Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Fermentation Atlas

Cereals and bread from Ethiopia and Eritrea

Injeraእንጀራ

Teff flour, water and a little yellow starter liquid (ersho) saved from the last batch ferment for one to three days into a sour batter. A small part is boiled into absit and stirred back for a short second rise, then the batter is steam-baked on one side on a hot griddle into a thin, spongy flatbread covered in small holes. Made in 7 steps over 4 days – 7 days. The longest step, first fermentation, takes 24 h – 3 days (Mengesha Y 2022) and runs at 17–25 °C (Keyeta G.T. 2021). Kazachstania humilis (Candida milleri), in over 80% of household samples and dominant in ersho and Saccharomyces cerevisiae do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step24 h – 3 daysReported[mengesha2022][fpt2025][fao138]First fermentation
Temperature17–25 °CReported[keyeta2021]First fermentation
AciditypH 3.5Measured[ashenafi1994]Pour off the yellow liquid and save some as ersho
Fully documentedCereals and bread4 days – 7 daysMore cereals and breadMore from Ethiopia

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceProportions are those reviewed by Neela and Fanta 2020. Household amounts are not standardised and vary by family; one study boiled 200 ml of fermented batter with 400 ml water for 1 kg of flour.
1 part by weightTeff flour, milled and sieved[neela2020]
2 partsWater · Studies use flour to water from 1:1 to 1:2[neela2020]
About 16% of the flour weightErsho · Yellow liquid saved from the last batch[neela2020]
About 10% of the fermented batter, with 3 parts waterAbsit · Boiled and returned to the batter[mengesha2022][keyeta2021][fao138]
Starterbackslop

Total time across the recorded steps: 4 days – 7 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: The saved yellow starter is stirred into teff flour and water

Step 1 of 7
Mix teff flour, water and ersho
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
L. mesenteroides
Enterococcus faecalis
Pediococcus
Lactobacilli finished
Yeasts

Output: fresh batter.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
thin, watery paste
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

ersho brings in yeasts and lactic acid bacteria

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Injera is fermented twice in one container, with a boiled part of the batter (absit) added between the two rises. Teff has no gluten, so the holes come from gas trapped in a batter thickened by gelatinised starch, and the bread is baked on one side only.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Aflegna (sweet, young injera)Fermented only 12–24 h; thick, sweet, with a reddish-brown underside.
  • KomtataMade from over-fermented, very sour batter.
  • Teff colour typesWhite (nech), mixed (sergegna) and red (key) teff give different colour and flavour.
  • Sorghum injeraSorghum flour kneaded with water, fermented 48 h with saved yellow liquid, thinned and baked.
  • Mixed-flour injeraTeff blended with sorghum, maize, barley, wheat or rice to cut cost or change texture.

Safety

Fermentation is the control step. Food-safety guidance for small producers says batter made with ersho should reach pH 4 or below within 24 h (pH 4.2 or below within 48 h without a starter), and batter that does not should be thrown away. Boil the absit to at least 74 °C for 15 s and cool the mixed batter to 21 °C within 2 h. In a challenge study, Salmonella, S. aureus and B. cereus grew in fermenting teff until about 30 h or pH 4.7, then declined. Keep injera up to 3 days at room temperature, or refrigerate it below 5 °C.

Hazards the sources name: Bacillus cereus spores, which can survive the absit boil; Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus grew in fermenting teff until about 30 h or pH 4.7, then declined; Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica and Listeria monocytogenes reported in teff flour.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Mitads excavated at Aksum date injera baking to before 600 AD. Injera is the national bread of Ethiopia and is eaten across Eritrea.

  1. [mengesha2022] Mengesha Y., Tebeje A., Tilahun B. 2022, A review on factors influencing the fermentation process of teff (Eragrostis teff) and other cereal-based Ethiopian injera, International Journal of Food Science 2022:4419955, doi:10.1155/2022/4419955paper
  2. [neela2020] Neela S., Fanta S.W. 2020, Injera (an ethnic, traditional staple food of Ethiopia), a review on traditional practice to scientific developments, Journal of Ethnic Foods 7:32, doi:10.1186/s42779-020-00069-xpaper
  3. [fpt2025] Charles-Vegdahl A., Çobo M., Worobo R.W. 2025, Food safety recommendation for traditional fermented food by small-scale producers, injera as a case study, Food Protection Trends 45(6):389–395, doi:10.4315/FPT-24-049paper
  4. [keyeta2021] Keyeta G.T. 2021, The fermentation methods for production of injera and dabo in Ethiopia, a review, Agricultural Reviews 42(4):440–444, doi:10.18805/ag.R-193paper
  5. [fao138] Haard N.F. et al. 1999, Fermented cereals, a global perspective, FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 138, chapter 2 (injera flow chart)gov
  6. [ashenafi1994] Ashenafi M. 1994, Microbial flora and some chemical properties of ersho, a starter for teff (Eragrostis tef) fermentation, World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 10:69–73, doi:10.1007/BF00357567paper
  7. [nigatu1994] Nigatu A., Gashe B.A. 1994, Inhibition of spoilage and food-borne pathogens by lactic acid bacteria isolated from fermenting tef (Eragrostis tef) dough, Ethiopian Medical Journal 32(4):223–229, PMID 7835350paper
  8. [tadesse2019] Tadesse B.T. et al. 2019, Molecular characterization of fermenting yeast species from fermented teff dough during preparation of injera using ITS DNA sequence, International Journal of Food Science 2019:1291863paper