Ethopian Flat Bread (Injera)

From "Extending the Table"

3 cups self-rising flour** (or 3 cups all-purpose flour + 4 1/2 tsp baking powder + 1 1/2 tsp salt)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cornmeal or masa harina
1 Tbsp active dry yeast (1 package)
3 1/2 cup warm water

Mix. Let set in a 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 to 3/4 cup water each time. Batter will be quite thin.

Cook in nonstick frying pan without oil over medium or medium-high heat. Use 1/2 cup batter per Injera for 12-inch pan or 1/3 cup batter per Injera for 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. Injera does not easily stick or burn. It is cooked through when bubbles appear all over 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.







To serve, overlap a few Injera on large platter and place stews on top. Or lay 1 Injera on each dinner plate, and ladle stew servings on top. Give each person 3 or more Injera, rolled or folded in quarters, to use for scooping up the stews. Try with Ethiopian vegetable stew.


*Option: For a more authentic Injera, add 1/2 cup teff flour and reduce whole wheat flour to 1/4 cup.

**To substitute all-purpose flour for self-rising flour: For each cup of all-purpose flour, add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt.

Try #1 - August 7, 2010
This is relatively easy, just time consuming. Notes on cooking Injera:
- Wait until pan is hot before pouring batter in.
- Spread around quickly!
- Wait until Injera starts to curl up on edges before removing from pan, about 2 minutes. If you do it too soon, the bread will stick to the pan. When done, it should slid easily from the pan with the help of a spatula.
- Stir batter periodically while you're cooking the Injera.
- This takes a long time! It's fun, but you definitely need to set aside at least an hour just to cook them all... figure 2 minutes per Injera, times about 30 that I made in a 10 inch pan... that's a full hour. Maybe next time I will use a 12 inch pan, or halve the recipe. The good thing is that if you pre-chop all the vegetables for the stew, you can make and cook the stew in about the same time it takes to cook the Injera.