Abstract
Injera is fermented, leavened, flat and round pancake-like Ethiopian traditional bread, and made from cereals like teff, wheat, barley, sorghum, maize or a combination of some of these cereals. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of blending ratio and fermentation times on the textural and eye /hole/ characteristics of injera prepared from quality protein maize (QPM) and teff composite flours. Factorial design of two factors in CRD arrangement was used. The factors were blending ratio of teff flour (20%, 30%, and 40%) and fermentation times (48hr, 60hr, and 72hr). The sensory acceptability scores for eye-size, texture, and rollability were ranged from 5.08 to 5.50, 5.01 to 5.76, and 4.61 to 5.69 due to blending ratio, respectively and from 5.18 to 5.41, 5.28 to 5.48, and 5.08 to 5.29 due to fermentation times, respectively tested for fresh injera. The peak force, which indicate the firmness level of injera samples also varied significantly (p<0.05) and the values ranged between 2.23 to 3.13 N (first day) due to blending ratio and from 2.59 to 2.69 N (first day) due to fermentation times. Increasing the blending proportions of teff flour in the composite was found improving the texture, firmness, and eye qualities of QPM-teff composite injera samples.
Highlights
Native to Ethiopia and Eritrea, injera is a traditional sourdough flatbread with teff as a major ingredient [7]
The firmness of the injera samples were measured following the procedure described by Senayit et al with slight modification [10]
The firmness was measured for freshly baked injera, on the second and third days, respectively
Summary
Native to Ethiopia and Eritrea, injera is a traditional sourdough flatbread with teff as a major ingredient [7]. Depending on the agroecology of the area concerned different cereals (sorghum, wheat, finger millet, maize, and barley) and their blends are used to make injera [11, 5]. A good injera is soft, fluffy, and able to be rolled without cracking. It should retain these textural properties after 2 to 3 days of storage. Injera made from teff is most preferred due to its softer texture, preferred taste, its color and can be rolled without cracking. The front side of a good quality injera has uniformly spaced honeycomb-like pores traditionally called "eyes", formed due to the penetration of escaping gas that is produced during fermentation and baking, whereas the bottom surface of injera is smooth and shiny [10]
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