Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of mechanical kneading and ‘absit’ preparation difference on the quality of tef injera, the staple food of Ethiopians. Standard methods were adopted to determine the starch fraction, total phenol, flavonoid, phytate and tannins of injera. Sensory injera quality was assessed using 9-point-hedonic scale. Change in kneading conditions (time/speed) did not significantly affect the free sugar (FSG), slowly digestible starch (SDS), resistant starch (RS), total starch(TS) and starch digestion rate index (SDRI). On the other hand, significant variation was observed in rapidly available glucose and rapidly digestible starch (RAG and RDS). Flavonoids, total phenolics and phytate contents varied significantly at different kneading time- speed combinations. Injera sensory quality was also significantly affected due to change in kneading conditions. Kneading condition 5 (3 min at speed 6) has the highest injera overall acceptability while kneading condition 9 (7 min at speed 12) had the lowest. In addition to kneading conditions, absit preparation (water to fermented dough ratio) was also found to affect the quality of tefinjera. Absit # 3 made from 100 ml of fermented dough and 900 ml of water had the highest injera overall acceptability while, the lowest was observed on Absit # 4 made from 300 ml of fermented dough and 100 ml of water. In conclusion, both kneading and absit preparation significantly influenced starch hydrolysis, flavonoids, total phenolics and phytate contents as well as sensory quality of injera. Key words: Kneading, sensory quality, absit preparation, starch fractions.  
Highlights
More than 70% of Ethiopian populations rely on injera for their diet, which is a traditional Ethiopian sourdough flatbread (Dijkstra et al, 2008)
Significant variation was observed on rapidly available glucose of the sample (RAG) and Rapidly digested starch (RDS) which were kneaded at different time/ speed combinations
Though insignificant difference was observed with increasing time and speed of kneading, the slowly digestible starch (SDS) value increased with increasing time and speed
Summary
More than 70% of Ethiopian populations rely on injera for their diet, which is a traditional Ethiopian sourdough flatbread (Dijkstra et al, 2008) It is mostly made from flour obtained from the tef grain The fermentation of injera starts by adding water to tef flour and mixing or kneading it with a starter (backslopped culture) called ersho. This process commences the „primary fermentation‟ (Attuquayefio, 2014). In the traditional preparation of injera, tef flour, water and Ersho are kneaded into a thick paste or dough (Ashagrie and Abate, 2012; Girma et al, 2013)
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