There are four big reasons why einkorn is, by far, the best form of wheat to eat even when compared to other ancient grains like spelt, emmer, and kamut.
Most people who love to bake bread, pastries, and other goodies do not realize that einkorn is the best type of wheat to use.
Twenty-five or so years ago, I used to purchase organic white wheat (hard and soft) and spelt in bulk from a local grain co-op for my baking endeavors.
Grinding grain into fresh flour is certainly the most nutritious and tastiest way to bake! I also did this to avoid the conventional toxic wheat desiccated with gut-destroying glyphosate.
Caveat: Baking with freshly ground flour is only better if the bread is traditionally prepared.
Otherwise, the antinutrients like phytic acid are not broken down and harm to gut health is likely over time.
There certainly is a huge difference between modern processed wheat (hybridized by irradiation) and the organic, ancient grains you grind yourself at home.
I remember when I was breastfeeding my youngest child, if I ate so much as a mouthful or two of processed wheat at a restaurant, she would spit up for one or sometimes even two days!
If I ate organic wheat that I ground myself and either sprouted, soaked, or sour-leavened (sourdough), however, she never had any spit-up issues.
To me, this was a huge testament to the radically improved digestibility of wheat that is prepared using the wise methods of ancestral cultures.
Beware of persuasive influencers who claim that all you need to do is grind freshly ground flour and bake bread with baker’s yeast with no proper preparation such as soaking, sprouting or sour-leaving the dough necessary.
This approach is not how traditional societies ever baked their bread, and it is a recipe for serious gut issues!
Most people do not know that baker’s yeast is actually a modern invention only used in the past few centuries!
It quickly gained traction because it made baking faster and easier (NOT healthier). This is the case even when using freshly ground flour!
These quick rise breads using baker’s yeast gradually displaced traditional sourdough to the detriment of those who embraced this early “modern” cooking convenience.
Einkorn Benefits over Modern Wheat
With traditional baking the way to go (using a sourdough starter and NOT baker’s yeast), let’s talk about einkorn as the best type of wheat to bake with.
There are four reasons why I prefer to bake with einkorn wheat and no other type of ancient grains.
This isn’t to say I never use anything else, but if given the choice, I prefer to use einkorn.
Note that einkorn is not to be confused with farro or heirloom wheat.
Better Taste
My first experience baking with einkorn occurred after I received a thoughtful gift of, among other things, einkorn flour and wheat berries. I was delighted when I ground the einkorn into flour and saw how light and white it was.
I am not a fan of bran and am not of the food philosophy that all that fiber is actually good for your gut.
Fiber is a band-aid that covers up the root causes of constipation, a very common symptom of gut imbalance.
I recommend the book Fiber Menance as a good read on the subject.
The truth is that the unhybridized form of wheat…einkorn is the only one…does not have that much bran!
I was thrilled to see that my family thoroughly enjoyed the soaked waffles made with freshly ground einkorn flour.
Later on, I learned to make sprouted einkorn waffles that were more convenient but still highly digestible.
From that point, I gradually incorporated using einkorn for all my baking needs including this very popular no knead sourdough bread recipe.
Most Digestible
Because einkorn is unhybridized and low in bran, it is the most digestible form of wheat you can eat.
While my properly prepared grain dishes made with white wheat or spelt digest fine for our family, you can tell that the same dishes make with einkorn feel even better in the stomach.
This is possibly because einkorn contains good gluten, different on a molecular level from modern gluten in all other forms of wheat including ancient grains like spelt.
Better digestion means better absorption of nutrients, so einkorn surpasses the competition in that category as well.
Visually Distinctive
The first thing I noticed when I ground einkorn into flour for the first time was how much smaller a grain of einkorn is compared with a grain of modern wheat. They are about half the size!
In addition, I noticed that my grain grinder makes less noise when grinding einkorn berries into fresh flour because of softer, low bran kernels.
The distinctive crease on one side of a grain of modern wheat is also absent from kernels of einkorn.
The reason for the differences is that over the centuries, the genetics of wheat gradually changed due to human cultivation practices.
Year after year, farmers selected the seeds at harvest time that suited the goal of higher yields and MORE gluten.
This worked best for big farms and larger-scale agriculture, production, and distribution of wheat products.
The ONLY Unhybridized Wheat
Einkorn is like most plants in that it is diploid.
This means that einkorn contains only 2 sets of chromosomes.
About 2,000 years after einkorn wheat, nature created emmer via the natural hybridization of 2 wild grasses.
Consequently, emmer has 4 sets of chromosomes. Kamut and durum (bulgur) wheat are both descendants of emmer.
Spelt, an heirloom wheat, is the result of hybridization between cultivated emmer and another wild grass. Thus, spelt contains six sets of chromosomes.
Modern wheat is a descendant of spelt.
As you can see, einkorn is the purest and most ancient form of wheat available. With only 2 sets of chromosomes, a very different composition of gluten, and low bran, it is the most digestible form of wheat for baking at home.
Where to Source Quality Einkorn
The only downside of einkorn is that it is not widely available and tends to be more expensive than other types of wheat. It is still quite new to the North American market.
If you are sourcing organic einkorn berries, I recommend this quality brand.
If you need organic sprouted einkorn berries for more convenient baking, this farm based in the United States is my preferred source.
Have you tried einkorn wheat yet? If so, what observations have you made about this ancient, unhybridized wheat?
Sarah, do you sift the einkorn flour?
I used this recipe for pancakes and they were yummy http://www.einkorn.com/recipes/einkorn-blender-pancakes-2/
Made these cookies and they looked just like the picture and were yummy
good luck
I have just started milling my own Einkorn flour and I must say I am not having very good luck with it. I have made pancakes using my own recipe and they were very stretchy and hard to flip. When they were cooked the texture was still stretchy. I then made chocolate chip cookies from a recipe on Jovial’s website and they looked nothing like their picture. Mine were very flat and they just peeled off my silicone baking mat. Again, a very weird texture. I think Jovial used their refined einkorn flour for the cookie recipe and that might be the difference. If anyone has any tips for me or help me with this problem, I would appreciate it very much.
Teresa,
I wish there were more recipes and tips out there for the freshly-milled wheat. I’ve had similar issues when using Jovial’s recipes, and later learned (from comments on the recipes) that they were designed for their flour, not the freshly milled wheat berries. :-/
I’ve had great success subbing flour in muffins, and have done half and half in other things, but can’t bring myself to experiment with using it completely because it’s so expensive for it to flop!
I am reading Wheat Belly by William Davis, MD, great informative book, which lead me to Heritage Grain Conservancy, which lead me (indirectly) to here. Love it! I’m so excited to try Einkorn wheat in my continuing efforts to get away from the ‘frankenfoods’ that overwhelm us today!
Why is Jovial’s einkorn inexpensive? Jovial is owned by Bio-Natur, a multi-national corporation that grows, mills and denatures their einkorn flour in Europe, then ships to the US. Their einkorn flour is sifted, denuded white flour that has a shelf life of over a year.
In contrast, the Heritage Grain Conservancy conserves hundreds of almost-extinct grains. I mill all my flour with my own hands each week, leaving all the bran and goodness in. It is alive. I advise you to freeze our whole, living flour to keep it fresh. I grow, mill and bake everything myself from my field to your table. I bake living einkorn sprout bread fresh for each order with my own hands. No machines are used in my bakery (except the flour mill). My husband, Cr Lawn, founded the only seed cooperative in the US .
If you want to buy from a multi-national corp, buy from Jovial. If you want to support an American organic family farm, the conservation of almost-lost species in our ‘eat it to save it’ program, and a one-woman artisan bakery on a farm – buy from Eli Rogosa!
Is this Eli the same as Eli Kafufman? If so, this is the family from MI with the small farm that has sent you a few emails.
How can we help to bring the price of this einkorn down? As you know, we are experimenting with growing it. Maybe there is a way we can help to bring your costs down so that everyone on this forum, and everyone that has yet to meet einkorn, can have easy-to-access and price-friendly einkorn!
Mary Lawton
Eli, when you can offer whole organic wheat berries for me from which to grind my own flour – which is what I do with the wheat berries from Jovial – for $3/pound and free shipping, I will buy from you.
Sometimes income dictates our actions and we are not bad people to buy what we can afford. I am delighted to be able to get this resource at a price my family can handle – we make about $30,000/year.
What you’re doing is great and I support USA when I am able, but sometimes it is just not possible. Much better for you to sell at an affordable price.
Also, I copied and pasted this directly from your website:
“Einkorn’s natural gluten may be safe for some wheat sensititives*. Why? It is not genetically modified like modern wheat. Einkorn evolved from pure wild einkorn from the dawn of agricultur.”
It is inaccurate, as there is not genetically modified wheat on the market today. Wheat is hybridized. There is a huge dofference. You might want to correct this misinformation, though I don’t believe it was deliberate on your part.
I just bought my EINKORN wheat Einkorn.com located in Sugar CIty, ID. There site is http://www.einkorn.com/ I purchased 15 lbs for $57.35 which included shipping. They also have other ancient grains for sale and they are organic. Plus bulk.
Lynn, since you are in ID, you could get a better deal from Azure Standard. They deliver in ID. Also,the amount you bought would have cost $45 from jovial.com – including shipping.
Denise, actually I bought the Einkorn from ID online. I actually live in OR, but never thought to check Azure Standard. We pick up from Azure most every Wednesday. Just ordered einkorn for Wednesday. Thanks for the tip.
Sure thing!
Just made an einkorn sourdough bread loaf for my wheat sensitive family for the first time. We have been wheat free for years (including spelt). All but one could tolerate the einkorn and I think it will be simply a matter of time and all five of us will be enjoying the einkorn bread. Unfortunately we could not tolerate the noodles. We never thought wheat would be a part of our lives again. Super excited!
There is mention in this article about einkorn being $3 per pound and free shipping. Clicking on the link takes me to a $9.99 site. Where is the $3 per pound free shipping?
Thank you!
Mary
That is likely through Azure Standard. Their 25 pound bag is $72 and ships free to an established Azure drop Point. They only deliver in the western half of the U.S., though.
Mary, go to Jovial.com
Excellent article. Thank you! I grow einkorn on my 12 acre organic farm in Western Mass, have an einkorn-only bakery, Mystic Sheaf, and offer our MA-grown einkorn grain and flour on: growseed.org. Our flour is whole grain with all the goodness, fresh-milled for each order. We sell at bulk discounts of $5/lb + shipping to restaurants, coops or groups.
See: growseed.org Eli Rogosa: [email protected]
PS: I would be pleased to sponsor your informative blog as well!
If anyone knows as to a retailer in canada that markets Einkorn wheat or the finished products, please post a reply. Einkorn is amazing, incredible taste, and you don’t feel gross after eating it like the modern hybridized wheats. I’ve ordered some from the U.S. so far… but it’s already expensive price is killer by the time shipping is paid too. Hope somebody knows of a canadian distributor.
(Jovial… open up a canadian outlet!!!)