INJERA—100% Gluten Free Teff Injera Recipe (2024)

Injera is a soft, thin pancake-like flatbread made from fermented teff batter. A staple food in Ethiopia/Eritrea usually used as a serving base for scooping stews, meat, and vegetables like Doro wat, gomen wat, and much more.

INJERA – What is it?

Injera is a delicious sour flatbread. It’s light and slightly spongy and it’s made with just two ingredients – Teff flour and water. A regular appearance on lunch and dinner tables in Ethiopia.

When talking about injera, what comes to mind is the beautiful air pockets that look like works of art. To achieve these pockets, you really don’t need any leavening. All you need is a good starter.

It has a consistency somewhere between a pancake and a crepe with a distinctive fermented tang, and it is served with almost everything.

INJERA PAN

A special pan is used for making injera. It is called…..however; you can make perfect injera without the…… I used a 12 inch round nonstick pan, and it worked out beautifully well.

ABOUT TEFF FLOUR

Teff is an ancient super grain and one of the most important grains in Ethiopia. It grows in the high land of Ethiopia, and it has been cultivated for thousands of years.

It is highly nutritious, gluten-free, and it is rich in protein, calcium, and iron.

Teff is probably the smallest grain in the world. It is so fine, just like sand with a mild, slightly nutty taste. It is the main ingredient for making traditional injera because it gives a bubbly texture when fermented within a short period of time.

THE PROCESS

There are four main processes for making perfect injera. These are the starter, batter, absit, and cooking.

1-Ersho | Starter

The injera starter is also known as Ersho. When making injera, the starter is always where to start. That’s why it is called the starter.

The process of making this is similar to the process of making a sourdough starter. It is made by combining water and teff flour in a 2:1 ratio. The mixture is left to ferment undisturbed in a warm dark place for up to three days to ferment before using for making injera.

When making the starter, it is best to use a non-reactive container like a glass bowl or a food-grade plastic container. Also, be sure to use a fairly large container because the mixture will grow after some time.

How to know the starter is ready?

Foamy water will stay over the starter, and when you tap the starter, little air pockets should pop up to the top.

Notes:

1. You need to place the starter in a warm room to ensure faster fermentation.
2. It is best to use a transparent glass bowl in order to be able to observe the fermentation process.
3. During fermentation, try to resist the urge to touch the container. This can affect the process.

2-Leet | Dough

The dough is a combination of the starter, teff flour, and water. This should also be done in a glass bowl or a non reactive container with a lid.

In this process, we are dealing with a thick batter that requires a lot of mixing. You can either mix with hand or use a stand machine. I prefer to use a stand machine because it makes the process less stressful.

Once the batter is well mixed, firmly press it down to the bottom of the bowl and add some plain water over it. Don’t mix this water because it’s meant to protect the surface of the dough from molding during fermentation.

Fermentation takes one to seven days depending on how sour you want the batter to be. However, be sure to change the surface water at least every three days in order to have a healthy fermentation process.

3-Absit

The absit acts as an emulsifier—it holds the injera together and it also helps to give it a pleasing texture so that it wouldn’t dry out and turn out crackly after cooking.

To make this, bring some water to a boil, and turn off the heat. Then, mix some room temperature water with some teff flour and pour the mixture inside the boiled water, constantly stirring to prevent lumps until the mixture dissolves.

Turn on the heat again and continue stirring until the mixture thickens.

The absit thickens and forms a crust while cooling down, so I like to stir with some cool water immediately after the absit is done cooking. This will bring down the temperature of the absit and make it less thick. I also like to add some water, just enough to cover the surface of the absit while it cools down to prevent it from forming a crust.

Leave to cool completely before using it.

Troubleshooting injera batter

What to do when the injera batter doesn’t have bubbles

Ideally, after fermentation, you will see tiny bubbles on your batter. If this doesn’t happen for some reason, it’s okay, calm down and don’t throw the batter away.

So what do you do?

Simply add a teaspoon of baking soda inside the batter, stir well, and leave for ten minutes. The batter should start bubbling. Then, you can start cooking.

Although this is not traditional, but it works!

What to do when the batter is too runny

I often hear people say once you make it too runny it’s irreversible. The good news is that it can be reversed. All you have to do is to add some more teff flour until you reach the desired consistency. Be sure to stir well until the teff flour is completely dissolved in the mixture and leave to ferment for an extra day before cooking it.

Materials Needed

• Medium-sized glass bowl with a tight-fitting lid or any other non-reactive container with a lid.
• Whisk
• Measuring cup
• Fork or spoon for mixing

Notes:

• The starter should smell sour but not bad. The longer the starter sits, the more sour it will become.
• After few days, the starter should smell sour. If it smells bad, then it means the starter is spoilt and you will need to start the process all over again.
• Add water to the batter a little bit at a time because there is a thin line between making it right and getting it too thin.

Other Ethiopian Recipes you may want to try:

• Doro wat
• Gomen wat

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