I’m coming to you from the great town of Shelby Michigan, the Shelby Public Library to be specific.

I’ll only have internet access when we come the 12 miles into town from our place on Lake Michigan. 

We’re taking long walks along the beach and through the woods.  Letting things unwind for a week.

So, from Shelby I’m going to take us back to Dallas where I made Ethiopian Injera with the ever wonderful Bread Baking Babes.  A big Thank You to Mary (Breadchick) for such a wonderful global experience.   Mary, our kitchen of the month, sent us an entire menu!  I’m sure we all gave it our personal touch.

I do not believe my experience with this recipe way typical.  It is not complicated in the least.  Hands on time is really minimal even if spread out over 5 to 7 days.

My first attempt with the starter resulted in

I think penicillin or some close relative.  It’s really a stunning photo but not on my dinner plate.  Those dinner plans were cancelled and I started over.

Ethiopian Injera

Teff Starter:

Takes five days. If you want to have some starter left over to keep to make injera again, wait seven days. Follow Day 3 directions for Day 5 if you do a seven day starter.

Day One:

3/4 cup water, room temp. (70 degrees)

1/2 cup teff flour

A pinch active yeast (about 1/8 tsp)

Combine ingredients and cover loosely.  You should see some activity/rising in about four hours.  Allow it to sit out in a draft free place (about 70° would be idea - my house was more like 68°) for two days. 

Day Two:

Do Nothing. Take a look and smell if you like.   Mary said it smelled like funny, I’d describe it as something more than the nothing it was yesterday.  Otherwise, it’s just sitting there.

Day Three:

1/2 cup water, room temp. (70 degrees)

1/3 cup teff flour

Stir the starter (including any hooch) and feed with the water and teff flour for day three.  Again, allow it to sit covered for two more days.  Expect some activity again in about four hours.

Day Four: Do Nothing.   Expect to see thick gunk on the bottom, brown/gray liquid in the middle, and foamy stuff on top. Mary said it should smell um..bad.  I thought it smelled sweet with something apple way off in the background.

Day Five:

1/2 cup water, room temp. (70 degrees)

1/3 cup teff flour

There will be definite layers.  It may fizz when stirred which is fine.  Mary said it will smell pretty bad.  Sara said it was the most obnoxious smell she’d ever willingly kept in her kitchen.   I thought it smelled very much like apple.  Feed it, stir it up, and let it sit until you are ready to make the Injera batter.

Make the batter about 4 hours before you plan on making the injera.

This is where I had a major break down.  My thinking/memory turned to mush and I thought I was done. Something like the times when I get in the car thinking I’ve been there before and I don’t need to look it up again.  I hadn’t printed out the end of the recipe for mixing the final dough/batter. 

Want to know what it looks like without the self-rising flour step?  Natashya didn’t really think it appropriate and I think it’s rather unappetizing but for your edification

this is what you get. 

So, I got to start it over once more.

Dough:

Mary’s directions called for a blender or food processor to take the grittiness out of the batter.  I didn’t think it so gritty but I gave it a ride in the blender anyway.

2 cups Teff starter

2 cups Self Rising Flour

Room Temp Water (70 degrees F), as needed to make batter right consistency

Stir the starter to combine in all the liquid and any "starter sludge" at the bottom. Rub a bit between three fingers. It will be very gritty. Place the Teff starter, one cup at at time in a blender or food processor and whiz starter until it doesn't feel gritty when you rub it between your fingers. Place whizzed starter in a large bowl and repeat with the other cup of starter.

Stir in self rising flour and add any water as necessary to get a medium thick batter.  Cover and allow to set in a warm, draft free place to rise for about 4 - 6 hours.

Batter/Cooking:

You will need a 8" pan and two large plates: one to cool the cooked Injera and the other to place the cooled Injera on. You will also need wax paper to place between each piece of cooled Injera.

Stir dough mixture. If it is too thick, add more water until the right consistency. You should have about 4 cups of batter

If you haven’t already seen Mary’s post, she has a movie showing how the right consistency batter/dough pours.

On medium flame, heat a non-stick 8 to 10 inch skillet.

I poured about 1/4 cup into my heated non-stick skillet and and tipped it around much like making a crepe.

The injera is not done until the entire top of bread is full of pockmarks.  Pockmark forms as the bubbles pop.

Do not turn over.  As with pancakes, the first one are two are probably not going to be the prettiest.

Slide the injera out of the pan. 

Allow to cool.  Injera will be stiff when removed from the pan becoming spongy as it cools.  

Only when the Injera is completely cooled should you stack it with wax paper between each Injera to prevent them sticking together.

I only mixed 1 cup of starter with 1 cup of self-rising flour which made up about 8 injera in my 10 inch skillet.  Mary says the full recipe makes about 20 Injera to serve 4 people during a meal.

Really when I took my first bite of this Injera, I was blown away by how wonderful it was.  This was really excellent. 

If you’d like to be a Bread Baking Buddy with us this month, mix up your injera and enjoy a fine Etheopian meal, send Mary the link to your post and she’ll send you a buddy badge.

I know I said dinner was included but dinner’s going to have to wait for the next visit to the Shelby Library in a day or two.  In between our walks I’ll write up our dinner and the treat I discovered at an Ethiopian grocery that I’ve driving by hundreds of time and never seen.