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Cultural Ferment

Kisra: Sudan’s Fermented Sorghum Flatbread, and How to Make It

By Updated 1 min read

Kisra is Sudan’s most important everyday bread — a paper-thin fermented sorghum flatbread that doubles as plate, utensil, and centerpiece of every communal meal. Naturally gluten-free, packed with probiotics, and ready in 24-72 hours, this ancient grain ferment connects you to one of the world’s oldest continuous food traditions.

At a glance

Kisra is Sudan's thin fermented sorghum flatbread. Sorghum flour mixed with twice its weight of water ferments in about a day at 30°C, its pH falling from about 6 to 4 as lactic acid bacteria, mainly Pediococcus pentosaceus, sour it; starting from a little old batter makes it faster. The sour batter is spread paper-thin on a hot griddle and baked on one side, then eaten with stews.

  • Thin flatbread of fermented sorghum batter, eaten with stews in Sudan.
  • Flour and water 1:2 by weight, fermented about 24 hours at 30°C.
  • pH falls from 5.95 to 3.95; lactic acid reaches 0.80%.
  • Pediococcus pentosaceus dominates; back-slopping halves the time to full growth.
  • Naturally fermented kisra can contain tyramine and other amines.

Ferment profile

Origin
Sudan (also South Sudan and neighbouring countries)
Fermentation
Lactic acid
Main microbes
Pediococcus pentosaceus (dominant), Lactobacillus brevis and other lactobacilli; early yeasts and moulds
Live cultures
No (cooked, baked or pasteurized)
Alcohol
None / trace

Kisra is the everyday bread of Sudan: a batter of sorghum flour and water fermented overnight until sour, then spread paper-thin on a hot griddle and baked on one side into soft, lacy sheets. It’s folded or stacked and eaten with stews and sauces, much as Ethiopia’s injera is – though kisra is thinner and made from sorghum rather than teff.

How the Batter Ferments

The classic study of kisra fermentation mixed Sudanese sorghum flour with water in a 1:2 ratio by weight and left it at 30°C (Mohammed et al., 1991):

  • Bacteria multiplied until about 18 hours, then levelled off.
  • After 24 hours, the pH had fallen from 5.95 to 3.95 and the batter contained 0.80% lactic acid.
  • Pediococcus pentosaceus dominated by the end, alongside lactobacilli (Lactobacillus confusus, L. brevis); early on there were also enterobacteria, yeasts (Candida intermedia, Debaryomyces hansenii) and moulds, which the souring left behind.
  • When each batch was started with some batter from the previous one – the traditional way – bacterial growth levelled off at about 9 hours instead of 18, and P. pentosaceus still dominated.

So kisra is a fast lactic ferment: a day at warm room temperature is enough, and keeping back a little batter as a starter makes it quicker and more predictable.

Amines in Fermented Batters

Like many spontaneous ferments, kisra can contain biogenic amines. In a 2024 study, naturally fermented kisra contained tyramine, histamine, putrescine and cadaverine; enterococci were behind the tyramine. Fermenting with selected lactic acid bacteria (such as Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Limosilactobacillus fermentum) cut putrescine to under a quarter and prevented the other amines from forming (Hassan et al., 2024). Back-slopping from a clean, sour batch helps the right bacteria take over fast. Tyramine matters if you take MAOI antidepressants (Gardner et al., 1996).

Notes

Sorghum contains no gluten, so kisra made only from sorghum suits a gluten-free diet; check that the flour isn’t processed alongside wheat. For other fermented grain batters, see West Africa’s ogi and India’s dhokla.

Recipe: Kisra (Fermented Sorghum Flatbread)

Makes
About 12 thin flatbreads
Hands-on
40 min
Fermentation
About 24 hours (less with a starter)
Temperature
About 30°C for fermenting; hot griddle for baking
Difficulty
Moderate

Equipment

  • Scale
  • Bowl or jar with a cloth cover
  • Large flat griddle or non-stick pan
  • Thin flexible spatula or plastic scraper

Ingredients

  • 300 g sorghum flour (fine)
  • 600 ml water (unchlorinated, or boiled and cooled)
  • 2–3 tbsp batter from a previous batch (optional starter)

Method

  1. Whisk the flour and water into a smooth batter (1 part flour to 2 parts water by weight), adding starter if you have it.
  2. Cover with a cloth and leave somewhere warm (about 30°C) for about 24 hours – less with a starter – until bubbly and pleasantly sour.
  3. Stir, and save 2–3 tablespoons in the fridge as next time's starter. Thin the batter with a little water if needed; it should be pourable.
  4. Heat a lightly oiled griddle over medium-high heat. Pour a ladle of batter and quickly spread it as thin as you can with the scraper.
  5. Bake on one side for about a minute, until the edges lift and the top is set and dull, then peel it off.
  6. Stack the sheets under a cloth and eat the same day with stews. Discard batter that turns pink, grows mould or smells rotten.

Frequently asked questions

What is kisra?

Sudan's everyday flatbread: a fermented sorghum batter baked paper-thin on a griddle and eaten with stews.

How long does kisra batter ferment?

About 24 hours at 30°C; with some batter from a previous batch as a starter, it's ready faster.

Is kisra gluten-free?

Kisra made only from sorghum flour contains no gluten; check the flour isn't processed with wheat.

What's the difference between kisra and injera?

Both are fermented flatbreads eaten with stews; kisra is thinner and made from sorghum, injera is thicker and spongier and made from teff.

Which bacteria ferment kisra?

Mainly Pediococcus pentosaceus, with lactobacilli such as L. brevis.

Is kisra probiotic?

No: baking kills the bacteria, though the fermentation gives it its sour flavour.

Sources

  1. Mohammed SI, Steenson LR, Kirleis AW (1991). Isolation and characterization of microorganisms associated with the traditional sorghum fermentation for production of Sudanese kisra. Appl Environ Microbiol 57(9):2529–2533. Link
  2. Hassan AAA, Jin YH, Mah JH (2024). Effects of lactic acid bacteria on reducing the formation of biogenic amines and improving the formation of antioxidant compounds in traditional African sourdough flatbread fermentation. Antioxidants 13(7):844. Link
  3. Gardner DM et al. (1996). The making of a user friendly MAOI diet. J Clin Psychiatry 57(3):99–104. Link
#East and Southern Africa
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