More than 5,000 years ago, a man collapsed in the Tyrol mountains. Days earlier, he had escaped hand-to-hand combat, and he was nursing a severely injured hand. His pursuers caught up to him and shot him in the back with an arrow. It deeply pierced his flesh, shattering his shoulder blade, and he fell, bleeding to death among the cold mountain peaks.
He lay there, under sheets of ice, for thousands of years until his body was discovered in the fall of 1991. Scientists dubbed him Otzi the Iceman, and his body was so well preserved that researchers could piece together the sequence of events that led to his death, what he was wearing, and the contents of his last meal. An hour or two before he fell to that fatal arrow, he enjoyed a large meal of dried ibex, venison, fern, and an ancient variety of wheat called einkorn.
Otzi wasn’t alone in his love of einkorn. Scientists have found it at dig sites stretching from Syria and Turkey in the east all the way to the Isle of Man and Ireland in the west. It’s likely the very first species of wheat to be domesticated and the first to be ground into porridge or made into bread. Traces of it can be found at the Neolithic sites of Cayonu Tepesi and Cafer Hoyuk in Turkey, which predate even Otzi by 5,000 years. It still grows wild there today.
Over thousands of years, modern wheat varieties replaced einkorn. Einkorn is a tough grain to grow and process. Its honey-colored kernels are protected by a thick husk that’s difficult to remove. Moreover, modern wheat yields about five times as much grain from the same acreage as einkorn, making it less profitable. Further, it has a weak gluten structure compared to modern wheat, which makes it more difficult to bake bread, especially on a mass scale.
Modern Revival
For the longest time, einkorn fell to near extinction, with little interest beyond that of anthropologists who studied early Neolithic diets. All that changed in the early 2000s, when Carla Bartolucci and her husband were looking for solutions for their daughter, Giulia, who suffered from multiple food intolerances. As an Italian-American family, bread, pasta, and pizza formed a large part of their diet, culture, and heritage. Carla was on the hunt for solutions and stumbled upon research about einkorn.The research was compelling. Einkorn is more nutritious than modern wheat. It also contains roughly 30 percent more protein and nearly four times as much beta-carotene, a potent antioxidant that acts as a precursor to vitamin A. Further, it also contains considerably more riboflavin as well as lutein (an antioxidant that supports cognitive health, heart health, and eye function). For Carla, while the nutrient-dense nature of einkorn was compelling, the most promising aspect was that the gluten structure of einkorn was different from modern wheat. That tiny difference in the ratio of gluten proteins (gliadin and glutenin) held promise for her daughter, who tolerated the ancient grain but not the modern variety.
But no one sold it. Aside from a few research plots, getting your hands on the grain was difficult. Researchers warned her that the grain lacked commercial viability because it was harder to grow and process, and yields were considerably lower than modern wheat. Yet, she and her husband saw an opportunity and partnered with several organic farmers in northern Italy, forming Jovial Foods in 2010, which now sells einkorn flour, pasta, crackers, and cookies all across the United States. Sadly, she died in 2021, but her legacy remains.
While Jovial Foods is the largest purveyor of einkorn, many small growers have now invested in the grain and made it even more widely available. What was once an obscure, ancient wheat now has a cult following of devoted bakers who love its rich golden color and complex but nuanced flavor. It tastes wheat-like, to be sure, but there are deeper nutty, toasty notes, too.
How to Bake With Einkorn
Baking with einkorn is tricky, but it’s worth your time once you get the hang of it. Einkorn absorbs liquid at a different rate than modern wheat due to its higher fat and protein and lower starch content. So before substituting einkorn in your favorite recipe, consider reducing the liquid and fat content in the recipe by about 20 percent. Einkorn also absorbs liquid slowly, so rest between steps and work at a casual pace.When using yeast or sourdough starter to make einkorn bread, allow it to rise only about 30 to 50 percent rather than double in volume. Einkorn’s gluten structure is different and weaker than modern wheat and will often collapse with extended rise time. Further, you don’t need to knead einkorn bread dough. To make up for its weak gluten, consider adding an additional egg to quick bread, cakes, and muffin recipes for structure.
While it takes a little time to get to baking with this ancient grain, its rich flavor and remarkable nutritional profile make it well worth it. As you work the flour into dough or bake bread, you’ll know you’re working with a grain that spans millennia of human existence.
RECIPE: Einkorn Almond Cookies
RECIPE: No-Knead Einkorn Bread
RECIPE: Buttermilk Einkorn Pancakes
