Whole Grain Injera

Like many other national breads, the Ethiopian injera is used as a utensil as much as an accompaniment to a fine meal. When served Ethiopian food, it is not uncommon for the main course to be plated right on top of the bread. Injera is a might spongy by nature and is incline to soaking and holding whatever you want it to. Thick stews, yogurt and egg dishes are very nice with this bread.

Injera is made with a sourdough teff starter and generally has white flour added to it to make up a batch of batter, but for Bread Baking Day 13 hosted by Jude at Apple Pie, Patis and Pâté, I have made up this whole grain version. A teff starter can be kept and maintained just like a wheat one, but considering the infrequency of injera making in my household, I like to go ahead a convert my wheat starter for the occasion. Here I used my whole wheat sourdough starter, but a white starter would be great as well.

The basic method I follow is that of Heather's at Burakaeyae. She has written out her whole process in great detail and it's the most well-put instruction I have found for injera. My formula and instructions are directly based off of her post and my own experimentations with amounts and times.


Whole Grain Injera
Makes about 6 12-inch breads

260 grams sourdough starter, ripe and at 100% hydration
170 grams teff flour
160 grams water

200 grams whole wheat flour
320 grams water

Mixing the starter
The evening before cooking, mix your ripe starter with the teff flour. Knead this dough for seven or eight minutes. Add the water in two parts, mixing well after each addition. Cover and let sit overnight, 8-12 hours.

Blending and Fermentation
Pour the now fermented starter into a blender and run it for about a minute. Check the consistency by pinching the stuff between your fingers, you should feel a very fine graininess. If it feels coarse, keep blending. Pour this back into its bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix the whole wheat flour and water, put this into the blender and blend just the same as before. Now pour the teff starter back into the blender and blend once more to mix the two. Pour the whole lot into a container, cover and let it ferment for about four hours. After this time it should have risen just slightly, mostly though it will be bubbly and aromatic. It should now be refrigerated for at least an hour before cooking.

Cooking
Remove the injera batter from the refrigerator. Set a large pan over medium-high heat. I use a 12 inch fry pan, but a smaller one would do just fine, I also think cast iron might be great here. Once the pan is hot sprinkle a sparse layer of kosher salt over its surface. Ladle in four ounces of batter for a 12 inch pan. This is one standard, old-fashioned thrift store ladle-full. Swirl the pan to distribute the batter across the whole pan, then put the lid on and wait about 20 seconds before peeking. The bread should be full of giant craters, the edges should be dried out and lifting and the middle should not look raw. It will lighten in color as it cooks through. If it still looks raw put the lid back on for another five or ten seconds and check again. Once it's done slide it onto a kitchen towel and cover while the rest are cooked. Sprinkle on fresh salt before every injera.

The first one will inevitably be inferior to the rest, so keep that in mind when counting heads to feed. Maybe keep it as the cook's taster or make sure the least favorite child gets it or something.

If eaten immediately off the pan they'll seem a little underdone, let them cool a little and they'll firm up and acquire a nice sponginess.


and
Yeastspotting at Wild Yeast