Teff flour

One US cup of teff flour weighs between 135 and 163.5 grams, depending on how the cup is filled and which source measured it. That range is the answer; a single number would not be. Every figure behind it is below, with the method each source used.

Also called whole grain teff flour, brown teff flour, ivory teff flour, white teff flour, gluten-free teff flour.

Two authoritative sources disagree by 21.5%, over the 10% milled tolerance. King Arthur's Ingredient Weight Chart publishes 1 cup at 135 g, implying a density of 0.5706 g/mL. USDA Branded Foods records for Bob's Red Mill Whole Grain Teff Flour (UPC 039978005397) publish 173 g per metric cup, which converts to approximately 164 g per US customary cup at a density of 0.6910 g/mL. Both are authoritative sources, and the gap between them reflects real differences in grind fineness between the products the two sources measured.

USDA SR Legacy has no dedicated cup-portion record for teff flour. This is a coverage gap rather than an absence of data: teff is a well-documented grain in the underlying nutritional literature, but its commercial footprint in North America is much smaller than wheat, rice, corn, sorghum or even millet, and SR Legacy has not yet been extended to a standalone teff flour entry. USDA Branded Foods fills the gap through manufacturer-submitted label data, currently dominated by Bob's Red Mill as the primary retail distributor in the US market. The Bob's Red Mill figure sits at the heavy end of the range; King Arthur's lighter figure likely reflects a finer or fluffier reference sample.

Teff is the seed of Eragrostis tef, an annual grass native to the Ethiopian highlands and central to Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisines. It is the smallest cultivated grain in the world: approximately 100 teff seeds equal the mass of a single wheat kernel. Because of the seed size, teff cannot practically be dehulled and is milled with its bran and germ intact, making teff flour always a whole-grain product. This distinguishes it from wheat, rice, sorghum and most other grains where refined (bran-removed) versions dominate retail. The Bob's Red Mill product and the King Arthur reference are both whole-grain by default; the density difference is grind fineness, not refinement level.

Teff comes in two commercial varieties. Brown or red teff (the more traditional Ethiopian type) has higher polyphenol content and a stronger, earthier flavor. White or ivory teff has a milder flavor and is common in commercial injera production because it produces a lighter-coloured bread. The two varieties have similar bulk density; the KA and USDA Branded figures do not distinguish variety.

The primary use of teff flour is injera, the sourdough flatbread that is the staple starch of Ethiopian and Eritrean meals. Injera is naturally gluten-free (though wheat is sometimes blended in outside Ethiopia). Home bakers outside those cuisines increasingly use teff flour as a partial substitute for wheat flour in pancakes, muffins and quick breads, typically at 25 to 50 percent of the total flour weight, for its distinctive flavor and mineral content. Teff is notably high in iron (approximately 37% of the daily value per 100 g) and calcium, both unusual for a grain.

Teff flour sits in the milled category alongside all other flours. The 10% category tolerance applies here, and the observed 21.5% gap between authoritative sources exceeds it, hence the range publish. Home bakers using teff flour should weigh rather than measure by volume: a 29 g error across the range meaningfully changes hydration in injera, pancake batter and gluten-free bread doughs.

Related products not covered by this entry: whole teff grain (uncooked, for porridge and grain bowls), teff flour blends (commercial gluten-free mixes combining teff with rice flour and starches), and injera itself as a finished bread. Teff is often mentioned alongside sorghum because both are gluten-free ancient grains and both feature in Ethiopian cuisine, but they are from different genera (Eragrostis versus Sorghum) and are distinct products.

No standards body publishes a bulk density for teff flour. Codex Alimentarius has no dedicated standard for teff (the closest coverage is under general cereal grain standards). Two authoritative sources with real product variation, so this entry is held at low confidence and range published until either a third independent source resolves the split or USDA SR Legacy adds a cup-portion reference for teff flour.