African Food and Art

This blog explores the wisdom of African proverbs, the depth of folklore, the beauty of art, the stories of history, and the flavors of timeless African food recipes.

Making Teff Bread

Making Teff Bread

Teff bread recipe and learn about where Teff grass grows and use traditionally in Ethiopia, Eritrea and USA.

Making Injera Bread of Ethiopia and Eritrea 

In the African countries of Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, and Djibouti use Teff grass to make flour. Teff flour can be used in a number of things such as cereal, bread, cookies, and other snacks. Today the African Gourmet will be teaching you how to make Ethiopian flatbread called injera bread. 

Injera is made using teff flour, this ancient grain has a lot of fiber and protein and iron in it and it is a great nutritional source. Now making Injera bread is an overnight process and for best results, a three-day process because you want to get a nice sourdough type flavor. You can use water in your recipe but you can use flat beer, specifically dark beer for a nice rich flavor.

Making Teff Bread of Ethiopia

Ingredients 

2 cups teff or whole wheat flour 

2 cups of water 

¼ teaspoon salt 

Vegetable oil for coating the pan 


Directions 

Put the batter aside overnight or up to three days to ferment. The batter will start to bubble and obtain its well-known tartness. Heat a lightly oiled cast-iron skillet over medium-low heat. In a large mixing bowl add all ingredients and lightly mix well. Heat a lightly oiled cast-iron skillet over medium-low heat. Coat skillet with a thin layer of batter. Cook until holes appear on the surface of the bread flip and repeat cooking on the other side. Cover completed bread with a damp cloth.


About Teff Grass and Flour 

Teff flour is light whole grain flour you can substitute whole wheat flour in the recipe but the taste will be different. The taste and texture on injera, however, are quite unique and unlike the crepe. Injera bread is thicker than a crepe but thinner than a pancake. 

Injera is eaten daily in all most every household. Teff is a staple crop in Eritrea and Ethiopia where it is a native annual grass species but is not widely known around the world. The very small seeds are cooked or fermented and have good nutritional content. 

Teff grass is a warm-season annual grass traditionally used as a grain and forages in Ethiopia it is adapted to the high-altitude tropics growing well at temperatures 50 to 85° but requires an 11 to 13 hours to flower. 

Teff grass was introduced to the United States in the late 50s early 60s but still largely remains unknown. In the USA, teff grass is getting a lot of popularity as a late and for some very good reasons. Farmers in Oklahoma, Texas and New England were trying to look for alternative ways to make up for a fodder grazing and hay shortage. 

Teff grass is a warm-season grass with a very fine stem super high-quality hey type product, horse love teff grass because of his extreme palatability. Because of its fine stem, Teff grass needs to have at least 65 to 70 degrees soil to plant. 

The seed size is very tiny so you cannot plant very deep or it's not going to grow. It grows extremely well in the heat has exceptional drought tolerance. Teff is a rapid drying grass, unlike sorghum. Teff grass grows so well in optimal conditions, in 23 days the grass can grow 20 inches tall. 

To see if Teff grass is going to be major forage crop in the USA, well it depends on how the market responds. Farmers in the United States may be new to planting Teff however in other parts of the world it has been around for thousands of years. 

Teff is believed to have originated in Ethiopia between 4000 and 1000 BC; the seeds were discovered in a pyramid and 3359 BC. Since then the seeds have been widely cultivated and is used not only in Ethiopia but in neighboring African countries as well. 


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