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Teff is the smallest grain in the world, grown primarily in the central highlands of Ethiopia and used to make the flat bread, injera, that accompanies every Ethiopian meal. Teff is also widely used as animal fodder while its straw is used to re-enforce thatched roofs and mud bricks.
Although, as Ethiopian communities grow around the world, the requirement for teff is also growing, its preference for equatorial light conditions (a maximum of 12 hours daylight) causes problems in the northern hemisphere with our long summer hours of daylight. However, teff’s nutritional profile and the fact that it is naturally gluten free make it a very appealing grain. A good deal of work is being done both in the American midwest and in Holland to adapt it to the longer daylight hours.
Nutritional virtues
Teff grains are tiny - you can hold enough seeds in one hand to sow an entire field - which made it ideal for the semi-nomadic lifestyle of the early Ethiopians. Because it is so small the grain cannot be separated, as wheat can, into germ, bran and endosperm so teff retains a very high fibre content - great for high-fibre diets and for blood sugar control. Hence its appeal for diabetics.
Teff has very much higher levels of calcium (167g/100g) than wheat (34g/100g) so will appeal to those on dairy-free diets. It also has significantly higher levels of a range of other nutrients - iron (5.7mg/100g versus 3.9), magnesium (194mg versus 138), zinc (4.6mg versus 2.9), Vitamin B3/niacin ( 16mg versus 0.8), Vitamin C (70mg versus 0.25) - and low levels of phytic acid making the minerals more bio-available than in any other grains.
Moreover, teff contains the full range of eight amino acids essential for humans, so is excellent for vegetarians. When teff is used to make Ethiopian flat bread, a short fermentation process allows the yeast to generate yet more vitamins.
Teff is naturally gluten free so is the ideal grain for anyone on a wheat or gluten-free diet.
Cookability
Because you are using the whole grain, teff flour (which comes as white, brown and red) is slightly coarse and grainy. Lucy Seffen of Roley’s, the first company to market baked products made with teff flour (see opposite) reckons that it works better if combined with another gluten-free flour. We combined it with potato flour in the cake recipe opposite, which worked very well. The biscuits, which we made with pure brown teff, were fine but definitely grainier and more ‘unusual’.
Bread made with the white teff was in fact dark brown, quite solid and very nutty but not at all unpleasant. Roley’s are working on a teff-based bread-mix which will probably produce a lighter, more conventional bread.
Availability
Teff is grown both in Australia and in the mid-west of the USA but until recently has not been cultivated in Europe. However, a Dutch firm are now growing it organically as ‘eragrain’ (for more details check out
www.soilandcrop.com).
The resulting teff is available at www.innovative-solutions.org.uk as white or brown flour for £4.20 per kilo plus postage.
The flour is also available from Roley’s who have now created their own flour mixes and use them to make very tasty cakes which are available in healthfood stores - for more details call 01954 252125 or check out www.roleys.com
Injera
The national bread of Ethiopia is called injera and is actually a huge fermented pancake which is spread out on the table and onto which other foods are placed. The diners pull off pieces of the injera and use it to ‘roll’ up the other foods - like a massive cigarette - which they then eat with their fingers.
The proportions for injera are roughly 2.5 times the amount of water to flour. Mix them together in a bowl, cover with a towel and leave at room
temperature for up to three days - or until the mixture bubbles and turns sour. This can happen overnight.
Season with salt then heat a little oil in a large pan and pour in enough mixture to make a medium thick pancake. Cook briefly, until holes form in the injera and the edges lift from the pan. Do not let it brown, and do not flip it over as it is only supposed to be cooked on one side.
Remove the pancake and let cool. Layer the pancakes with greaseproof paper to prevent them sticking.
Brown teff & ginger biccies
Gluten, wheat, corn, egg & nut free; can be dairy free
Makes approx 10 biccies
50g light muscovado sugar
100g brown teff flour
2 heaped tsp gluten-free
ground ginger
pinch salt
100g butter or dairy-free spread
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4.
Put all the dry ingredients in a food processor.
Cut in the butter or spread in small pieces and process till breadcrumb-like. Press the mixture out into the bottom of a lightly oiled baking tray - about 1cm thick.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cut into biscuit shapes. Return to the oven for a further 10 minutes.
Cool slightly in the tin then cut the biscuits out and remove carefully to a rack to cool completely.
Lemon teff and sultana cake
Gluten, wheat, corn & nut free; can be dairy free
125g soft butter or dairy free spread
125g light muscovado sugar
grated rind and juice of 2 lemons
3 medium eggs
125g white teff flour
50g potato flour
2 heaped tsp gluten/wheat free baking powder
50g sultanas
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4.
Beat the butter or spread with the sugar until light and creamy. Add the rind of the lemons.
Sift the teff, potato flour and baking powder together.
Fold in the eggs, one by one, with a tablespoon of flour with each. Fold in the remains of the flour along with the lemon juice and the sultanas.
Pour into a lightly greased, loose-bottomed 18cm cake tin and bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
Remove carefully from the tin and cool on a rack.
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