Einkorn Flour ~ Baking and English Muffins

Upon learning from a few blogger friends about einkorn flour, and the health benefits (and less gluten), I had to try some.

I first checked the library system for the recipe book, but could only borrow this one:

I wasn't able to borrow the other cookbook einkorn has.  In fact, there was only one copy of this particular book to borrow from our inter-loan system (from other area libraries).

 I ordered the all-purpose and the whole grain flour to try.

First, I used the all-purpose flour to make the jam fruit bars.  They tasted great!  I swapped the all-purpose white flour for the einkorn all-purpose wheat flour.  I also used it with fruit breads and cakes.  It worked great for those types of baking.


Next, I tried substituting the wheat flour in my English muffin recipe, using the all-purpose einkorn wheat variety. You can get the recipe I use here.

The dough was sticky and lighter, and difficult to work.  They did wonderful at rising, but when I went to put them into the pan, some deflated and didn't hold their shape.  I few turned out a bit too thin. However, they tasted great and a bit less dense. Overall, they looked good and tasted good.
 

Next, I made the English muffins using the whole grain variety flour (for the wheat flour).  My recipe requires 1 1/4 organic bread flour and 1 cup wheat.   

I found this dough even stickier than the last.  It more difficult to manage, required me to oil my hands and flour the surface while kneading it.  This required more flour than the last experimental muffins.

The second rise did not do so well, and again wanted to deflate as soon as I moved them to the pan.  I had to touch them as little as possible, and move then very gently.

This second batch turned out thinner.  After slicing some in half, there wasn't much left of them for a sandwich or for toasting.  Only one in the batch was thick enough to call it an English muffin.  Overall, I wouldn't make them with this amount of whole grain.  I may try this again using 1/2 cup of the whole grain and 1/2 all purpose.   Einkorn whole grain is definitely a tricky flour to use with a rising dough recipe.  I would call this batch a "fail."

I have only tried the all-purpose variety in my baked goods so far.  I will be using it to swap out the wheat flour in any upcoming recipes (baking) and I'll be sure to update on that too.


To distinguish the true difference in both flours, I emailed the company.  They answered the same day:

Hello,

Thank you for your email.  Yes Einkorn is wheat.  The whole wheat einkorn is the entire wheat ground to flour.  The all-purpose flour is high extraction flour.  So we mill the flour at 81% removing a portion of the bran and most of the germ giving you ap flour.  The majority of the nutrients are stored in the endosperm of the wheat so are not losing losing the a lot of the nutrients.