Lars

I went to San Francisco once with my mom. We stayed with friends from Maine. Friends from my mom’s time living in Portland Oregon and SF reconnected. Then friend’s from NY. Then more friends from Maine. All from different eras of my mom’s life and to a lesser degree my life. We couldn’t really have a huge get together at our hostess’s place. So we ended up having a huge wonderful meal at an Ethiopian restaurant. Afterwards I tried unsuccessfully to make injera. I would love to hear if you find a successful recipe!

Good luck, Lars. Videos was a good idea, especially if they're showing real Ethiopian grannies, or at least mamas (or papas).

I can't watch them from here, but I agree about the salt unless there's a good reason to retard the yeast. It's hot in Ethiopia, right? Maybe the salt in the beginning really is there to slow it down? Whereas, our European sensibility is to feed the yeast. It probably doesn't matter if you're following that particular recipe, if your kitchen is at a moderate temperature.

The plastic doesn't matter unless it's likely to touch the dough. Otherwise, give it a good spray of oil first. For normal bread, I tend to use a tea towel for no other reason than my mother did. I have dough buckets with fitted tops, however, and the dough rises fine in these, and I cover the bowls I feed starter in with plastic wrap, and they grow just fine. Why? Because the guy I learned to grow wild yeast from did it. More than anything else, I think the purpose of covering the dough is to keep out flies and dust and anything un-nice. Also to help it stay warm and cozy.

In other words, go for it. Have fun. Don't overthink it. :D

I also tried it a couple of times, but it was pretty awful. It's so much easier to just buy the injera at the Mediterranean Market when I want it. Elery likes crepes instead, so that's easy enough too.

Anyway, I have no experience with successfully making injera, so I hope you find a good recipe and yours turns out well.

Annie

I've decided to start out small and make 1/2 or 1/4 of a recipe, just to see how it turns out. I also make crêpes frequently, but injera bread is larger and a bit thicker - plus I want to try the teff flour. I have a recipe in a cookbook by Marcus Samuelsson The Soul of a New Cuisine, and since he has Ethiopian heritage, I thought his recipe might be good, but he uses baking powder and yogurt and is not an authentic recipe, as he admits, but it does not take two or three days to make. His also uses club soda, and when I tried using that before, it did not turn out well.

There is (or was) an Ethiopian restaurant on Valencia Street in San Francisco, just a couple of doors up the street from where I used to live, and Eileen and I went there for lunch once when I was in the city. I also showed her where I used to live, which was a commune at the time (transformed from a dance studio), but now it has turned back into a business.

I've not seen injera at my Middle Eastern market, but I'm sure I could find it on Fairfax in Little Ethiopia, but that is a 20 minute drive from my house. However, I might find it in Inglewood, which is much closer to me. There is an Ethiopian restaurant even closer to my house - almost walking distance, as it is only about a mile away. I don't know if they sell just the bread, but I really do want to try making it myself.

One of the things that does take a few tries, especially the perfect pan. This was one I did ok with a couple years ago when I tackled EnglishMuffins. For the muffins I used a half dozen recipes and ended up using a bit from each.

I stock the Teff grains for my mixed sprouted grain. I'll put 'flour' on my list as it has been a while since I made it. I printed a hard copy in my bread folder so I'll look for the link. I did make a note that 12hour was good and using 20% buckwheat or another grain/flour is also good. I never tried the 3 day ferment. My recipe is 24hr.

Here it is. I've had issues with links recently, RECIPE

Thanks for that link - I did see that recipe in my search, but I forgot to bookmark it. It does look like a good option, but I was leery of the 24 hr ferment, as that did not seem long enough for me. If I do make this recipe, I'll have to have the dishes to serve with it already made. I was planning to serve it with collard greens, squash, and lentils. I don't like sweet potatoes or yams, and so I won't be using those. I have a berber spice mix that I bought at an African market, and I've used it before with good results with lentils. I won't do much to the collard greens, but I do want to spice up the squash. I generally just remove ribs from collards and then sauté them with onion for 15-20 minutes - I do not like them cooked into mush. I also add hot sauce to them, and I've started a new batch of that with chocolate Habanero chilies from the farmers' market. I have one chocolate Habanero plant this year, and it is growing well but only has one large chili on it so far but plenty of flowers. I should get a decent crop by December, but the plants generally continue making chilies throughout January as well.

If you get it to work, I'd love to see the results!!!

I start a half recipe using 3/4 cup teff flour plus 1 cup spring water that I mixed in a glass bowl, as directed. It said to put cheesecloth over the bowl, but I could not find my cheesecloth and used some sheer fabric that I was planning to use to make a curtain for the sewing room. I have to check the bowl tomorrow, and then I can cook the injera. The half recipe will only make about three injera, which should be plenty for one meal. I'll cook the vegetables tomorrow before I cook the injera.

Nothing happening with my dough, and so I added 1/4 tsp yeast to it and will wait a few hours or until tomorrow. I do not want to make it with baking powder, if I can avoid it. If it does not have a sour taste tomorrow, I will add yogurt and possibly a bit of whole wheat flour.

I did end up allowing it to ferment for three days because we had sushi yesterday, but I did cook the injera today, and it came out pretty much the way I wanted it to, but I made some revisions to the recipes along the way. This morning I added a bit of yogurt, 1/4 whole wheat flour, and 1/4 cup water to the batter. Then this evening, I decided that the batter was too thin, and so I added some AP flour plus a tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp baking powder and let it rest for about 30 minutes. Then I tested it again and decided that it needed more water, and I cooked it on a 10" non-stick skillet. For the first two, I did not use oil, and I let them cool on a rack, and when cool I put wax paper between them. Then for the rest, I decided to put a few drops of oil on the pan because it was difficult to remove them from the pan, and this seemed to help. Also, after they cooled, the ones that were cooked without oil stuck to the wax paper, and the others did not. I cooked them for only one minute before putting the lid on the pan, and then I let them cook for about two minutes more. That seemed to be about the right amount of cooking time, but I used a rather thin batter. I made an Ethiopian split pea/squash/collard green dish to have with the bread, and I'll post that recipe later. It started with making a Berbere spice mix. Fortunately, I already had ll the ingredients for the spice mix, including black cardamom pods, which I think are the essential ingredient.

Here's the recipe for the stew:

Ethiopian Split Pea and Kabocha Squash Stew with Collards

1.5 tsp coconut oil
1 small red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1-2 tbsp berbere, or to taste (adjust according to strength of your spice mix)
2 cups kabocha squash (or other squash, or sweet potato/yam), chopped into 1-2 cm pieces (~3/4 lb) - I just used 3/4# yellow squash
1 cup yellow split peas, rinsed (optional-soaked)
2.5 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1 bunch collards, stemmed and thinly sliced

In a large pot over medium heat, heat the coconut oil. Add the chopped onion, garlic and ginger and saute until the onion has softened and transparent, around 8-10 minutes.

Add berbere, stirring, and cook for another 1-2 minutes until fragrant.

Add squash, split peas, water and salt and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to simmer, cook partially covered 45-75 minutes until split peas are softened and broken down almost completely.

Add in sliced collards, and stir to heat through. Cover and simmer until the collards are bright green and heated through, approximately 3-5 minutes.

Serves 4.

Here's a link to the Berbere spice recipe. I used black cardamom pods, and of course I had to peel the husks off first, although he does not mention this. I think it could have used a bit more cardamom, as I think that is the most distinctive ingredient. It could also use more heat. I added some West African spice mix to mine for the extra heat.

That looks AWESOME!

What I found helpful for the injera bread is to use a non-stick 10" skillet. I recently bought one - not for this - and it helps the injera release from the pan. I also put a few drops of oil in the pan and swish it around before I add the batter. It is very much like making a crêpe, except that I make crêpes 7" diameter instead of 10". If the teff batter is not bubbly enough, I add 1/2 to 1 tsp baking powder, and that seems to help. If I have added yogurt to the batter, I add 1/2 tsp baking soda, and that helps it bubble. I have not had good luck with using club soda.