Injeraafricanethiopianflatbread Recipes

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.

INJERA (ETHIOPIAN SOUR FLATBREAD)

Steps:

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

INJERA

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast and honey in 1/4 cup of the water. Allow to proof and add the remainder of the water and the millet flour. Stir until smooth and then cover. Allow to stand at room temperature for 24 hours.
• Stir the batter well and mix in the baking soda.
• Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Pour about 1/3 cup of the batter into the pan in a spiral pattern to cover the bottom of the pan evenly. Tilt the pan to quickly even out the batter. Cover the pan and allow to cook for about 1 minute. The bread should not brown but rather rise slightly and very easy to remove. It is cooked only on one side. This top should be slightly moist. Remove to a platter and cool. Stack the cooked breads on a plate.

INJERA (AFRICAN [ ETHIOPIAN] FLAT BREAD)

Steps:

• Mix the flour with the water; you want to have a somewhat liquid consistency.
• Heat a large non-stick frying pan. The secret of making injera is that the pan be very hot.
• Pour a thin layer (think crepe thinness) of mixture on the pan; cook until the bottom is light brown and the top becomes sponge like.
• You CAN turn it and cook the other side to crispness and brownness but traditionally the top side is supposed to be spongy -- let the bottom cook but don't turn it.

ETHIOPIAN FLAT BREAD (INJERA)

Steps:

• Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.
• Cover and let set an hour or longer until batter rises and becomes stretchy.
• The batter can sit for as long as 3-6 hours if you need it to.
• When you are ready, stir batter if liquid has settled on the bottom.
• In blender, whip 2 c.
• of batter at a time, thinning it with 1/2-3/4 c.
• water.
• Batter will be quite thin.
• Heat a 10-inch or 12-inch non-stick frying pan over medium to medium-high heat.
• Pour batter into heated pan (1/2 c. if using a 12-inch pan; 1/3 c. if using a 10-inch pan) and quickly swirl pan to spread batter as thin as possible.
• Batter should be no thicker than 1/8 inch.
• Do NOT turn.
• Injera is cooked through when bubbles appear all over the top.
• Lay each Injera on a towel for a minute or two then stack in a covered dish to keep warm.
• (VERY important to rest on towel before stacking!) For those not familiar with Injera, serve it as the"utensil" when serving thick stews.
• Use pieces of injera to scoop or pick up bites of stew-- no double-dipping-- eat your"utensil" each time.

AUTHENTIC INJERA (AKA ETHIOPIAN FLAT BREAD)

Steps:

• Mix ground teff with the water and let stand in a bowl covered with a dish towel at room temperature until it bubbles and has turned sour; This may take as long as 3 days, although I had success with an overnight fermentation; The fermenting mixture should be the consistency of a very thin pancake batter.
• Stir in the salt, a little at a time, until you can barely detect its taste.
• Lightly oil an 8 or 9 inch skillet (or a larger one if you like); Heat over medium heat.
• Pour in enough batter to cover the bottom of the skillet; About 1/4 cup will make a thin pancake covering the surface of an 8 inch skillet if you spread the batter around immediately by turning and rotating the skillet in the air; This is the classic French method for very thin crepes; Injera is not supposed to be paper thin so you should use a bit more batter than you would for crepes, but less than you would for a flapjack pancakes.
• Cook briefly, until holes form in the injera and the edges lift from the pan; Do not let it brown, and don't flip it over as it is only supposed to be cooked on one side.
• Remove and let cool. Place plastic wrap or foil between successive pieces so they don't stick together.
• To serve, lay one injera on a plate and ladle your chosen dishes on top (e.g., a lovely doro wat or alicha). Serve additional injera on the side. Guests can be instructed to eat their meal without utensils, instead using the injera to scoop up their food.