that, use it, if not, a large non stick flat griddle or frying pan will do. An Indian tawa will be perfect for this, if you have it.We&#39;re going to go ahead with a non stick pan on the stove. Heat the pan over medium-high heat.

Transfer your injera batter to a jug. When your pan has heated up, starting from the outside of the pan, pour your batter from a height of about 6 inches, in a circular motion, completely covering the pan.If you need to tilt the pan to cover all of it, do it quickly, as the batter will crisp up fast. But it&#39;s preferable not to tilt the pan. It may take you a couple of attempts to get the hang of it.

At about 30 seconds, you&#39;ll start to see air pockets or holes on the surface.. Now, cover the pan with a lid and cook for 1-2 minutes until the edge of the injera is curling up. The sizzling sound will also have subsided quite a bit at this stage.If your batter was on the thinner side, your injera ought to be done at 1 minute. So 1 or 2 minutes (or even 3) will depend on how thick your injera is.

Using a large, wide spatula, lift the side of the injera and slide onto a plate.Turn the heat off and time to check on our first injera, and adjust the batter, if necessary.If your injera is too soft, sticky or even worse, became a lump on the pan:pour a little of your batter into a blender and add 40 g (&frac14; cup) rice flour. Blend to a smooth paste, and stir this into the rest of the batter to mix thoroughly.If your injera is too thick or dry:stir in a little water, maybe about 2-4 Tbsp, to get a slightly thinner batter.

Continue cooking the rest of the injera and stack them on top of each other on the plate.You could reserve &frac12; cup batter to use as your starter, and store in the fridge for up to 1 week, for your next injera.

Leave the cooked injera to cool to room temperature, then cover with clingfilm and leave to sit for an hour before serving.The longer you leave the injera, the softer and tastier it will be. A day is perfect, making it a great recipe for when you have guests, as it can be done the day before.The injera can be frozen for up to 3 months (see article above).

Cooking the Injera

In a large bowl, mix the yeast with a little bit of the warm water and stir to combine.

Add whichever 2 flours you're using, along with the salt.

Gradually, add more warm water, stirring with a wooden spoon until you have a smooth batter, this time the consistency of thick pancake batter. Again, you may not need all the water.

Cover with cling film and let stand for 1 hour.

After an hour, the batter would have increased slightly, give it a stir and pour the hot water, stirring constantly, until you get the thick cr&ecirc;pe batter we mentioned in the traditional method.

Let stand for 20 minutes, then proceed to cook as above.

Quick Injera

Learning to make a good sourdough starter is a liberating experience. You can keep it in your fridge for years, literally a hundred years, if you can remember to feed it twice a month and protect it from unfriendly bacteria by keeping your containers scrupulously clean. Once you’ve made a good starter, you can make an endless array of sourdough breads, pancakes, buns, rolls and flatbreads. I especially like using it to make the sourdough Ethiopian flatbread called injera, as it saves me from days of waiting for the batter to ferment and allows me to make injera on the day I am craving it.I’ve included a traditional method of making sourdough starter and a quick method as well. The quick method cheats a little since the yeast isn’t derived wholly from the environment around the starter. Rather we start with a little commercial yeast and let it become sour over several days in the fridge. The traditional method results in a better flavor by far but the quick method is much easier. So, it all boils down to whether or not you are a purist in your pursuit of achieving a usable sourdough starter.&nbsp;

Two Methods of Making Sourdough Starter: Wild Yeast Method and Quick Method

bread flour

pineapple juice (divided)

filtered water (or spring water)

active dry yeast (I use Fleishmann's.)

water (1/2 cup)

33g (3 1/2 Tablespoons Flour)

1/4 cup pineapple juice

Wild Yeast Method:Day One: Beginning in the morningIngredients:

Mix 33g flour (3 1/2 Tablespoons) and 1/4 cup pineapple juice. Stir vigorously until fairly smooth. Cover and allow to rest in a warm area of your kitchen or on a seedling mat. Stir two to three times during the day and before going to bed at night. You should not expect any significant activity in this starter for at least 48 hours, and possibly not even then.

Instructions:

After 24 hours, the starter is completely inactive with some of the pineapple juice having separated and floating on the surface. Stir vigorously and replace lid, stirring again several times during the day, at least twice, and again before retiring for the night.

Day Two:

Day Three:Ingredients:

After 48 hours, we will feed the starter regardless of whether it is showing any activity.* Stir to combine and feed with another 33g flour and 1/4 cup pineapple juice, stirring vigorously to whip in air and fully incorporate the flour and juice. Cover and allow to rest overnight once again in a warm area of your kitchen or on a seedling mat.

150g (1 cup Flour) divided

150g (2/3 cup water) divided

Day Four:Ingredients:

By the next morning (around 60 hours) you should start seeing some activity. Feed with 75g flour (1/2 cup) and 75g (1/3 cup) water, stirring vigorously to combine. Allow to ferment throughout the day.

Six hours later, or once the starter is active and bubbling, feed it again with a 75g flour-to-water ratio. Continue doing this until you have the amount of starter you want to have on hand. Refrigerate overnight unless you plan to wake up in the middle of the night to feed your starter. Once you have the amount desired, refrigerate until use, remembering to feed it every week or two. Be sure you have it in a container that will allow the starter to rise 30% without spilling over or erupting from outgassing.

(*Note: if there is no activity after 48 hours, throw the starter out and begin again. Something has gone wrong.)

141g (approximately 1 cup) organic unbleached bread flour, divided into 33g, 33g, and 75g respectively. (You can use any flour you prefer but the purpose of this video, I am using bread flour.)

1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice (divided)

1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast (I use Fleishmann's.)

75g (1/2 cup) water

Quick Method:Ingredients for the entire day:

Mix 33g flour, yeast, and 1/4 cup pineapple juice. Stir vigorously until fairly smooth. Cover and allow to rest in a warm area of your kitchen or on a seedling mat.

After about 2 1/2 hours, check to see if the yeast has become active. If not, your yeast is bad. Throw out the batch and start again with fresh yeast. More likely, the starter is active, full of bubbles and has risen quite a bit. Stir to deflate and whip in more air.

After another 2 1/2 hours (the yeast should be quite active) feed the yeast again with 33g flour and 1/4 cup pineapple juice.

After another 2 hours, transfer to a four cup bowl and feed with 75g (1/2 cup) flour and 75g (1/3 cup) water. Refrigerate and allow sourdough flavor to develop for several days before using. You can use it on the second day but the flavor will be only mildly sour.

A new favorite beef dinner from an ancient cuisine, adapted from Hawwi Ethiopian Restaurant, courtesy of Open Kitchen DC.

Ethiopian Awaze Beef Tibs Recipe

ribeye steak,

onion, chopped

rosemary leaves

ginger

garlic

berbere spice blend

olive oil

butter

tomatoes (optional)

Purée or mash the fresh ginger and garlic into a paste.

In a bowl, mix together the steak, onion, rosemary, ginger, garlic, berbere and salt. Place a pan on medium heat. Add the oil and butter. When the pan is hot, place the spiced meat and onion mixture into the hot pan and cook for about 5 minutes. PRO TIP: Do not stir the meat right away. Let it sit in the hot pan for the first couple of minutes to brown on the bottom. Also, make sure you use a wide-enough pan so the meat does not steam. Steaming also prevents browning.

Add ½ cup water and cook for another 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Add fresh chopped tomatoes if desired. Serve with rice, or with injera (which can be purchased from a local Ethiopian market). 

Top 5 injera recipes from across the web

The most viewed injera recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Top Tags

Authentic Injera (Ethiopian Flatbre...

Danielle's Foolproof Quick Injera

Injera Recipe – Ethiopian Fla...

Two Methods of Making Sourdough Sta...

Ethiopian Awaze Beef Tibs Recipe

Top 5 injera recipes from across the web

The most viewed injera recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Authentic Injera (Ethiopian Flatbre...

Danielle's Foolproof Quick Injera

Injera Recipe &ndash; Ethiopian Fla...

Two Methods of Making Sourdough Sta...

Ethiopian Awaze Beef Tibs Recipe

The most viewed injera recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Injera Recipe – Ethiopian Fla...