100% Einkorn Bread Recipe - surprisingly delicious!
By livelonger
Einkorn is the original form of wheat eating during prehistoric times, dating back to about 12,000 years ago at the dawn of agriculture. Substantially different at the chromosomal level from modern wheat, einkorn can still yield a shockingly delicious loaf of bread which is quite a bit more healthy than the usual stuff. I had read that einkorn bread was hard to work with, and yielded a bread that was heavy, and bitter, astringent, or oddly sour.
I did not experience this at all: the bread had a wonderful soft texture, and was very "bready"/malty tasting, with no off tastes whatsoever. It did also have a nice yellowish color to it, which is apparently due to its relatively high content of lutein, a carotenoid which is good for your eye health. The flour I used was highly extracted, meaning most of the bran and germ were removed, which is probably why it turned out lighter than whole wheat versions that most others have tried.
Let's start with the recipe first, and then I'll delve into the nutritionals and history behind einkorn and modern wheat afterwards.
Einkorn bread recipe
This recipe is deliberately simple. I had read about other recipes involving oils, honey, and eggs, that were supposedly necessary to give the bread necessary lift and moisture. The recipe I used below didn't use any of those, and they were not necessary: the bread was springy, light, and moist (and it didn't get dry and crumbly even when I ate it the next day). The only thing I can think of is that I used quite a bit of yeast for a relatively small loaf, and I gave the yeast a bit more oomph by adding a teaspoon of sugar.
Cook Time
Ingredients
- 2 cups Einkorn Flour
- 1 cup Water, (warm)
- 1 packet (2 1/2 tsp) Active Dry Yeast
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Sugar
Instructions (if making by hand; bread machine directions below)
- Combine 1/4 cup of the water, the sugar, and the yeast together in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Sift 2 cups of einkorn flour into a large bowl.
- Add the salt, and mix together.
- And the remaining water, and the yeast mixture (slurry), and mix well until you have a tacky dough.
- Turn the dough out onto your countertop, and knead for 2-3 minutes. Note the the dough will be a bit stickier than regular bread dough. Resist the urge to flour it more; you'll want a relatively high-moisture, tacky dough to develop into a nice crust.
- Put the dough back into the bowl, cover, and put in a relatively warm place in your kitchen (in your oven with the oven light only on is a good option) to allow it to rise. Give it a good 60 minutes, or until it has doubled in volume.
- Punch down the dough and reshape it into a loaf shape.
- Place into a loaf pan and allow to rise for another 45 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 335 F (170 C).
- Place the loaf pan into the oven, and allow to bake for about 30 minutes. When done, the crust should be golden brown and should sound hollow if you knock it with your knuckles.
- Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from the pan. Allow to cool another 30 minutes on a cooling rack before attempting to slice. Enjoy!
Directions for bread machines
- Place all the ingredients in the bread pan. Isolate the water from the dry ingredients (especially the yeast) if you are using the delayed timer.
- Use the white bread cycle on your machine (if you're using Jovial's einkorn flour, which, as a high-extraction flour, behaves more like a white flour than a whole-wheat one) or whole wheat cycle if you are grinding your own einkorn flour from whole einkorn berries.
- Because the dough tends to be a bit gummier than most, you might consider "helping" the bread machine by pushing all the flour and dough towards the paddle until it does wad up into a big dough ball.
Einkorn bread vs regular wheat bread: Nutritionals
Einkorn
| Einkorn
| Regular wheat
| Regular wheat
| ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 lb loaf
| 1 slice
| 1 lb loaf
| 1 slice
| ||
Calories
| 800
| 100
| 840
| 105
| |
Protein
| g
| 32
| 4
| 24
| 3
|
Carbohydrates
| g
| 160
| 20
| 182
| 23
|
Fat
| g
| 4
| 1
| 2
| 0
|
Vitamin A
| IU
| 750
| 94
| 22
| 3
|
Riboflavin (vit B2)
| mcg
| 1080
| 135
| 288
| 36
|
alpha-Carotene
| mcg
| 127
| 16
| 0
| 0
|
beta-Carotene
| mcg
| 46
| 6
| 12
| 2
|
Lutein + zeaxanthin
| mcg
| 1846
| 231
| 528
| 66
|
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving size: 1 slice | |
| Calories 100 | Calories from Fat 9 |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Fat 1 g | 2% |
| Saturated fat 0 g | |
| Unsaturated fat 1 g | |
| Carbohydrates 20 g | 7% |
| Sugar 3 g | |
| Fiber 2 g | 8% |
| Protein 4 g | 8% |
| Cholesterol 0 mg | |
| * The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA. | |
 | Dr William Davis's book blames modern wheat for weight gain, and suggests eliminating wheat, or replacing it in many cases with einkorn, to bring the weight down. Amazon Price: $12.96 List Price: $25.99 |
A brief history of wheat: Einkorn to today's hybridized wheat
Einkorn (Triticum monococcum) was the first wheat cultivar, harvested as early as 10-12,000 years ago in Mesopotamia/Fertile Crescent, before the dawn of human historical records. Compared to modern wheat, einkorn looks sparse and almost like a weed. It is also the simplest form of wheat, with 2 sets of chromosomes (diploid) or 14 chromosomes. Another variety that developed in parallel to einkorn, emmer, is a tetraploid (4 sets) hybrid of wild emmer (itself a hybrid of 2 diploid grasses). Modern wheat (Triticum aestivum) is actually a hexaploid plant, or containing 6 sets of chromosomes, the result of a hybridization of 3 different types of wheat grass.
Hybridization efforts over the last 30 years have yielded literally thousands of varieties of wheat that mankind didn't know even a couple of generations ago. As a species, we human beings have had the least amount of time to adapt to modern wheat, which continues to evolve in the laboratory without extensive, long-term knowledge on how this is affecting our health.
Many scientists speculate that, while einkorn does have gluten as do all varieties of wheat, its form of gluten might be more tolerable to some who are sensitive to wheat, since it was not a descendant of the same evolutionary path as modern wheat (which was derived from emmer). One such study seems to support that there's a difference. It's probably not safe for all people who suffer from celiac disease (an allergy to gluten), but might be tolerable for many people who suffer from gluten intolerance.
Here are some great additional web resources if you want to learn more about einkorn:
- einkorn nutritionals vs 18 other varieties of wheat
- Jovial Foods - the makers of the flour I used, and pasta and cookies made from einkorn (I have no financial stake in their company)
- Elisheva Rogosa's page on einkorn (she sells organic einkorn flour, too)
- Dr William Davis (writer of Wheat Belly) has written an article on agribusiness's role in the rapid proliferation of modern wheat varieities
Comments
Moon Daisy - yes, it does yield a very nicely nutty-flavored loaf, which is quite a bit more nutritious than regular wheat flour loaves. Hope you can try it, and thank you for your comment!
i really want to try this...sounds so interisting...and historical...
Hey Livelonger
Interesting recipe and the nutritionals look great. If I can find some einkorn I'll have to give it a try. Do you know how the gluten content of einkorn compares with bread or all purpose flour?
It's unfortunate that things like einkorn and amaranth are considered specialty items with exorbitant prices. The nutrition has been bred out of what we eat
Thank you for this excellent and informative article. As an artisan baker, I have been collecting and trialing world heritage wheats for many years. I collected ancient einkorn seeds in Bulgaria and the Carpathian Mountains in Hungary from traditional farmers. For folks concerned about the price, it is easy to grow your own einkorn in a backyard garden. I have plenty. Although einkorn is classified as a wheat, it is not genetically related to any other wheats. All modern wheats evolved from T. dicoccoides, not T. monococcum, ie wild emmer wheat NOT einkorn. There are many many scientific studies confirming the lack of celiac disease stimulatory epitopes in einkorn. My bakery is dedicated only to einkorn, and many folks who cannot eat modern wheat, such as myself, are happy to finally have a safe delicious bread alternative. Kindly,
Eli Rogosa
chefsref: I think Eli Rogosa's answer below yours answers your question about gluten. Einkorn's gluten might be different enough from the gluten in modern wheat, which evolved through an entirely different pathway, to not provoke problems for those who are sensitive to wheat gluten.
Eli: Thank you for your comment! I'm honored you dropped by, considering I read through your site and watched a couple of videos where you talked about einkorn and other ancient wheat varieties. I did not know you had a bakery, but I'd imagine there's a growing market for what you make. I wonder if we can pull of growing einkorn in our backyard here in San Francisco...and I wonder how einkorn can be threshed. Anyway, thanks again for stopping by!
This is BEYOND fascinating. The bread looks so much lighter than I expected it to be!
The bready/malty flavor sounds amazing. I'm going to check Whole Foods to see if they might have this stuff... if not, I'll order online! The recipe is SO SIMPLE and I love my bread machine so much- I'm so stoked about trying this out!
Thanks a ton for the awesome Hub!
Thank you, Simone! I checked at WF just today and they do not carry this. You might want to try mail order like I did. Or...maybe I'll make a loaf and bring it to the office. :)
Wow - I have GOT to try this! I'm a big bread lover, so this really appeals to me. Voted up and +1'd!
Thanks, habee! Brought a half-loaf of it in this morning, and Simone, Marina and Pia liked it, too. :)
That he did. And I have to admit, I brought home two more slices with me because I loved the first one so much. I just had them toasted with butter, and think it is the tastiest thing I've eaten in months.
I used to be a baker in another life time long ago. Unfortunately I never got around to studying the history of different wheats. This is an interesting subject. Thank you for bringing it to light and doing such a good job at it. I look forward to trying the recipe.
I just received my shipment of Einkhorn flour and am very excited to try it! Thanks for all the info! I bought it from Eli - thanks Eli - and will play around with making it from the whole grain (maybe lots of sifting etc.)
Nice! Thanks for your comment, Nancy. I think wholegrain einkorn flour should be great. You'll probably just have to give it a bit more time to rise (the usual advice for using whole-wheat flour in making bread vs white bread). I'll have to try Eli's flour, too.
This is fascinating! I never even heard of einkorn flour muchless bread. Will have to look for it. Thanks for the education! Up, useful and interesting votes.
Can one purchase it at a place like Whole Foods?
Thanks, Peggy! I don't think you can get it at Whole Foods, but I haven't looked carefully. (Maybe?) I bought mine online, but maybe you can get it "offline" now. Another to try is emmer, which is unrelated to einkorn, but is an ancestor to the modern wheat we use today. That might be available, too.
This recipe sucks. The amounts are off and therefore the bread doesn't turn out. Will not try it again. Waste of very expensive product.
It worked for me, and I used those exact amounts. Can you share what exactly happened when you tried it?
I like to let my Einkorn bread dough rise on a well-floured and cornmeal covered wood paddle, then slide it onto a hot stone in the oven. The loaf is much flatter, but for those of you who love chewy crust, this is fantastic as the loaf is mostly crust! We don't even slice it. We just rip it into chunks and butter them. Awesome.
Nancy: That sounds delicious!
I tried out this recipe yesterday when I used einkorn for the first time. It's great! Thanks for the detailed instructions about helping the bread machine to mix the ingredients and not adding any extra flour during kneading. I just wet my hands, plonked the dough into a baking tin and baked the loaf. Thanks for the recipe!
Seems like a great recipe-I'm going to give it a go.Thanks for sharing.
This looks delicious, thank you.
So I just grind it in my mill on fine and use a wheat bread recipe?
Jen Z: I don't know what wheat bread recipe you're considering. I used the recipe detailed above with fantastic results.
One can also purchase Einkorn flour from www.primegrains.com They are located in Northern Canada and will grind the flour the day before they send it. They also have other ancient grains.
Moon Daisy 7 months ago
Very interesting. I try to avoid (regular) wheat, and love experimenting with different breads. I've never heard of this kind of flour before, and might have to investigate!