Einkorn sourdough bread has a wonderfully fluffy, chewy interior and a satisfying, crusty exterior. This ancient wheat bakes the most amazing loaf of sourdough bread, with an added bonus of easier digestion.
Over the last six months or so, I’ve been working on converting the majority of our baked goods to einkorn flour.
Anytime I can’t ferment a baked good (like in chocolate chip coconut cookies), einkorn flour comes in handy. It is the world’s oldest heirloom wheat that hasn’t been hybridized.
Not only is it healthier, because it has more bio-available nutrients like folate, but it is much easier to digest. Some gluten sensitive people find that they can tolerate einkorn, even though it contains gluten.
I set out to create the perfect loaf of sourdough einkorn bread, and after a few tweaks, it comes out just right every time.
Truth be told, after I really perfected my no-knead sourdough bread recipe a few months back, I applied some of those techniques to this bread and couldn’t be happier with the results.
The bread rises so much more, and really blooms revealing the beautiful design.
If you are new to sourdough, you can find how to create a sourdough starter here.
Pair it with some cheeseburger soup or roasted red pepper and tomato soup for a delicious and comforting meal.
Tips:
- To ensure your bread is 100% einkorn, start your sourdough starter with einkorn flour, or convert your current starter to einkorn flour.
- Working with einkorn flour is different from conventional wheat. It yields a much stickier dough and can be tricky to shape. You can make this in a loaf pan or a dutch oven. A loaf pan makes perfect einkorn sandwich bread, whereas the dutch oven will yield a crusty loaf.
- When using a sourdough starter, it is recommended to use filtered water (this is my favorite way to filter water). Some water may contain too much chlorine, which can kill the beneficial bacteria and yeast.
- To really make this bread rise and have the perfect texture, I incorporated a modified stretch and fold process like with my other sourdough loaf. Since einkorn doesn’t have the same type of gluten structure, the process looks a little different, but still yields a wonderful result that is light and airy.
- I use both whole grain einkorn flour and all-purpose einkorn flour. I found this combination to be best for creating a delightful texture. You can substitute the whole grain einkorn for more all-purpose flour, if that is all you have on hand.
- Einkorn dough tends to be much stickier than regular bread dough. I like to use dampened hands and a bench scraper to combat this without having to add extra flour.
Watch The Tutorial
FAQ
I don’t have an einkorn sourdough starter, can I still make this?
Yes, you can use a regular wheat sourdough starter without issue.
How do you convert your wheat sourdough starter to an einkorn starter?
If you want to make this bread 100% einkorn, convert your starter to an einkorn starter by feeding it with einkorn flour for a few days. By the fifth feeding, your starter will be around 96% einkorn flour.
How do you know your sourdough starter is ready?
To make a delicious loaf of bread, you need to use a nice, active starter. Feed your starter 4-12 hours before creating the dough. It is usually ready when it has doubled or tripled in size.
Take a spoonful of your active starter and drop it into a cup of water. If it floats, then it is ready to use for bread.
How long does sourdough bread last?
Allow sourdough bread to cool completely before storing. Place in a bread box, an air-tight container, or a plastic zip-lock bag and store at room temperature. It will stay good for 4-5 days, if it’s not all gone by then!
You can also store bread in the freezer for a few months.
Can einkorn flour be used for sourdough?
Yes. While you cannot just use your favorite sourdough bread recipe (or any other sourdough recipe) and convert it to an einkorn version one-for-one, you can easily use einkorn flour for sourdough with a few tweaks. This is because einkorn flour requires less liquid than other flours.
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Tools you may need:
Grain mill (optional) – I love my Mockmill
Stand Mixer (optional)
Measuring cups
Lame
Bench scraper
How To Make Einkorn Sourdough Bread
Feed your sourdough starter 4-12 hours before starting your dough.
Once your starter is nice and active (lots of bubbles), grind einkorn berries, if needed. Skip this step if you have pre-ground flour.
Add flour and salt to a large bowl. Mix together.
Add sourdough starter and water to a large bowl and mix with your hands until it comes together.
Let rest for 15 minutes.
Flatten out dough and then stretch and fold in the edges on all sides. Roll into a ball. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap or beeswax wrap.
If the dough is sticky, dampen your hands before working with it. This allows you to easily work the dough without adding any extra flour.
Allow to rest again for 20 minutes. Repeat flattening and folding process.
Allow to rest for 20 minutes again and then repeat process another time.
Shape and cover with plastic wrap.
Allow to rise until doubled in size, about 3-12 hours, depending on the temperature of your home.
Shape loaf with hands. Place it in a floured banneton basket. Cover with a plastic bag and place in the fridge overnight.
If you do not have a banneton basket, you could use a piece of parchment paper. Place the dough on the parchment paper, place in a bowl, and cover to rise.
I usually use a plastic grocery bag and tie it to help keep it more air-tight.
The Next Day:
Preheat the oven to 450.
Place dutch oven in the oven and preheat for 30 minutes to an hour.
Once the dutch oven has preheated, take the dough out of the fridge and place onto a sheet of parchment paper.
Score the top of the dough and gently place the parchment paper and dough into the dutch oven, cover with lid, and place in the hot oven.
Bake for 30 minutes with the lid.
Remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes until golden brown.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool before slicing.
How To Store:
Wrap with beeswax wrap, in a bread box, or in an airtight container for 3-4 days. You can also place in a ziplock bag (sliced or whole) and freeze for an extended period of time.
Baker’s Schedule:
The night before: feed sourdough starter.
The Next Morning:
8 AM: Start einkorn sourdough bread dough. Mix together ingredients. Allow to rest for 15 minutes.
8:20 AM: Flatten and fold dough. Shape into ball. Place into bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Rest for 20 minutes.
8:45 AM: Repeat the same process allowing the dough to rest, covered, for 20 minutes.
9:10 AM: Repeat that same process allowing the dough to rest, covered, for 20 minutes.
9:35 AM: Shape and cover with plastic wrap. Place in a warm spot. Allow to rise until doubled in size, about 3-12 hours, depending on the temperature of your home.
7 PM: (This time is dependent on when the dough doubles in size) Punch down dough and shape into a ball with hands. Place it in a floured banneton basket. Cover with a plastic bag and place in the fridge overnight.
The Next Day
8 AM: Preheat oven to 450 and allow dutch oven to preheat for 30 minutes to an hour.
9 AM: Take the dough out of the fridge and place onto parchment paper. Score. Place into dutch oven and bake.
How To Make Einkorn Sourdough Bread Loaf
Mix together the dough as previously stated.
Shape loaf with hands and put in a greased loaf pan; allow to rise until doubled in size. This will take around 3-12 hours.
Bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes until the top is golden brown.
Find More Einkorn Recipes Straight From Our Farmhouse Kitchen
- The Best Einkorn Pie Crust
- Gingerbread Cake With Einkorn Flour
- Einkorn Tortillas
- Einkorn Flatbread
- Berry Crisp Made With Einkorn
- Homemade Gnocchi With Einkorn Flour
- Einkorn Pancakes
If you try this recipe and love it, I would appreciate if you could come back, comment on the post, and give it 5 stars! Thanks.
Einkorn Sourdough Bread
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose einkorn flour
- 1 cups whole grain einkorn flour
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 1 cup sourdough starter
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- Feed your sourdough starter 4-12 hours before starting your dough.
- Once your starter is nice and active (lots of bubbles), grind einkorn berries, if needed. Skip this step if you have pre-ground flour.
- Add flour, sourdough starter, salt, and water to a large bowl and mix with your hands until it comes together.
- Let rest for 15 minutes.
- Flatten out dough and then stretch and fold in the edges on all sides. Roll into a ball. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap or beeswax wrap.
- Allow to rest again for 20 minutes.
- Repeat flattening and folding process. Allow to rest for 20 minutes again and then repeat process another time.
- Shape and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise until doubled in size, about 3-12 hours, depending on the temperature of your home.
- Shape loaf with hands. Place it in a floured banneton basket.
- Cover with plastic bag and place in the fridge overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 450.
- Place dutch oven in the oven and preheat for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Once the dutch oven has preheated, take the dough out of the fridge and place onto a sheet of parchment paper.
- Score the top of the dough and gently place the parchment paper and dough into the dutch oven, cover with lid, and place in the hot oven.
- Bake for 30 minutes with the lid.
- Remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes until golden brown.
- Allow to cool before serving.
Notes
- If you want your bread to be 100% einkorn, start your sourdough starter with einkorn flour, or convert your current starter to einkorn flour.
- Working with einkorn flour is different from conventional wheat. It yields a much stickier dough and can be tricky to shape.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Can bread be baked in loaf pans? I don’t own a Dutch oven
You could, but it won’t get that yummy crusty exterior. I would add a small pan of water in the oven to help create steam with can give the bread that crust.
Hi Lisa
If I want to mill my own Einkorn for this recipe what are the two types to purchase (Azure Standard preferably)?
Or are they just two difference levels of milling of the same standard Einkorn grain?
Thanks so much!
I just mill the einkorn grain. I don’t know of two different types.
Hi lisa! Do you find using ap flour discard recipes with einkorn flour to require altering? I only want to use einkorn but want to use all the cool recipes for starter discard, too. Not your recipes specifically, just all of them!
Not usually. I’ve used a einkorn starter for regular ap flour sourdough recipes, and a ap starter with einkorn recipes. The starter doesn’t usually change things much.
So I followed the recipe (halved it), but when it came time to shape the loaf before the refrigeration, the dough was essentially the texture of starter! There was no way I could actually shape it into a loaf. It was extremely bubbly and runny. Do you have any idea where I went wrong? Thank you!
It is hard to know exactly, but how long was it fermenting? My guess is that it was over fermented. But it’s hard to determine without knowing all the steps taken.
Hello I have seen several people on YouTube’s making Einkorn bread and most of them say that having a bowl of water next to you while pulling and folding is the way to go , by wetting gently your hands while dealing with the Einkorn dough.. it won’t stick as much to your hands fir sure… if you put flour you take the risk if making it too dry and crumbly when you bake it . They say as a rule that when you have a very wet dough pulling and folding develops the gluten very well and it permits also the Einkorn flour to absorb the water a lot better . The bread afterwards is more fluffy. When propke decides to let it in the fridge overnight covered of course, with tea towel and plastic bag for two or 3 reasons . There is the fact that the good levain bacteria’s works better growing slowly during his rest in the fridge ( but it doesn’t mean that you « have « to do it over night in the fridge either) and helps the digestion, and develop all what the levain can give . The levain bread keeps longer very good doesn’t dry like others ..
and also could be very practical, like she does it also to fit her timeline. At the end putting the dough in the fridge helps in all ways .
I have started using fresh milled einkorn flour from whole berries and my sourdough loaf is very, very dense. I read somewhere that adding a couple of spoon of lemon juice in place of a couple of spoons of water might help air it out and lift it up.
Also, how do you make bread flour or AP flour from whole berries ground with MockMill.
One more question. What number should I grind the grain.
I have personally never tried making all purpose flour. I would like to learn though. I have also never tried the lemon juice trick! Using all whole wheat will also yield a denser result than all purpose. I don’t think there is any way to get around that. I usually only put a small amount of whole wheat in my recipes, so it adds nutritional benefits but I can still have light bread. I have my mockmill set to 4!
Hi, this is a helpful tutorial. Einkorn is sooo tricky! I’m trying to make an Einkorn sourdough enriched loaf. Have you had success creating that?
I have not personally tried that yet!
Hey Lisa,
I tried the recipe yesterday and it didn’t really work that well because the bread didn’t rise that good and there were no “big bubbles” in the baked bread, in fact it was very dense and I think it also tasted more like sourdough than my sourdough breads usually do.
Do you have an idea what my mistakes could have been?
It was my first time with einkorn, I used a rye starter (that’s been fed and also is quite “old” – I think 3-4 years), i substituted spelt whole grain for the einkorn whole grain. But other than that I was stiking to your recipe.
I love the taste of einkorn so I really want to try again. Any ideas what I might have done wrong?
Thanks for your great recipes though!
Anna from Austria 🙂
Sounds like you have a good active starter, because that would be my first thought. The other is the gluten may have needed a bit more developing.
Hi I can’t get all purpose einkorn flour in UK, only whole meal. What can I substitute for all purpose einkorn? I wondered if white spelt flour would substitute….
Thanks
It’s tricky to convert from einkorn. I do have a sourdough bread recipe using spelt flour, though, that you can check out here: https://www.farmhouseonboone.com/spelt-sourdough-bread hope that helps!
Melanie, you can sift the bran out of your regular einkorn flour to create an AP einkorn flour. Use a fine sieve.
I made my own starter with einkorn using your instructions (love your details and instructions – very easy to follow). I baked my first loaf last week and it was delicious!
My family really enjoyed it and it is now a house favorite.
That’s wonderful! So glad you enjoyed this recipe and that your starter is doing well!