Whole Grain Einkorn Sandwich Bread

Grand Teton Ancient Grains

 

I started baking with Einkorn about four years ago. I was lucky to have family members much further along the journey and learned a lot from them. But they were all into sourdough. And I wasn’t ready for that. So I searched the internet for a good, simple yeast Einkorn bread recipe. And I tried my share, but none of them seemed quite right. I started to think that Einkorn just couldn’t make as good a bread as wheat, but I loved Einkorn so much I kept at it.

 

Was one flavorful loaf without weird ingredients that actually rose too much to ask?

 

Many of the recipes I had tried had elements that I liked, but none of them were worthy of becoming my forever bread recipe. I finally decided to just make my own using the things I’d learned from trying other recipes.

 

 

Here’s what I learned.

 

First, Einkorn dough needs to be wetter than you’d think. Many of the bread recipes didn’t work because there was simply too much flour. Einkorn can be desperately tricky to work with. It is a wetter grain and takes longer to absorb liquid, and the dough can be very sticky. I’ve thrown mini tantrums trying to roll cinnamon rolls or peel naan off the counter. But, recipes that combat that with more flour always ended up dense and crumbly. If you add enough flour to Einkorn bread that the dough isn’t sticky, you probably aren’t going to like the finished product. So, I’ve learned to embrace the sticky. There are certain things that make that easier – invest in a dough scraper and wet or oil your hands when working with difficult dough.

 

I don’t even try to shape this recipe into loaves. It’s too wet and sticky for that. I keep a bowl of water nearby to wet my hands and I just get the dough into the greased pan. Then I wet my fingers some more and smooth it out in the pan. The results have always been very nice.

 

Second, butter! Because Einkorn dough is sticky, I found that it sticks to the pan and I had a frustrating time getting it out. I was using coconut oil. One day I decided to try butter. And…

 

Eureka!

 

I have no idea why, but it made all the difference. I don’t understand the science behind it, but butter made it so much easier to get out of the pan. If you are vegan, coconut oil will still work.

 

 

Third, salt. I feel like the vast majority of bread recipes out there are under salted. Many of the recipes I tried just ended up being very bland. Einkorn has an amazing flavor, but a little salt certainly helps it along. I use real salt or himalayan pink salt.

 

Fourth, don’t over knead Einkorn dough. This recipe is hardly kneaded at all. You just combine the ingredients and then let it rise!

 

This is a recipe I actually use…like all the time. I make this bread every one or two weeks. It freezes well, so I make three loaves at a time and freeze two of them. We use it for everything and my husband has not found a sandwich bread he likes better.

 

If you’ve had poor luck with Einkorn sandwich bread, search no more!

 

Grand Teton Ancient Grains
Print Recipe
4.75 from 4 votes

Whole Grain Einkorn Sandwich Bread

Super easy, forgiving, and delicious, this bread recipe is a go-to at our house.
Servings: 1 loaf

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Mix water, yeast, and honey into a stand mixer and let stand while the flour mills. If you're not milling yourself, just wait until it's frothy.
  • Add flour and salt and mix until just combined. It may not pull away from the sides of the bowl. That's ok. Don't overknead.
  • Let rise in mixing bowl for 25-35 minutes. It should rise well, but doesn't necessarily need to double. Just do what you have time for.
  • Knead to punch down.
  • Place in buttered loaf pan (You can use oil, but we’ve found that butter works SO much better for this particular recipe. It prevents sticking much better than oil). It may be too wet to shape. Don’t add more flour. Just water your fingers and smooth it out in pan. You don’t have to shape it into a loaf. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and let rise in the pan for another 25-30 minutes.
  • Bake for about 33-38 minutes until golden brown.
  • Remove from oven and butter the top. Let cool 20 minutes in pan.
  • Remove from pan and let cool for an hour or so (We’ve also sliced it right then if you can’t wait, but if you’re going to do that, we recommend an electric knife to avoid squishing it).

 

Please let us know how your Whole Grain Einkorn Sandwich Bread turned out and share your feedback with us in the comments below. Want more Einkorn baking recipes?  Check out this Einkorn cookbook:  Baking & Cooking with Einkorn by Heidi Ellis

 

If you love this recipe then you might also want to try these other recipes:

 

Remember to share your Ancient Grains creations with us on social media using the hashtag #AncientGrainsRecipes and #GrandTetonAncientGrains. We can’t wait to see your culinary eye candy as you capture and share the beauty of your nutritious creations.

33 thoughts on “Whole Grain Einkorn Sandwich Bread”

  1. Thanks for the insight on baking with einkorn. I’ve been looking for a bread recipe, and am excited to try this one. I was just wondering if the amount of yeast is actually 1 1/2 tsp or 1 1/2 tbs.

    1. hello,
      Love the fact that this recipe uses honey, but was wondering have you experimented with yeast substitutes, such as sour dough, potato, etc…….
      thanks
      georgia

    1. Grand Teton Ancient Grains

      Hi Douglas, you’re absolutely right! I usually make three loaves at a time and forgot to reduce that ingredient. I’ve fixed it. Thank you!

    1. Grand Teton Ancient Grains

      Hi Terry, thank you for your question. No it’s supposed to be 1 1/2 tsp of salt. I usually make three loaves at a time and forgot to reduce that ingredient. It’s been fixed. Thank you!

  2. I can’t wait to try this! I’ve been making a sandwich bread with some einkorn, but as I’ve increased the amount of einkorn, the bread has not been as good. I have been milling my berries on a very fine setting – is that okay for the bread?

    1. Grand Teton Ancient Grains

      Hi Lisa, yes as fine as you can get it is great. Einkorn does not behave like modern wheat. So if you’re just increasing the amount of einkorn in a wheat recipe, it will get steadily worse the more einkorn you use. Recipes written for einkorn can be great, but einkorn is more difficult to work with and it won’t be like modern wheat. The dough will be stickier and wetter and should be or it will be very dry and crumbly. I hope that is helpful.

  3. I’m looking for an Einkorn (all purpose white) Dutch Oven bread recipe. Do you have one to share? One that doesn’t use a starter or yeast? Thanks!

    1. Grand Teton Ancient Grains

      Hi Rodna, no, this recipe is written specifically for einkorn which does not behave the same as modern wheat, but there is no shortage of regular wheat recipes out there, so I’m sure there is one that’s comparable.

  4. hi! My family LOVES this bread! the only issueni have is that there is always a hole in the middle. the bread bakes and reaches an internal temp of 190-200 degrees Fahrenheit. any ideas? am I not kneading it enough? it’s so sticky I may not be punching it down enough. any ideas? thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe!

    1. Grand Teton Ancient Grains

      Hi Susan, that’s strange. I’ve never had that happen. Do you mean literally in the middle of the loaf or just under the crust?

    1. Grand Teton Ancient Grains

      Hi Elsa, generally honey is actually sweeter than sugar, so you could use more of it, but I wouldn’t worry too much about that. It’s not really in there to add much sweetness (It does add a little). It’s mostly in there to feed the yeast, so you could probably just substitute it straight across and it would be fine.

  5. 5 stars
    This bread worked perfectly and was very tasty. I wish whole grain einkorn could make a taller loaf, but I haven’t read a way to make that happen yet. Thank you for sharing!

    1. Grand Teton Ancient Grains

      Bread machines can work for ancient grains but they take some tweaking because the recipes will be different and bread machines will often over work the dough.

  6. Jonni doeppenschmidt

    I have a problem making Einhorn wheat bread in my bread maker. I am using 1 1/2 tsp yeast but every loaf sinks in the middle.
    Jonni

    1. Grand Teton Ancient Grains

      Hi Jonni, since we’ve never owned a bread maker, we haven’t developed a recipe for one. I would search online for a breadmaker recipe specifically written for einkorn since it doesn’t behave the same as modern wheat.

  7. My loaf has a slight dip in the middle instead of a round top. Could it be over proofed? Both rises were about 30 mins, and the loaf looked nice and round before going in the oven. I even reduced the yeast to 1 ½ tsp and it rose very fast. Next time I would do no more than 1 teaspoon yeast.

    1. Grand Teton Ancient Grains

      Hi Rachel, the recipe was supposed to call for 1 1/2 tsp of yeast. I have fixed that error. As for the dip, it probably just rose too much. The rise time can vary based on the warmth of your kitchen. I’d suggest cutting down the second rise by five minutes or so. I normally just put it in the oven when it has just crested the pan.

  8. 5 stars
    Thanks for the delicious and simple recipe. Made this bread yesterday…..best bread I have made yet in 1 1/2 years. I have tried several recipes and this one was so simple to make and so delicious, my bread came out beautiful.

  9. Hi, I read your wonderful post about using metric measurements for baking, yet your recipes are written in imperial measurements vs. metric. Metric is so much easier in baking and, as your article stated, I have found the it much more consistent especially when I switched to milling my own flour. Metric measurements are also much easier when figuring baker’s percentages for scaling recipes. I no longer buy cookbooks that do not include metric measurements (I believe the einkorn cookbook you sell only uses imperial, which is the reason I have not bought it) and I do not bake from recipes I find on the internet that do not include metric measurements. I am 68 years old, so you can teach an old dog new tricks😂. Please consider adding metric measurements to your recipes, they look wonderful and though I have been buying most of my wheat berries from you I do not use your recipes.

    1. Hello Carol!

      Thank you for your comment. We have lots of people contributing recipes for our website and they each choose how they do their measurements. We hope to add both metric and imperial measurements to each of our recipes in the future. Thank you for the feedback!

  10. Novice here! I just made my first load ever, this recipe, last week. It turned out pretty darn good, really! Not quite as soft as I was hoping, but I’m wondering if I need to knead differently? What do you mean by ‘knead to punch down?’ I read in my Joy of Cooking book that I should take the dough and push it away from me, turning & reshaping, for ~7-10 mins. But in your recipe you say to barely knead at all. So, last time I just kneaded a bit in the bowl and that’s it. Should I do more? Or less? Any tips would be so appreciated. Thank you!

    1. Hello Kiley!

      Glad you decided to give Einkorn a try. There is a learning curve when it come to using ancient grains. The texture tends to be a little denser than bread made from traditional wheat. In our experience, over kneeding Einkorn dough tends to create tougher bread. We would recommend trying to kneed it a little less, but if you want to try kneeding it longer, give it a go! When it comes to learning to work with Einkorn, experimentation is key.

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