Injera Ethiopian Teff Bread Recipes

ETHIOPIAN HOMEMADE INJERA BREAD RECIPE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, mix both flours, salt, and baking soda together. Whisk in the club soda until smooth. Then add the vinegar and whisk.
• Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Pour oil on a paper towel and wipe the skillet with the oiled paper towel. This creates a thin fatty layer to make it easier to flip the crepes.
• Using a scoop, pour batter into the skillet creating a 6-inch circle. Quickly and carefully swirl the pan around to thin out the batter until it measures 8- to 9-inches across.
• Cook for 1 minute, then using a large spatula, flip the Injera over and cook another minute. Remove from the skillet and stack on a plate. Repeat with remaining batter. The Injera will seem slightly crisp in the pan, but will soften immediately when placed on the plate. The stacking also helps steam and soften the Injera sourdough crepes.
• Once finished cooking the Injera. Cut the circles in half with a pizza cutter, roll into tubes and stack. Keep warm until ready to serve. Serve the Injera with Doro Wat or Mesir Wat, tearing pieces of Injera and using it to pick up the Doro Wat.

INJERA (ETHIOPIAN TEFF BREAD)

Steps:

• Mix 1/2 cup white teff flour and brown teff flour together in a bowl. Add 1 cup water and whisk well. Pour mixture into a glass container large enough to hold 3 times the original volume. Cover with cheesecloth or other breathable fabric to keep out dust; do not seal with plastic wrap as air circulation is vital. Leave covered container in a draft-free environment; the mixture needs air to be circulated in order to ferment. Stir batter 2 times over 24 hours.
• Check for bubbles and possibly an increase in volume after 24 hours; there may also be a slightly tangy and sour smell. When you notice these things, add 1 tablespoon white teff flour and 1 tablespoon water to the batter and whisk well. Check in a few hours to see if bubbles have again formed, mixture has increased in volume, and the pungent smell is still evident; if so, the batter is ready and you can skip to the cooking process (step 5).
• Leave batter to rest another 12 hours if the mixture has not begun to form or smell sour after the first 24 hours; stir once during this time. Check to see if bubbles have formed, mixture has increased in volume, and a pungent smell is evident; if so, proceed with step 4.
• Mix together 2 tablespoons white teff flour and 2 tablespoons water in a bowl, making sure there are no lumps. Add mixture to the batter, whisking well. Wait a few hours; batter should be bubbly with a noticeable increase in volume and a pungent but fragrant smell, indicating it is ready to be cooked.
• Heat an 8-inch crepe pan or nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add oil. Pour a scant 1/2 cup batter slowly and steadily into the hot pan in a circular motion from outside to inside. Cover the pan completely in a spiral without swirling. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook, allowing steam to cook the top of the bread, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove from pan with spatula and transfer to a plate; cover to keep warm. Repeat with remaining batter.

ETHIOPIAN FLAT BREAD (INJERA)

Steps:

• Mix everything together to form a batter.
• Let set in large bowl, covered, an hour or longer, until batter rises and becomes stretchy.
• It can sit as long as 3-6 hours.
• When ready, stir batter if liquid has settled on bottom.
• Then whip in blender, 2 cups of batter at a time, thinning it with 1/2 - 3/4 cup water.
• Batter will be quite thin.
• Cook in non-stick frypan WITHOUT OIL (is that a great instruction or what?) over medium or medium-high heat.
• Use 1/2 cup batter per injera for a 12-inch pan or 1/3 cup batter for a 10-inch pan.
• Pour batter in heated pan and quickly swirl pan to spread batter as thin as possible.
• Batter should be no thicker than 1/8-inch.
• Do not turn over.
• Injera does not easily stick or burn.
• It is cooked through when bubbles appear all over the top.
• Lay each injera on a clean towel for a minute or two, then stack in covered dish to keep warm.
• Finished injera will be thicker than a crepe, but thinner than a pancake.

INJERA RECIPE - ETHIOPIAN FLAT BREAD

Steps:

• 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't have anywhere that's not cold (if it'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.
• Place the teff and rice flours in a large bowl.
• Add 70g (½ 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'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'm keeping the batter somewhere warm like the airing cupboard.
• When you'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 (⅓ 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.
• 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.
• 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'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'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'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 (¼ 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 ½ 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).
• 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 crêpe batter we mentioned in the traditional method.
• Let stand for 20 minutes, then proceed to cook as above.

INJERA (ETHIOPIAN SOUR FLATBREAD)

Steps:

• Repeat until all of the batter is used, spraying the pan with cooking spray as necessary.

INJERA

Steps:

• Combine the teff flour and active dry yeast in a large bowl. Add 2 cups lukewarm water and whisk or, more traditionally, use your hand to mix everything together, making sure the mixture is absolutely smooth with no lumps. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature until the mixture is bubbly and tastes sour like tangy yogurt, 36 to 48 hours. (It will start bubbling and rising in a matter of hours, but it can take anywhere from 36 to 48 hours to achieve a noticeable level of sourness, which is key to the flavor of the injera; see Cook's Note.) After about 36 hours, begin tasting the mixture; this will help you determine when it's just right and will help prevent it from souring too much.
• At this point, the batter will look separated and watery on top. If you shake the bowl a little, you should see some bubbles rising to the top. Add the self-rising flour and up to 1 cup of water a little at a time. Whisk or use your hand to thoroughly combine into a smooth, thin, pourable mixture with about the consistency of a slightly thicker crepe batter. Cover again and let sit for 1 hour.
• Heat a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat for a few minutes. Have a lid for the skillet and a wire baking rack nearby. Whisk 1 teaspoon salt into the batter (it will bubble up). Pour 1/4 cup of the batter into the skillet, tilting and swirling to coat with a thin layer of batter. The batter should spread quickly and easily. (If it's too thick, whisk in a little more water.) Within a matter of seconds, you should start seeing small holes forming and the surface darkening as it cooks from the outside towards the center. When the injera is about 3/4 of the way cooked, cover the skillet and let steam for 1 minute. The injera is cooked when the edges are dry and lifting up from the pan. Carefully run a spatula underneath and transfer to the baking rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining batter.
• You can stack the injera only when they are completely cooled; otherwise, they will stick to each other. Wrap the stack of cooled injera with a dry, clean cloth or paper towels to keep them from drying out until ready to serve. Serve at room temperature, or microwave for 30 seconds to heat through.