Injera Ethiopian Sour Flatbread Food

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 (ETHIOPIAN FLATBREAD)

Steps:

• Teff flour is available from a whole foods store or Northern African markets. Nancy's yogurt is best because of its tartness. You want not-sweet yogurt.
• Whisk (or stir together with your largest fork) the flours, salt & baking soda in a large bowl. In a separate bowl whisk the yogurt into the club soda, then stir this in the flour mix making a thin, smooth batter. Strain to make sure there a no lumps.
• Pam your largest skillet & heat over medium high heat. Pour about 1/2 cup of batter into the skillet starting in the center & spiraling out. Cook for 20 seconds. (The bread should have a gajillion tiny pinholes in it at this point.) Cover for 30 more seconds. Remove it to a warm platter & cover with a cloth to keep it warm while you cook the rest of the flat breads.
• Lay a piece of the flat bread on the hugest plate you have. In the center of it put a dipper of your finest, zestiest, most mouthwatering thick stew. Now, eat the stew, tearing off pieces of the bread from the sides & scooping up the stew. (Look Ma, no fork!) Need another piece of injera?! Sure you do! It could take 2 or 3 pieces to scoop up all that wonderful stew.
• Once you have gained confidence with this & know your mama isn't going to come make you use a fork, add 2 or 3 more dippers of food. Veggies. Green beans & carrots & maybe a wilted spinach salad. Of course, you'll need more injera to scoop all that up. But what the heck -- .

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.