Sprouted Einkorn Bread by Heidi Hedecker

This delightful Einkorn Bread recipe was adapted and written by Heidi Hedecker, certified master baker and a pastry chef instructor with Kendall College since 2004. Heidi says, "The flavor of einkorn is remarkable – a slight salinity in the taste with honey notes. Because of the whole grain, this formula is very similar to Vollkornbrot."

Ingredients and Instructions

Makes 600g dough, enough for two small loaves or one large sandwich loaf.

Sprouted Einkorn

• Einkorn berries 20g (You’ll use 30g sprouted berries – the kernels will absorb some water, bringing up the weight)
• Water 20g

Cover the berries with water and allow to stand overnight. Drain, then place in a clear container, in a single layer, ideally in a sunny spot. The berries should sprout in 1-2 days. Rinse the berries and drain every day to keep from fermenting. Once sprouted, you can store them for up to 8-10 days in the refrigerator, or freeze them indefinitely.

Einkorn Sourdough Starter (levain)

• Einkorn flour 45g
• Liquid sourdough starter 10g
• Water 30g

Combine the starter ingredients to ferment until doubled about 2-12 hours, depending on your starter activity. If the starter is not coming up actively, add 5g of instant yeast to the dough when mixing.

Final Dough

• Einkorn flour 255g
• Water 185g
• Sprouted Einkorn berries 30g
• Sesame seeds, toasted 30g
• Sourdough starter (levain) 95g
• Honey 15g
• Salt 7g

Hand-mixing: this dough is mixed by hand, but could also be mixed on low speed, on a stand mixer. When mixing by hand, use a plastic scraper or spatula. It is a sticky dough – einkorn does not have the same kind of gluten profile as modern bread flour! Mix all ingredients except the sprouted einkorn and toasted sesame seeds together by hand for 4-8 minutes, or until the dough begins to come together. Add in the drained sprouted einkorn berries and toasted sesame at the very end of the mix.

Bulk fermentation: coat the dough with a neutral oil such as grapeseed or vegetable, then place the dough into a lidded flat container. Ferment for ~ two hours, until doubled, with folds every 30 minutes (3 folds in two hours).

Final shape: shape as a cylinder into one large sandwich loaf, or two small loaves. Allow to proof until doubled, then sift additional Einkorn flour over the top, and score down the center just before baking.

Bake at 475F for 20 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 440F for 35 minutes. The length of the baking time will depend on the size of the loaves.

Heidi's Notes

This bread came from Mike Zakowsky’s Einkorn formula in the Bread Baker’s Guild newsletter. In class, we made some changes, based on availability of ingredients. We replaced the cracked and cooked einkorn with sprouted einkorn; the rye starter with liquid levain; and added honey, which seemed to enhance the salty-sweet taste of the einkorn.

Cecilia's Notes

This delightful Einkorn Bread recipe was adapted from Mike Zakowsky's formula, and then tested and written by Heidi Hedeker, certified master baker and a pastry chef instructor with Kendall College since 2004.

I asked Heidi to have a look at the Einkorn flour for me, with her students, because this ancient flour has its own set of challenges and I wanted to break some of these down for you. We have to disengage from our normal baking expectations when working with ancient wheats and work with the wheat rather than pushing against it. Einkorn is very low in gluten but reasonably high in protein. It is not a modern flour and you can’t substitute it for a commercial flour in a recipe. Janie’s Mill Einkorn is milled at 100% extraction which means it has all the bran and all the germ and all the endosperm within the flour enhancing digestibility dramatically. This is the perfect flour for people who prefer a lower gluten bread.

Einkorn does not like to be over worked. It absorbs water fast so you need to be careful of over-hydrating. It proofs really fast. I think it feels like play dough but can be very sticky. But, once you get the hang of it, an Einkorn loaf in the kitchen is gold.

Einkorn likes to be baked in a pan and when I bake in a pan I place the pan inside my Challenger Bread pan and bake for the first half of the baking period with the lid on.

The scent of an Einkorn loaf cooking in your kitchen is incredible and I think Einkorn makes the best toast and out of this world Fancy French Toast.