You Can Ferment That: Ethiopian Injera
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2021 issue of Zymurgy magazine.
By Amahl Turczyn
Ethiopia has a wonderfully diverse culinary tradition, but the one food that’s found at nearly every meal is a spongy, fermented flatbread known as injera. What makes this sourdough bread so unique is how it is used: it acts as a plate, a utensil, and a food staple that perfectly matches the usually spicy cuisine of various Ethiopian stews and salads. Injera’s porous texture absorbs juices well, making it the perfect alternative to forks and knives when sitting at a communal table with friends and family. It’s also very easy to make at home, provided you have an active sourdough starter (though even that isn’t strictly necessary) and access to flour made from an indigenous whole grain known as teff.
Teff grains are tiny, roughly the size of poppy seeds, and they vary in color from pale beige to dark brown. Teff has been grown and eaten in Ethiopia and Eritrea for hundreds, if not thousands of years, though North American companies now grow and process it as well. It’s not difficult to find online, and its earthy, nutty flavor is great for other breads as well.
Generally, darker teff varieties have more flavor. Ethiopian restaurants typically use lighter teff grains, which are often blended with wheat flour to save money and produce a more elastic, pliable, easier-to-use injera. Assuming you can get dark teff, though, you can make the homespun, authentic, full-flavored bread that preserves the ancient tradition of injera. (Teff is also gluten-free, so go 100 percent teff if you have celiac concerns.) Otherwise, a blend with wheat or barley flour will produce a more manageable injera. Regardless, you will start with a long fermentation to develop a nice tartness along with leavening.
You can start with whole-grain teff and grind it yourself, which means you’ll have a fresher-tasting end product, but since most people don’t have flour mills, we’ll assume you’ll be starting with the freshest teff flour you can find—I like Bob’s Red Mill, but several other companies also sell the pre-ground flour. The ratio of flour to water is 2:3, and it’s as simple as blending the two along with two tablespoons of your favorite sourdough starter (I’ve also used a bit of active-culture yogurt or kefir with success if I don’t have a sourdough starter on hand).
Blend everything up in a large bowl, cover it loosely with plastic wrap so the ferment has access to air but airborne microbes and mold spores can’t easily fall in and spoil things, and keep the bowl at room temperature for three to five days. As with other lactic-acid-bacteria ferments, the longer and warmer the ferment, the more acidity it will develop. The injera batter, which should be roughly as thick as crepe batter, will develop a nutty, earthy tartness, and you will note fizzy gas bubbles rising after a day or two of fermentation.
Alternatively, you can use a pinch of regular bread yeast if no lactic culture is available, but you won’t get the authentic tartness.
On a whim, I added a quarter cup of spent grains from an all-grain wheat beer I’d homebrewed to a 5-cup batch of injera, just prior to fermentation, and was pleased with the resulting bread. The natural lactic acid bacteria in the spent grain really kickstarted the injera fermentation. Just know that adding too much spent grain will mean your injera won’t be as elastic as it would otherwise, so if you do try this, it works best to use 1 cup wheat bread flour and 1 cup teff as your flour base (which you would then blend with 3 cups water and the quarter cup of spent grains).
When the ferment has progressed to your desired level of tartness, it’s time to cook the bread. Traditionally this is done on a large, flat, stoneware plate called a mitad that’s positioned over a wood-fired stove. A nonstick skillet works great, too, though. Pour a thin layer of batter into the pan over medium heat and allow it to form a thin circle that covers the bottom of the pan. Cook for several minutes until bubbles form, surface, and pop, and the bread begins to lose its wet appearance, the same approach used with pancakes. Flip the injera carefully and cook a few minutes more on the other side until dry and porous in appearance. Don’t overcook; you want it to be tender and slightly spongy in texture. Remove the bread to a separate plate and repeat until you’ve used all the batter.
That’s it! You can roll up the breads if you want; they should not be too sticky. When your Ethiopian stews and salads are ready (doro wot, a spicy chicken stew, is the country’s national dish; berbere is a fiery harissa-like spice blend; and recipes for various collard greens and tomato-and-lentil salads are easy to find online), unroll a large piece of injera and arrange your colorful array of delicacies in piles right on the bread. Then serve and enjoy with more rolls of the bread for each person to scoop bites into their (or their neighbor’s) mouths. I love the texture and color variety of these feasts, and I always break out a bottle of fermented hot sauce and a jar of preserved lemons; both are great garnishes for this type of cuisine. Enjoy!
Ethiopian Injera Recipe
Yield: About 12 large loaves
FERMENTABLES
1 cup (140 g) teff flour
1 cup (120 g) bread flour
¼ cup (60 mL) spent grains from brewing (optional)
YEAST
3 g instant dried yeast (optional)
2 Tbsp. (30 mL) sourdough starter
OTHER INGREDIENTS
3 cups (710 mL) filtered water
½ tsp. (3 g) salt (optional)
PROCEDURE
Whisk flours and water together in a bowl, along with starter, yeast, and spent grains, if using. Beat until smooth and all lumps are gone. Cover loosely with plastic wrap at allow to ferment 3 to 5 days, until batter begins to smell tart, nutty, and bready. (If any mold forms on the surface, discard batch and start over.)
Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Pour about half a cup of batter in the pan and tilt until it covers the bottom. Cook over medium heat until bubbles rise and pop and the surface begins to dry. Flip the injera and cook a few minutes more until bread is spongy and elastic. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
Berbere Recipe
This spice blend is used widely in Ethiopian cuisine and is the basis for many traditional dishes.
Yield: about ½ cup (125 mL)
INGREDIENTS
½ tsp. (3 mL) whole allspice berries
1 tsp. (5 mL) whole black pepper
½ tsp. (3 mL) whole fenugreek seeds
½ tsp. (3 mL) whole cardamom seeds
1 tsp. (5 mL) whole cumin seeds
1 Tbsp. (15 mL) cayenne pepper powder (or to taste)
3 Tbsp. (45 mL) paprika powder
1 Tbsp. (15 mL) smoked paprika powder
1 tsp. (5 mL) turmeric powder
1 tsp. (5 mL) powdered ginger
1 tsp. (5 mL) onion powder
1 tsp. (5 mL) garlic powder
PROCEDURE
Toast whole spices lightly in a small cast iron skillet until fragrant. Pulverize to a fine powder in a spice grinder. Cool, blend with remaining powdered spices, and seal in an airtight container for later use.
Doro Wot Recipe
Spicy chicken stew with boiled eggs
Yield: Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
2 lb. (1 kg) boneless skinless chicken thighs, cubed
2 large onions
1 cup (250 mL) chicken stock, as needed for onions
½ lemon, juiced
½ cup (250 mL) clarified butter (niter kibbeh or ghee)
1 head fresh garlic (peeled and crushed)
¼ cup (60 mL) grated fresh ginger
½ cup (125 mL) berbere spice blend
6 boiled eggs, peeled
salt to taste
PROCEDURE
Marinate the chicken in fresh lemon juice for 30 minutes. Grate the onion to a fine pulp with a cheese grater. Melt the clarified butter in a heavy pot, then add the onions and caramelize on low heat for an hour. Stir occasionally and add chicken stock if onion begins to darken too much. Add garlic, ginger, and berbere when onion has reached a deep golden brown color and simmer another 30 minutes. Add chicken, cover, and simmer 30 to 45 minutes, until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Add boiled eggs to stew and simmer another 10 minutes Adjust for salt and serve with fresh injera bread.
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Amahl Turczyn continues to brew and write at his home in Lafayette, Colo.
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