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 tan color to it, which is apparently due to its relatively high content of lutein, a carotenoid which is good for your eye health. I purchased my einkorn flour from Heritage Grain Conservancy (I have absolutely no affiliation with them besides being a customer).
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. | |
Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health
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.