30% Einkorn Bread

Introduction

I was given Tartine Bread book No. 3 by Chad Robertson as an early birthday present last week (thanks Michael & Martha!) and I finally got a chance to use it this weekend. After the heirloom grain tasting event a few weeks ago I have been wanting to try some different wheat varieties so I picked up some Einkorn flour at the local co-op. Fortunately this book has a recipe for a loaf that uses 30% Einkorn flour so I started with that.

Einkorn (a.k.a. Triticum monococcum) is one of the earliest forms of wheat and a close descendant of wheat's wild ancestor Triticum boeoticum. It originated nearly 10,000 years ago in the fertile crescent, right at the dawn of the agricultural revolution, and has remained relatively unchanged ever since. Unlike modern hybrid wheat varieties, Einkorn (German for one seed) produces only one grain per spikelet. This of course limits crop yield and explains why it is a rather obscure crop despite excellent nutrition and flavor (ref).

This was my first attempt at using einkorn flour & I expected that the dough made with it would be kinds of slack and weak due to the low amount of gluten in this grain. I recruited my sister in law Sophia to help with the 3+ hours of stretching & folding (...while I went out for a beer), and she did a stellar job. I returned to find that she had made a nicely developed, cohesive ball of dough from the shaggy mess of flour and water I left her with... well done Sophia!

Materials & Methods 

We actually followed the directions from the recipe this time (mostly) so I won't reprint it here. The only (slight) modifications were: 

• We used straight whole wheat flour with the bran, instead of high extraction flour
• We left it in the cold overnight for bulk fermentation

Timeline:

7p 7:30p 10a 1p

Mix flours, water, and starter. Let rest for 30m to autolyse. Incorporate the salt dissolved in 50g of water by stretch and folding. Ferment at for 3-4 hours, folding every 30m Divide into 2 loaf sized portions Place in floured banneton and proof at RT for 3-4h Bake at 500F for 20m in a covered dutch oven, then 450 for 20 min and a final 10 min uncovered

Results 

This dough was super wet (75% hydration) but the dough did not stick to the banneton and was surprisingly easy to work with after the first several stretch & folds. This recipe made two loaves. Both loaves rose nicely and sprung more than I expected in the oven. The crust color was a lovely reddish gold brown that made an amazing contrast with the  swirl of flour left behind from the banetton. The aroma of this bread was noticeably different than white or whole wheat. The flavor had a honey like, grassy sweetness that was really good. The weak point in my opinion was the texture that was a bit too soft which made it difficult to slice, even with a serrated bread knife. The warm creamy golden crumb had a nice complex hole structure with some nice large holes randomly mixed among smaller ones.

Conclusion

This is an incredibly beautiful and unique tasting loaf. The only problem was that it was a little too soft for me. Perhaps next time I will try it with more bread flour or some additional vital wheat gluten.