INJERA BREAD

INJERA
This sour, spongy bread is astaple of Ethiopian cooking and is served at nearly every meal. InEthiopia, injera dough is made from a sourdough starter and teff (agrain that is often available at health food stores and organicstores in the United States) and is allowed to ferment for threedays. My version maintains the nature of injera but streamlines it tobe doable in American kitchens by offering the option to substitutewhole-wheat flour for teff flour, adding baking soda for leavening inplace of the traditional starter, and using yogurt to add thecharacteristic sourness."


Ingredients: 2 cups teff flour or whole-wheat flour (don't use stone-ground flour)1 cup all-purpose flour1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda1 teaspoon salt1/2 cup plain yogurt3 cups club soda2 tablespoons clarified butter (see page 2) Directions: Whisk together the teff, flour, baking soda, and salt in a largebowl. Whisk the yogurt into the club soda, then stir into the flourmixture to make a smooth, think batter. Strain through a sieve orstrainer to remove any lumps. Grease a large skillet with clarified butter and heat over medium-high heat. Pour 1/2 cup of batter into the pan in a spira, startingat the center, and cook for 20 seconds. Put a lid on the pan and cookfor an additional 30 seconds. Transfer to a plate and cover with acloth to keep warm while you cook the remaining injera. Makes 12 Flatbreads.



Ingera is made from a cereal grain that is unique known as Tef. Though t'efs is unique to Ethiopia it is diverse in color and habitat. Tef is a member of the grass genus Eragrostis or lovegrass. T'ef will grow in many areas it is not an easy crop to farm. One problem in particular is that the weight of the grain bends the stem to the ground.
Fortunately for the Ethiopian Jews ( and all Ethiopians) depends on Tef Ingera, as a staple of their diet. Tef is nutritional miracle food. It contains two to three times the iron of wheat or barley. The calcium, potassium and other essential minerals are also many times what would be found in an equal amount of other grains. Tef has 14% protein, 3% fat and 81% complex carbohydrate.
Tef is the only grain to have symbiotic yeast. Like grapes, the yeast is on the grain so no yeast is added in the preparation of ingera.
Tef is milled to flour and made into batter. the batter is allowed to sit so the yeast can become active. When the batter is ready it is poured on a large flat oven and allowed to cook. This process is much harder than it sounds and it is recommended buying from an Ethiopian Market or Restaurant in your area. Make sure it is Tef Ingera not a substitute Western grains.