Crusty Einkorn Bread

I am not the biggest fan of wholegrain breads but sometimes one is proven wrong. The einkorn crusty bread is a wholegain bread that is made from 100% wholegrain einkorn flour. I was surprised by the extremely long shelf life of the crumb. Even on the third day the bread had a perfect crumb and was just as moist as on the first day. 

The recipe is easy to produce and the pre-doughs come together quickly. Both pre-doughs are made at the same time, whereby the sourdough matures at room temperature and the cooked water-roux is stored overnight in the refrigerator at 4°C. To even further improve the shelf-life and crumb elasticity, you can add a small amount of psyllium seed husk to the main dough.

In addition, the dough can slowly mature overnight at 4 ° C once formed. This processing method gives the einkorn flour even more time to swell and it can bring out its intense taste even better.

Recipe

For a dough weight of 1997g

Sourdough:

  • 200g Wholegrain einkorn flour
  • 200g Water
  •    10g Starter

Dough temperature: 26-28°C       Maturity time: 15-18 hours

Water-roux:

  • 500g Water
  • 100g Wholegrain einkorn flour
  •      5g Salt

Stir together all the ingredients and heat until a pudding-like consistency is formed. After cooking, fill into a small container, cover and store in the refrigerator until ready to use (remove the water-roux from the refrigerator 2 hours before preparing the main dough and allow it to acclimatize at room temperature). 

Main dough:

  • 700g Wholegrain einkorn flour
  • 410g Mature sourdough
  • 605g Water-roux
  • 210g Water (The water absorption can fluctuate depending on the fineness of the flour!!)
  •   30g Honey
  •   20g Psyllium seed husk
  •    17g Salt
  •      5g Yeast

Production:

  • Mix all ingredients on slow speed for 12 minutes. To finish, the dough is kneaded another minute on fast speed (pay attention that the dough isn’t over kneaded!)
  • After kneading let the dough rest in an oiled dough tub for 60 minutes. 
  • Carefully fold the dough after 20 and 40 minutes.
  • After the dough matures, form into a round loaf and place into a floured proofing basket with the seam-side down. 
  • Once it has reached ¾ of its proof, turn the dough out onto a bread peel and slide into the oven at 250°C with strong steam. The steam should remain in the oven until the desired crust cracking has formed. After this the steam is released and the oven temperature is reduced to 210°C.
  • With a dough size of almost 2kg, the load requires a baking time of about 70-75 minutes.