Ingredients: |
Ingredients: Baking with einkorn flour requires some tweaks but the health benefits of einkorn are worth it.
Keep in mind that whole wheat flour is simply wheat berries that have been milled into flour. The white flour that you buy at the store is whole wheat flour that has been sifted to remove the bran and germ. And if the label says “bleached white flour,” that means the white flour also has been chemically bleached (yuck!) to make it whiter and improve the shelf life. Remember also that any flour made from modern wheat has been hybridized many times to, among other things, increase it’s rise. Unfortunately, this also means it has a different type of gluten than the original wheat and it is more difficult to digest.
Tip #1: How Much Flour Does One Cup of Einkorn Berries Make?
1 Cup of Whole Einkorn Wheat Berries = about 1 1/2 Cups of Einkorn Flour.
Tip #2: Adapting Quick Bread Recipes
You can use whole Einkorn flour exactly as a recipe calls for if it is used for a quick batter type bread. Pancakes, waffles, muffins, and banana type breads. Anything you do not have to shape. You DO however need to check your baking powder, because if it’s expired, you won’t get a good rise with einkorn flour.
Tip #3: Adapting Dough Bread Recipes
If you are making a dough type bread – use 1/3 less liquid than it calls for in the recipe. It is more important to use less liquid rather than using MORE flour. You’ll be tempted to add more flour but don’t because when you add more flour you throw off the balance of the flavors…and lose the wonderful taste.
If your recipe calls for and egg, and or butter; don’t count these as liquid. Only use 1/3 less of the actual pourable liquid such as water.
If you are grinding your own Einkorn, do not expect it to rise as high as modern white bread. This is true with all whole flour breads.
Because Einkorn has a completely different type of Gluten than modern wheat, it does NOT need to be kneaded very long at all.
Tip #4: Making Your Own White Einkorn Flour
For those who want a less dense version of Einkorn bread…you can make your own white Einkorn flour!
After you grind your own whole Einkorn flour, you can use a double sifter (which has two sifters at different sizes on top of each other) and the bran will be held back leaving you a white flour that bakes lighter in color and density. Note: grind your wheat on medium fine to do this.
White Einkorn flour is great for making cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, or even for your bread but keep in mind that it is not as healthy as whole Einkorn flour. SAVE that bran! It’s healthy for you because it adds nutrients and fiber to your diet. You can even add it to the top of your breads or make bran muffins.
Tip #5: Softening Kneaded Bread
Add the same amount of white vinegar as yeast, plus powdered milk (double the measurement of vinegar), plus approximately 1/4 cup of potato flakes for every 2 1/2 cups of whole Einkorn flour. So, if you use 2 Tbsp yeast, then you’d use 2 Tbsp. vinegar, 4 Tbsp powdered milk, and the appropriate amount of potato flakes.
Tip #6: Adding Artisan Crust to Your Einkorn Bread
If you want a hard Artisan Bread type crust, bake it in a dutch oven. Make sure you cut slits with a very sharp knife or razor, in the top of the bread so it can vent properly. Or it will choose where to vent itself and be lopsided. Preheat your dutch oven in with the oven as it preheats to 500 degrees. Then drop it to 450 when you put your bread in it. Make sure you place the lid back on while it bakes. Let it bake 30 minutes, then remove the lid. Then bake to desired brownness.
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