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Einkorn: Recipes for Nature’s Original Wheat written by Carla Bartolucci is just as much of an interesting read as it is a wonderful guide for cooking and baking with einkorn. To turn its pages inspires you to spend days in the kitchen losing yourself in enjoyment creating the foods that you’ve read about and crossing your fingers that they look like the mouth-watering photos taken by Clay McLachlan.
As Carla explains in the book, “the content of gluten in einkorn is actually similar or even higher than the levels of gluten in modern wheat” but because “neither of the two gluten forming proteins behaves as it does in conventional wheat, the gluten in einkorn can be tolerated by many people with sensitivity to wheat.” This book isn’t just good news for the gluten sensitive. I have found einkorn to be deliciously satisfying and a far cry from the flavor sacrifice often associated with “healthier choices.”
Einkorn also “contains 200 percent more lutein than modern wheat, the same antioxidant that gives egg yolks their yellow color. When compared to durum wheat, einkorn has 50 percent or more manganese, riboflavin, and zinc and 20 percent or more magnesium, thiamin, niacin, iron and vitamin B6, all essential nutrients.”
The first 21 pages of the book, both interesting and concise, explain everything you would want to know about einkorn: tips for working with einkorn and genuinely helpful techniques that may seem counterintuitive to the seasoned baker, but prove – in practice – to work very well. Many of the recipes include variations to bake with either sourdough or yeast and I utilized both with great success. Unlike so many cookbooks that feature exotic ingredients and impossible ambitions, Einkorn: Recipes for Nature’s Original Wheat is both beautifully illustrated and comprehensive with no detail overlooked.
The No-Knead Overnight Artisan Loaf is a rewarding place to start for someone familiar with bread baking (especially Italian style breads) but also a great introduction to working with einkorn, even for someone who’s trying it for the first time. The book also has great tips on how best to store each type of loaf, but mine didn’t last more than 24 hours on my kitchen counter – lazily wrapped in a tea towel – because we gobbled it all up.
The last recipe I tried was the Two-Hour Dairy-Free Sandwich Loaf and I’m pleased to say that not only did it takeno more than two hours from start to finish but the rise and flavor surpassed my expectations.
From sourdough crackers to Korean dumplings and olive oil wine cookies, this bookhas a surprisingly broad array of well seasoned recipes. What makes Einkorn: Recipes for Nature’s Original Wheat truly unique is its commitment to maximum nourishment through ingredients and techniques that have long been forgotten but really aren’t a sacrifice. This cookbook is in a lot of ways a roadmap back to real food. Einkorn: Recipes for Nature’s Original Wheat has earned itselfa permanent place in my kitchen. Find your copy in the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Store.
Lindsay Williamson is a mother to two beautiful boys, keeper of bees and backyard chickens, baker and fermentation enthusiast. She is the co-owner of Farmhouse BBQ–a BBQ pop up and catering company that specializes in 100% oak smoked, grass-fed brisket. She is also the homesteading instructor at Haywood Community College in Clyde NC. You can contact her via email at lindzwilliamson@gmail.com. Read all of Lindsay’s MOTHER EARTH NEWS posts here.
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