Tips For Baking With Einkorn Flour
Since I started baking with Einkorn Flour, I’ve learned a thing or two, and I’ve decided to share my tips. For many of you, this is the post you have been waiting for so I hope you enjoy!
Baking with einkorn flour requires some tweaks but the health benefits of einkorn are worth it, and my persistence is paying off!
I’ll show you how I mill einkorn flour, adapt recipes for einkorn, make white einkorn flour, and add a lovely artisan crust to my einkorn breads.
Before I share my tips, keep in mind that whole wheat flour is simply wheat berries that have been milled into flour. The white flour thatyou 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. White flour is also sometimes referred to as high extraction flour.
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?
When I grind Einkorn myself ( I have a kitchen aid attachment) 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.
The comparison below shows what happens when I use too much liquid in my einkorn recipe.
You’ll see my picture of dinner rolls baked with modern white flour as well as dinner rolls baked with ancient whole einkorn flour – but with different amounts of water – so you can compare the finished product.
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. I knead mine in the mixer on low for 4 minutes.
Tip #4: Making Your Own “White Einkorn Flour”
As you may know, when you mill einkorn berries into flour at your home, you are making what is known as “whole grain einkorn flour”. It tends to be a bit dense, which is great for just about everything, but if you want to bake something lighter, you should use what is commonly called “white einkorn flour”. White flour isn’t the best name for it because true white flour has been bleached.
Our “white flour” has not been bleached or treated in any way so we call it All-Purpose Organic Einkorn flour, and you can buy it from us here, or you can make your own using the instructions below.
To make “White Flour” at home…
After you grind your own whole Einkorn flour, you will want to us 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.
This
I love this because I don’t have to worry about my white einkorn flour being treated with chemical bleach (yuck!).
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 beautiful 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.
The pictures below demonstrate the difference in dough made from white flour vs whole einkorn flour vs white einkorn flour.
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.
191 thoughts on “Tips For Baking With Einkorn Flour”
Thank you so very much for this post! Love the photo comparisons. Before reading your post I prepared Einkorn sourdough the same way that I did using white flour and wow is there a big difference. The batter is so much more wet. Now, I know the reason why. I’m curious to see how my current batter will bake (will find out soon) and then going forward, I’ll use less water as you suggest. Thanks again!
Hi- I am just learning about this flour, and grinding my own grains, so I am a bit confused on your products. When you say Einkorn flour, are you talking about flour that has already been ground? And if I were to purchase the berries, would that end up making the “Einkorn flour”?
Hi Karyn,
Einkorn flour is created by milling einkorn berries into flour. You can use a basic flour mill to mill the einkorn berries into einkorn flour.
can you tell us where you found your double sifter?
Hi Phil, you can find the sifter here. (amazon affiliate)
Just ordered my first einkorn flour after going gluten, sugar, dairy, caffeine and alcohol free. I feel so much better that I am going to drag out the wheat grinder I put away years ago, and make a loaf of bread, guilt free! I can’t wait!
Is this flour gluten free?
Pam, Einkorn does contain gluten but it is different from the gluten in wheat and there is not as much of it. Many people who cannot tolerate wheat can handle Einkorn. However, we cannot recommend it for everyone and suggest that, if you have a problem with wheat, you consult your doctor before trying Einkorn. Go here to discover why Einkorn is easier on the digestive system to help in your decision about whether or not Einkorn is right for you.
A question how do you mill the einkorn in a foodprocessor?
We personally have not used a food processor, you may have to look at your instruction manual to see if yours has the capability of grinding wheat. Other than a traditional mill, Kitchen Aid mixers come with an attachment that hooks into the top and then grinds the wheat from there.
How do you deal with the stickiness of the dough? Also, I’m a convert but also vegan; do you have a recipe for a crusty sort of dinner roll without the egg or powdered milk?
Thanks.
Baking with Einkorn does take a little bit of getting use to. It absorbs less liquid than other flours. Cutting out 1/3 of the liquid in your recipe will help with the stickiness of the dough. Sometimes on leavened breads I use olive oil on the counter and also on my hands to help with the stickiness.
As for the milk and the eggs. Milk makes your bread softer, you may try coconut or almond milk but the properties are not exactly the same. Unfortunately there is no real substitute for eggs. They add flavor, color, and fat to the rolls. However, if you want you can substitute 2 tbsp of olive oil per egg for the moisture.
Remember, any recipe you see for bread can be used with Einkorn! If it’s a leavened bread cut out 1/3 of the liquid. If it’s a quick-rise bread you can use the recipe as is.
Hello,
You may want to try Chia Seeds as a replacement for eggs. 1 Tbs of seeds soaked in 3 Tbs of water is equivalent to 1 egg. I have never used it for bread but with other baked goods it is great! 🙂
I don’t know if this is possible either. It I was reading in a vegan cookbook to use the juice from a can of chickpeas as a sub for eggs in baking . We are new vegans so I haven’t tried it yet but plan to.
I respect everyone’s right to choose their own diet, but please consider that not all eggs are created equal. I had pet free-ranging hens (no roosters), living freely and cleanly, as chickens were meant to live, and my girls left eggs laying around every day. They didn’t care what happened to them, and I needed to pick them up and do something with them or they’d draw snakes. Something needed to be done with the eggs, so they wouldn’t go to waste, so we ate them, and they were wonderful! Since there was no rooster, these weren’t fertilized eggs–no chick could ever result from them. My hens weren’t broody hens, so they couldn’t have cared less what happened to the eggs once they walked away from them. It didn’t hurt anyone and they’re so good for your health! Since my girls free-ranged, the egg yolks were orange and the shells were strong. Just some info for anyone who might be considering becoming an ovo-vegetarian. I have similar info for anyone considering becoming a lacto-ovo-vegetarian.
I totally agree with you, Karen!!
Has anyone ever heard of or read Joel Salatin’s books? I highly recommend them! There is a lot of great info in them and very fun and interesting to read. Just a recommendation:)
You’re lucky to have a nice flock. But please keep in mind when you’re promoting such that the brothers of your flock were probably ground alive.
It’s way more efficient to eat plants directly than to feed them to animals who’s bodies are used to process them for you.
Also understand that much of your organic vegetables were fertilized with animal waste sourced from any or all of the following..manure, bone meal, blood meal..etc. You’re still eating animals one way or the other. ?
I hate to break it to you, but many (if not most) things you do on a daily basis you almost certainly do in a way that is _far_ from the most efficient. Efficiency isn’t magic.
Speaking personally, I’d much rather drink milk and eat eggs than eat the grass cows & hens eat to produce my milk & eggs. And I think that Karen’s point — that she is using something that would otherwise not only be wasted, but could attract unwanted predators — was made to explain why she feels that this is qualitatively different from eating meat (i.e., no animals were harmed in the production of this food); and since the ethics of killing animals for food is a common reason for vegetarianism, lacto-ovo-vegetarianism is, under the conditions she operates, no less ethical.
Hi Margaret,
Same as Zubeida said just with flax seeds, BUT the seeds need to be grinded. One cup of grinded seeds to three table spoons of water = one egg. I use it in every baking goods I bake.
Good luck
Did you mean 1 tablespoon ground chia seeds rather than 1 cup? Or is that one cup before grinding?
I think there was a typo….it is 1TBS ground flax seeds mixed with 3TBS boiling water to replace one egg; whisk together (you can use a real whisk or a fork works just as well) and let set aside in a small dish or bowl for about 5 minutes. It will have gotten gluey, and that is what you want. This only works to replace up to three eggs, however, so if the recipe calls for more than that, you either need to substitute the remaining eggs with something like Ener-g Egg Replacer, or find yourself another recipe. When I was a vegan I did a tremendous amount of baking, along with making my own breads from scratch, and this is what I recommend as I used it all the time and it worked out well. The flax “egg” will make the end product more dense than it would have been originally, so be prepared for that. If you want something with a light and fluffy texture, try the Ener-g Egg Replacer first. Good luck!
One trick that I’ve learned is to use wet hands instead of floured hands, it works for me.
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Not all white flour is bleached.
Thank you pointing this out! I updated the description of white flour, indicating that bleached white flour will be labelled as such.
May I also point out, that white flour was originally invented for health reasons – to allow people to SEE if weevil infestation had occurred.
I didn’t know that, interesting.
thats interesting, I thought that the sifting out the bran increases the shelf life of the flour due to removal of a large portion of oils that could go rancid, in addition to the luxury of lighter baked goods.
could you explain further your post about detecting weevil infestation?
cheers!
I would like to know how to use half and half whole einkorn flour and einkorn white flour in recipes. I would like the extra fiber and nutrition and like using the whole grains for lessening the sugar high from pure white flour.
If I want to make the French Boule or the bagles, how do I use a ratio that still keeps the breads pretty light and airy and chewy?
Hi Liana, it should change the amount too much to do that. It will probably require some experimentation. I would suggest not being afraid to have a slight wetter dough than you are used to. Oil or water your hands when dealing with it, but it’s easy to over flour einkorn recipes which is an enemy to the lightness you are after.