Injera (እንጀራ): Absit, Ersho & the Art of Fermentation

Injera is the rare bread that does three jobs at once: it is the plate your meal is served on, the utensil you eat with, and the food itself. Spongy on top, smooth beneath, pleasantly sour throughout — it is Ethiopia's daily bread and one of the world's great fermentation traditions.

The living starter

Injera begins with ersho (እርሾ) — the yeast. When making injera, ersho can be some of the fermented batter saved from the previous batch, added to the new one like a sourdough starter. In this way a family's injera is literally continuous: today's bread carries yesterday's culture, sometimes across generations.

Absit: the baker's secret

Partway through fermentation comes absit (አብሲት) — the leaven. A portion of the batter is cooked into a thin porridge and stirred back in, feeding the culture and giving injera its signature texture: the top covered in tiny pockets called "eyes," perfect for catching every drop of wot.

On the mitad

The batter is poured in a spiral onto a hot mitad — the wide clay griddle — covered, and steamed rather than flipped. A sefed, the round woven mat, slips underneath to lift the finished bread off smoothly. When injera dries, nothing is wasted: crisp pieces become dirkosh (ድርቆሽ), ready to be softened into firfir.

A bread of many grains

The classic is pure teff, but Ethiopian bakers also blend in barley, sorghum, or corn by region and season. Across the Red Sea, Somali laxoox takes the idea in its own direction — bubbly on top, made with different flours. Every injera tells you where it's from.

Start your own tradition with teff flour, or let us show you hands-on at Injera 101 — how to mix, ferment, and pour like it's second nature. The stews that belong on top are all in our Recipes.