Can Ethiopians make bread in the desert?
Chris says: Of course. Every culture knows how to make bread.
Sam says: No, they have nothing out there.
Ethiopian bread is called injera. According to The Science of Cooking:
In Ethiopia and Eritrea, this spongy, sour flatbread is used to scoop up meat and vegetable stews. Injera also lines the tray on which the stews are served, soaking up their juices as the meal progresses. When this edible tablecloth is eaten, the meal is officially over.
Injera is made with teff, a tiny, round grain that flourishes in the highlands of Ethiopia. While teff is very nutritious, it contains practically no gluten. This makes teff ill-suited for making raised bread, however injera still takes advantage of the special properties of yeast. A short period of fermentation gives it an airy, bubbly texture, and also a slightly sour taste.
Of course, this mentions that this grain exists in the highlands, not the desert. I wasn’t able to find a concrete answer, but my conclusions is that they can make bread. It’s just not bread as Westerners would know it.
Most of Ethiopia is actually very fertile land, and part of it is desert, but no one lives there.
I asked the “native” Ethiopian Joe Covey about Ethiopian bread and he said he had no clue. Which is suprising for Joe. He usually doesn’t claim ignorance.
Thanks Bryan. That proves my point. If no one lives in the desert, then there won’t be much bread making out there, will there?