Soaked Einkorn Flatbread and Hummus
Ignorance is not always bliss. For much of my life, I was ignorant to the greatness of our lead performer for today. We’ve finally perfected a soulmate for our Einkorn flatbread. Introducing…Hummus! By way of clarification, I do not mean to say that I had never heard of hummus. Of course I had. But I refused to try it. On what grounds? It’s humiliating, really. When I was first told about Hummus, my brain instantly went to a little stone we kept in our shower for scraping off dead skin – Pumice. Needless to say, that thought did not make me eager to branch out and try it. If you too are ignorant of hummus, don’t worry. It’s nothing like that.
It wasn’t until I was living in Spain that I finally decided to try hummus, and I was hooked. I made it part of my weekly shopping list. I generally ate it with crackers and enjoyed it immensely. Spain, of course, cannot boast the original hummus (the brand I bought was Simply Greek). In fact, that’s quite a debate. As early as the 13th century we have record of hummus. An ancient Egyptian cookbook called Kitāb al-Wusla ilā l-habīb fī wasf al-tayyibāt wa-l-tīb contained a recipe for a hummus-like dish made with pureed chickpeas, vinegar, pickled lemons, and some herbs. Some argue that Hummus was around before that, and countries do not agree as to who had it first.
In 2008, the Association of Lebanese Industrialists were upset about the success other countries were having with the commercialization of hummus. They insisted that hummus is strictly Lebanese and petitioned to have protected status. Since then, countries have been having competitions to see who can make the largest batch of hummus. Lebanon holds this record as of 2010 when they managed to make a 23,000lb batch. The controversy, however, rages on. While they’re distracted, fighting about who it belongs to, I think we should eat some!
Hummus has gained popularity in modern times. There’s even a Hummus Day. It was last week in fact – Friday, May 13th. So, I’m a little late on this post, but it’s never too late to celebrate! The ancient dip can now be found everywhere, but making your own ensures clean ingredients. We developed our own quick and easy recipe for the dip and love it. We would love to share it with you.
We also found that it goes excellently with our delicious soaked einkorn flatbread. Seriously, this combination is dynamite. Flatbread is an excellent no-fuss way to get the health benefits of Einkorn without the hassle of leavened bread, and this flat bread is especially awesome. It’s soaked in kefir or yogurt. That process breaks down the phytic acid and partially digests the grain so that we get more nutrients from the bread and can digest it more easily. It only needs a suitable companion. Enter hummus. The combined flavors of this pair will literally knock your socks off (ok maybe not literally). We hope you enjoy!
It wasn’t until I was living in Spain that I finally decided to try hummus, and I was hooked. I made it part of my weekly shopping list. I generally ate it with crackers and enjoyed it immensely. Spain, of course, cannot boast the original hummus (the brand I bought was Simply Greek). In fact, that’s quite a debate. As early as the 13th century we have record of hummus. An ancient Egyptian cookbook called Kitāb al-Wusla ilā l-habīb fī wasf al-tayyibāt wa-l-tīb contained a recipe for a hummus-like dish made with pureed chickpeas, vinegar, pickled lemons, and some herbs. Some argue that Hummus was around before that, and countries do not agree as to who had it first.
In 2008, the Association of Lebanese Industrialists were upset about the success other countries were having with the commercialization of hummus. They insisted that hummus is strictly Lebanese and petitioned to have protected status. Since then, countries have been having competitions to see who can make the largest batch of hummus. Lebanon holds this record as of 2010 when they managed to make a 23,000lb batch. The controversy, however, rages on. While they’re distracted, fighting about who it belongs to, I think we should eat some!
Hummus has gained popularity in modern times. There’s even a Hummus Day. It was last week in fact – Friday, May 13th. So, I’m a little late on this post, but it’s never too late to celebrate! The ancient dip can now be found everywhere, but making your own ensures clean ingredients. We developed our own quick and easy recipe for the dip and love it. We would love to share it with you.
We also found that it goes excellently with our delicious soaked einkorn flatbread. Seriously, this combination is dynamite. Flatbread is an excellent no-fuss way to get the health benefits of Einkorn without the hassle of leavened bread, and this flat bread is especially awesome. It’s soaked in kefir or yogurt. That process breaks down the phytic acid and partially digests the grain so that we get more nutrients from the bread and can digest it more easily. It only needs a suitable companion. Enter hummus. The combined flavors of this pair will literally knock your socks off (ok maybe not literally). We hope you enjoy!
Ingredients
SCALE
Flatbread
- 3/4 cup Kefir Or Plain Yogurt
- 5+ cup Einkorn Flour
- 1/4 cup Butter Softened
- 1/2 cup Warm Water
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Real Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
Hummus
- 2 cup Cooked Garbonzo Beans No liquid
- 1 clove Garlic Medium Sized
- 1 tablespoon Cumin
- 1/2 cup Water
- 1/4 cup Olive Oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Real Salt
- 1/3 cup Sesame Seeds If you do not have a high power blender, use 2 Tbsp of Tahini insead
- 2 tablespoon Lemon Juice
Instructions
Flat Bread
1. Mix 2 1/2 cups of flour with the rest of the dry ingredients. 2. Add wet ingredients and mix again. 3. Add remainder of flour until pulls away from the sides of the bowl. It may be more or less than the recipe calls for depending on the density of your flour. 4. Cover with a folded towel and leave for 8 hours. This dough can also be used immediately. However, allowing it to soak breaks down the phytic acid and makes if better for you and easier to digest but if you don't have time, this step can be skipped.
5. Shape with palms into thin circles about 4" in diameter. (You can also roll them out and cut them if it's easier.
6. Fry on griddle (we use cast iron). They can be fried with or without oil depending on the desired texture.
This dough can be stored in the refrigerator and used for several days.
Hummus
1. Blend all ingredients together until smooth. Water can be added by the tablespoon if it's too thick for the blender, but careful not to make it too thin.RELATED RECIPES
There’s something satisfying about using a single ingredient in so many different ways. Einkorn is incredibly versatile, and the recipes below make it easy to bring this ancient grain into your everyday meals. Here are a few to explore:
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PRODUCTS IN THIS RECIPE
Meet the Author
Julie Koyle co founded and has been the driving creative force behind Grand Teton Ancient Grains, a regenerative organic family farm and mill nestled at the base of the Grand Teton foothills in eastern Idaho….
22 thoughts on “Soaked Einkorn Flatbread and Hummus”
what is “real salt?” Recipe designers from books to websites use terminology that they never seem to explain and expect all of their readers to know.
Hi Ed, real salt refers to unrefined sea salt that is usually sourced from seabed deposits. Redmond is the seller we use. The reason we specify is that real salt has not been stripped of its other minerals like regular table salt so it may be a little less salty per unit of volume. So, you may want to use a little less if using regular table salt.
Looking forward to giving this recipe a try!
Questions:
1) Has anyone tried using a cast iron tortilla press + parchment paper (as a release) to shape the bread rounds instead of hand or rolling pin shaping?
2) Can I substitute milk + 1 tsp. cider vinegar (OR 1 tsp. lemon juice) in place of yogurt or kefir?
Hi Melissa, thank you for your questions. We have not tried either of those, but I would imagine that both would work fine.
I made the dough last night then formed and baked it today. I was only able to add 1 more cup of flour along with a few tablespoons of warm water. The flavour turned out a little bitter and the texture was dry. When I make my slow fermented sourdough with Einkorn it is very flavourful but these were bland.
I think next time I will add more salt, kefir and possibly use some sourdough starter discard.
Thanks for the recipe and all the great information about Einkorn.
Hi Laura, We’d love to hear how that turns out! Always open to improvements!