Rye Spelt Injera

Injera - called differently - is a traditional stable food of Eritrea, Somalia, Ethiopian and Yemen. It is a pancake-like sourdough flat bread made out of teff flour: the one ingredient thought to make cooking Ethiopian foods impossible. Teff is a minute, ancient grain thought to have originated in Ethiopia between 400 and 1000BC. Traditionally teff is grown as a cereal crop in Ethiopia where it is ground into flour, fermented for three days, and then made into injera.

Thank goodness for internet and the many innovative cooks around the world, we can now make injera - of sort - without using teff flour. Some sites on the internet use millet flour or stone-ground corn meal. I found one that uses spelt flour and thought it would work for me since that's what's available in the pantry. If you already have sourdough starter, jump right in. Otherwise you may want to delay the plan for three or four days and start from here first.

All I could remember of the injera I had before was it's moist and softness - qualities of which this recipe fulfills. Although the sour odor was a little bit stronger than I would like it to be. Also, I fried them on a 8" frying pan - not quite the table-size On the other hand, our Ethiopian foods enthusiast seemed to take a liking of it. He asked if there were more. Sure. Uncooked and still fermenting.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sourdough starter
• 1 cup organic rye flour
• 1 cup organic whole wheat flour
• 2 cups water
• ½ cup organic spelt flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• salt to taste

1. Mix the starter, rye, spelt, whole wheat flour with the water, stir well, cover and allow to rise in a warm place for overnight, or at least 4 hours. (Or up to 3 days, stirring once each day)
2. When ready to make the injeras, add baking powder and salt. Stir well. Add water as needed to make a thin crepe-like batter.
3. Heat a pan, brush or spray with oil as needed, ladle some batter and swirl it around to form a thin layer. Bubbles/holes will form at the top surface. Remove from pan when the bottom is set - no need to flip to cook the other side.
   

Sourdough Pancake

Ingredients:
(Two 8" pancakes)

• 1 1/2 cup sourdough starter
• 1 egg (lightly beaten)
  
• 1TB unprocessed sugar
• 1TB virgin coconut oil
• 3/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 TB whole milk
  
• Frozen raspberries
  
• Natural brown sugar

For the topping:

• 1/4 cup macadamia nut spread
• 1TB organic raw honey
  

1. In a bowl, sprinkle a few pinches of natural brown sugar to frozen raspberries. Toss to coat evenly. Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together sourdough starter, egg, salt, milk, coconut oil and sugar. Gently fold in raspberries mixture. Add baking soda.
   
3. Heat 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat on a 8" skillet until bubbly. Pour half the batter and cook until the bottom is set and pores are forming on top. Flip and cook the other side for another 5 - 6 minutes. Repeat with the other half batter.
   
4. In a separate bowl, mix macadamia nut spread and honey together. Serve honey macadamia spread over pancake.
   

Homemade Sourdough English Muffins

Now that the sourdough starter is ready, I shall proceed with Sourdough English Muffins as planned. Most of the online recipes I found are similar. I followed the recipe from this site. However, in Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice he instructed to bake the fried muffins in a oven at 180C for 5 - 8 minutes to ensure the center is baked. I didn't do this step and it didn't turn out to be necessary in my case.

Instead of cutting the muffins with knife, Peter Reinhart suggests to do it with fork to create the nooks and crevices "fork-split" English muffins that commercial brands like to trumpet about.

I like them being crispy on the outside, and soft and moist on the inside. I thought they were really good but Adrian didn't comment much, not as enthusiastic as he usually does. But he asked to have one more after the first one. I take it that i can now tick Sourdough English Muffins off my to-bake list.

Instead of using cookies cutter, I used round glass. I made 11 3" wide 1/2" thick muffins.

These are fun to make. Instead of baking in the oven, the muffins are fried in a skillet or on a griddle - 6 - 8 minutes on one side before flipping over to fry the other side.

The muffins are fried to just golden brown. Some are turning a little burned. Got to watch the heat.

Sourdough Starter

The idea started with the plan to make English muffins. Since I'm going to do it, I may as well bring it up a notch by making it a Sourdough English Muffin. All I have to do is to find out what is sourdough and how to make the starter.

It's surprisingly easier than I thought. All you have to do is put together the ingredients and let them sit in room temperature for 3 days. I left the culture in the living room and for 3 days our space smelt malty. In a pleasant way.

There are many ways making the starter. Peter Reinhart uses pineapple juice and rye flour in his Bread Baker's Apprentice book. As my first sourdough starter project, I decided to pick a easier recipe from the internet that uses ingredients readily available at home.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water

1. Warm milk over medium heat to lukewarm.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together milk, yeast, honey and 1 1/2 Cups of flour.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and leave it in a warm place for 3 days. Stir once a day.
4. After 3 days add 1/2 Cup of flour and 1/4 cup of water. Cover and let sit for 4 hours. It should give out a beer tangy smell.
5. Use what's needed and refrigerate the rest in a sealed jar for up to 4 weeks.