Injera: Ethiopian Fermented Flatbread, With or Without Teff

The Story of Injera, a Fermented Flatbread

On the Ethiopian highlands, 2,400 meters above sea level, women pouring thin batter onto a large clay griddle (mitad) in the morning mist is a scene that has gone on in daily life for a very long time.

Injera (ənǧära / እንጀራ) is the staple food of Ethiopia and Eritrea and the foundation of Ethiopian cuisine. It looks a little like a crêpe, but its surface is covered with countless bubble holes that give it a distinctive spongy texture. It is a sour, fermented bread that serves as plate, spoon, and staple all at once.

Injera has unusual traits even among breads. It is made from a grain called teff, fermented naturally, and cooked on one side only. Few other breads combine all three.

Ethiopian chefs such as Marcus Samuelsson, who was born in Ethiopia and works in New York, have introduced Ethiopian flavors to Western audiences. That teff is gluten-free is one reason it has drawn attention among health-conscious eaters in the West.

This article explains how to make injera from ingredients you can find at an ordinary supermarket, along with the science behind the fermentation. Even if you cannot find teff flour, buckwheat flour gives a surprisingly authentic result.

If you are looking for flavors from elsewhere on the same continent, try Moroccan tagine (in Japanese) as well, and compare how the spice cultures of the east and west of Africa differ.

Ingredients (serves 4, about 8 pieces)

Nutrition (per piece, approximate, with teff flour)

This is an estimate for 300 g of teff flour baked into 8 pieces (about 37 g of teff flour per piece), calculated from the teff values in the USDA FoodData Central database. Injera is gluten-free and low in fat.

Method

With injera, everything depends on fermentation. Mixing the batter takes 5 minutes, but natural fermentation takes 2–3 days. If you want to eat it on the weekend, start the batter on a Wednesday or Thursday evening.

Step 1: Mix the batter and ferment it (48–72 hours)

Put 300 g teff flour (or 200 g buckwheat flour plus 100 g rice flour) into a large glass bowl (avoid a metal bowl, which can affect fermentation). Add 500 ml lukewarm water a little at a time, whisking until no lumps remain. The target is a thick, flowing batter, slightly looser than pancake batter.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap (or parchment) and leave at room temperature (25–30°C). Do not refrigerate. For 2–3 days, stir gently once a day with a clean spoon. When small bubbles increase on the surface, a faint sour aroma appears, and the whole batter has risen a little, it is ready to bake.

Step 2: Make absit and adjust the consistency (about 10 min)

This is a traditional Ethiopian technique. Take about 150 ml of the fermented batter (about 1/5 of the total) into a small pot, add the same amount of water, and set it over medium heat. Stirring constantly, heat 2–3 minutes until it thickens to a paste. The signs are fine bubbles and a line that remains when you drag a spatula across the bottom of the pot.

This paste is called absit. Mix it back into the rest of the batter. Adding absit makes it easier to get even bubbles (called "eyes") on the surface of the injera.

If you skip this step, the bubbles will be uneven and the sponginess weaker. Add 100–200 ml water a little at a time to the batter with the absit mixed in. The target is slightly thinner than crêpe batter. When you scoop it with a spoon and let it fall, it should run in a thin thread.

Add 1/2 tsp salt here and mix well.

Step 3: Preheat the pan and pour the batter (5 min)

Preheat a nonstick skillet 26–28 cm in diameter over medium heat for about 2 minutes. Do not oil it. Flick a few drops of water on it; if they evaporate right away, the temperature is right (about 180–200°C).

In Ethiopia a large clay griddle called a mitad is used, but a nonstick skillet reproduces it well enough.

Pour about 80 ml batter (a little less than one ladle) into the preheated pan. Tilting the pan, spread the batter in a spiral from the outside in. The method is the same as for a crêpe, but make it slightly thicker.

Cover right away and steam over the same medium heat for 2–3 minutes.

Step 4: Check the bubbles and finish baking (30 sec)

Watching through the lid over medium heat, you will see countless tiny bubbles appear on the surface and open into holes. These holes are the "eyes" of injera. It is done when holes cover the entire surface and the top is dry and no longer shiny.

Do not flip it. Injera is cooked on one side only. The underside, touching the pan, is smooth, and the top is a sponge full of bubble holes. That is correct.

Step 5: Remove and cool (30 sec)

Carefully lift the injera out of the pan, spread it on a clean kitchen towel, and leave it about 30 seconds to cool a little. It tears easily while hot, so fold it in quarters once it is cool enough to touch.

Make the rest of the batter the same way. A batch for 4 people (about 8 pieces) takes about 30 minutes.

Tips

Once the injera is baked, start on the stew (wat) to go with it. For a milder vegetable dish on the side, the yellow sauce of atakilt wat (in Japanese) goes well with the sour injera. For tips on using spices, the guide to Middle Eastern cuisine (in Japanese) may also help.

On days when you want to try an Ethiopian breakfast bread without waiting for fermentation, chechebsa (in Japanese), in which thin kita flatbread is torn up and mixed with berbere, is a good fit. If you want a breakfast made by stirring flour in a pot, genfo (in Japanese), with spiced butter poured into a well in the center, is another candidate. Compare the browned edges, the stickiness, and the aroma of butter against the sourness of injera.

Variations

100% teff (the authentic version)

If you can get teff flour, try it without the buckwheat substitute. Injera made entirely with teff has a faintly sweet, earthy aroma and a softer sponge. The color is also a darker brown than the buckwheat version. It pairs well with wild yeast, and 2 days gives enough fermentation.

Whole wheat blend (the easy version)

If you have neither buckwheat nor rice flour, you can make it with 200 g whole wheat flour and 100 g potato starch. It ferments less readily than teff, but the nuttiness of the whole wheat gives it an injera-like character. To add sourness, stir 1 tbsp lemon juice in just before baking and the flavor gets closer to the real thing. As a bread made from a fermented batter, it also has something in common with the yeast dough of Georgian khachapuri.

Spiced injera

Adding spices to the batter is also seen within Ethiopia. Stir in the following after fermentation.

• Nigella seeds (black cumin), 1 tsp: A faint bitterness and nutty flavor
• Fenugreek, 1/2 tsp: A sweet aroma close to curry
• Rosemary (chopped), 1 tsp: A Mediterranean twist. It also goes with Moroccan tagine (in Japanese)

Mini injera (appetizers and finger food)

Bake small injera about 10 cm across and top them with bite-sized doro wat (chicken stew) or hummus, and they become party finger food. They also go very well with Middle Eastern hummus (in Japanese) and falafel (in Japanese).

Gluten-free breakfast pancakes

Stir 1 mashed banana and 1/2 tsp cinnamon into fermented injera batter and bake small rounds for a sour, gluten-free pancake. Serve with maple syrup for breakfast. It is a popular adaptation in Ethiopian American communities.

Background: A Fermentation Culture

Teff, the world's smallest grain

Teff (Eragrostis tef) is a grain native to Ethiopia, with kernels under 1 mm across, one of the smallest grains in the world. One theory ties the name to an Amharic word meaning "lost," but nothing is certain.

Teff is said to have been cultivated on the Ethiopian highlands for a very long time, though exactly when cultivation began is unclear.

Teff is central to Ethiopian agriculture and is one of the main grains widely grown there. After domestic prices rose, the Ethiopian government banned teff exports in 2006 for food security. The export restriction was later partly eased, and teff spread quickly in the Western gluten-free market.

What eating by hand means

The most important act at an Ethiopian meal is gursha. It is a custom in which you wrap food in injera and feed it directly into another person's mouth, an expression of affection, respect, and friendship.

A parent to a child, a husband to a wife, friends to one another. The larger the gursha, the deeper the affection for that person. Offering gursha to a guest you have just met is also possible, and it is the highest form of hospitality.

James McCann, a historian at Boston University, covers the history of Ethiopian food culture in his book Stirring the Pot: A History of African Cuisine (2009).

The mesob: the table itself

At a traditional Ethiopian meal, injera is spread over a round woven table called a mesob, and several wats (stews) are placed on top. The diners sit around the mesob and tear pieces by hand from the same injera.

The moment the lid of the mesob is lifted is the highlight of an Ethiopian meal. Red doro wat, yellow alicha, and green gomen laid out on a large injera is truly edible art.

Fasting culture and injera

Members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church have many fasting days each year, during which they eat no animal foods. As a result, a vegan tradition runs deep in Ethiopian cooking. Injera itself is entirely vegan (plant-based only), and on fasting days it is eaten with misir wat (a red lentil stew) and shiro wat (a chickpea-flour stew).

This fasting culture has developed Ethiopia's plant-based cooking to a level found almost nowhere else in the world. The ingenuity of avoiding meat during fasts is also seen in Middle Eastern falafel (in Japanese), which is said to be eaten often in Lebanon around Lent.

FAQ

Can I make injera without teff flour?

Yes. The combination of 200 g buckwheat flour and 100 g rice flour gives the most authentic result. The earthy flavor and sourness peculiar to teff are somewhat weaker, but the texture and appearance come quite close. Whole wheat flour with potato starch also works as a substitute.

My fermentation isn't working. What if no bubbles appear?

The room is most likely too cold (below 20°C). Put the bowl in an oven with only the light on (about 30°C), or in a foam box with a hot-water bottle, to keep it steady. If the container is metal, acid can inhibit fermentation, so switch to a glass or plastic bowl.

What if the injera is too sour?

The fermentation may have gone too long. Next time, bake a day earlier. For batter that is already too sour, a tiny pinch of baking soda (about 1/8 tsp) neutralizes some of the sourness, but too much makes it taste of soda, so be careful. If you like sour dishes, the tomato acidity of shakshuka also goes well with it, so try it as a side.

How long does it keep?

Baked injera keeps 3 days in the refrigerator and 1 month in the freezer, wrapped in plastic. To eat, warm it in the microwave for about 20 seconds or in a steamer for 1 minute. Refrigerated injera gets a little firm, but warming brings back its suppleness.

What if I have a buckwheat allergy?

Use 300 g rice flour (the same weight as the teff flour). Rice flour alone turns very sticky, so use more water (about 600 ml) and bake it thin. The flavor differs from teff, but you get plenty of the sponge texture.

Sources