Tag Archives: Emmer

January 26th, 2019

Emmer Baguette

Category Bread, Overnight Tags: bean flour, Emmer, overnight, wheat free 4 Responses

Having a cold means for me today, that I had to stayed warmly tugged under a blanket on the sofa instead of baking bread in a wood fired oven. To avoid getting to grumpy about that fact I decided to look back on past baking adventures:

For Christmas eve I promised to bring some baguette. And as I felt adventurous I decided to try the Emmer Baguette I was thinking about since I baked the emmer ciabatta last autumn. The white emmer flour which I used lays somewhere between Type 812 and 1050. So it has still a good portion of bran. To enhance the gluten network I opted for enzyme active bean flour – just like I did for the spelt einkorn baguette. And it worked surprisingly well, leaving me with a dough which was easily shaped to a baguette. It hold it shape very well during proofing and had a gorgeous oven spring. The crumb was not as open as I wished for – I guess it is due to the weaker gluten network of emmer compared to wheat or spelt. But the flavour makes us forget about this very fast, as it is at the same time creamy and nutty. So they are a delicious addition to the baguette family on the blog.

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December 24th, 2018

Christmas Bread 2018

Category Bread Tags: bean flour, Buttermilk, Emmer, molasse, Pâte fermentée, Spelt, Sweet starter, Walnut, wheat free 14 Responses

I love to bake bread for Christmas. And nearly every Christmas I included one loaf with nuts, as nuts are an essential treat on Christmas for me. So, the 2018 Edition of Christmas Bread is made with walnuts, spelt and emmer. It has a crisp crust and soft and fluffy crumb, perfect to go along any Christmas delicious.

The preferments are inspired by a look in the fridge: a bit of left over Pâte Fermentée and a Sweet starter that needed a feeding. They add complex aroma notes to the dough which is nicely underlined by the flavour of buttermilk and nutty tone from the Spelt and Emmer.

And with this recipe, my dear reader, I start my christmas break here in the blog. For new years eve I will be back for the traditional “Best of 2018” post. I whish you merry and peaceful Christmas Days!

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October 16th, 2018

Traveller’s Bread

Category Bread, World Bread Day Tags: Emmer, flaxseeds, Sourdough, Spelt, sun flower seeds, Walnut, wheat free 28 Responses

During the baking course last weekend one of the participants wished a recipe for a bread which can be baked without much equipment in a caravan. Choosing grains which has to be kneaded only a short time came to our mind directly. And so I suggest a bread with a mixture of emmer and spelt flour in combination with some flax seeds, sunflower seeds and walnuts for an additional flavour boost. This combination makes it although a nourishing snack for long trips. And baking the bread in a bread pan gives it the right form to fit in every bread box.

And as it is the World bread day today, I will send this little fellow on a virtual travel around the world with all the breads that Zorra will collect as each year on her blog!

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September 16th, 2018

Emmer Ciabatta

Category Bread Tags: Emmer, overnight, wheat free 10 Responses

When I was shopping flour in our local mill I discovered a white emmer flour and I couldn’t resist. It was to tempting and I had already the idea of a pure Emmer Ciabatta in my mind.

The “white flour” of the ancient grains can be varying in their “whiteness” as there is no norm to classify it. My flour turned out to be a darker shade of “white”, so I guess it will equal something between a Type 812 and a Type 1050.

Kneading dough with ancient grain flour needs more attentiveness, as their gluten networks is more fragile and easy to over-knead compared to spelt. So testing gluten development during the kneading is a must here. The window pane test will help to judge this.

The flavour of this bread is great: deep, complex and irresistible nutty but without the slight bitterness of whole grain bread. And I’m already thinking of what to bake next with the other half of the flour bag…

Emmer-Ciabatta

yields 4 Ciabatta

Autolysis

500g white Emmerflour
350g Water

Dough

Autolysis
4g Psyllium hulls
50g Sourdough from the fridge (100% Hydration)
25g olive oil
10g Salt
5g fresh yeast

2. Water addition

90g Water

Mix flour and water and let it rest for 60 min at least.

Now add the remaining ingredients of the dough and knead for 5-8min at slow speed, adding the water in small increments while kneading. At the emd, the gluten network should be very well developed and the dough should be sticky.

If possible, place the dough in a square container, as this makes it later more easy to cut the dough into squares. Ferment for 3 hours, folding every 30min, then place the dough in the fridge for at least 16 hours. After that time span dough should be bubbly. If not, increase the fermentation period a bit.

Heat the oven with baking stone to 250°C

Flour the countertop and carefully turn the dough on it. Divide the dough with a dough scrapper into four pieces. Gently stretch the dough pieces to the typical ciabatta shape.

Lay on a couche (floured), cover with a second cloth and proof for 50 min.

Bake on the preheated stone for 35 min with steam.

August 25th, 2018

Spelt & Emmer Burger Buns

Category Rolls Tags: bean flour, Burger, Emmer, Flohsamenschale, Malt, Spelt, wheat free, whole grain 10 Responses

There is one advantage of recipes which are troublesome in the development: the other good recipes you find on the way. A recipe which development was extremly troublesome is the spelt & emmer sandwich bread I needed for my “Vergessene Getreideschätze” course. It took me over a year until I got the bread just as I wanted it to be. But as I was testing different methodes and the influence of ingredients, I got a lot of good recipes during this tests: Sandwich bread with Emmer, Spelt-Sandwich bread, Spelt-Emmer-Sandwich bread und spelt brioche. And this whole grain Spelt & Emmer Burger Buns are from this series, too.

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April 13th, 2018

Spelt Sandwich Bread with Emmer

Category Bread Tags: Emmer, only with yeast, Poolish, Spelt, wheat free 28 Responses

Before Easter we had some young visitors. And as I doubted that a hearty whole grain bread would be their most favourite bread I baked a soft sandwich bread instead. But – and aunts can be a little mean – I still added 30 % whole grain flour to make the bread hearty and healthy enough for me to enjoy.

This bread is another step towards the whole grain spelt and emmer sandwich bread I work on already for some month. As the combination of emmer and whole grain tends to destabilize the gluten network I added everything to strengthen it: Egg as lecithin source, rose hip powered as vitamin c source and some physillium hulls to bind more water.

And the bread turned out just like a sandwich bread should be: fluffy with shreddable crumb and a crust that was crisp fresh from the oven but turns softer while cooling. And our seven and five year old guests enjoyed the bread very much. It vanished so quickly that my love complained that he got nearly nothing of this fluffy bread. But, as the first grader happily explained, this is because the bread is perfect to be eaten with tooth gaps. And then she took the last slice…

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April 5th, 2018

Emmer-Fruit-Nut

Category Bread Tags: Apricot, Emmer, Fruit, Nuts, only with yeast, Raisins, Walnut 14 Responses

The most exiting part of my “Time for Bread” baking courses is the part when the participants and I develop together a new bread formula. It is so exiting because we bake it together, too and the result is as new for me as for my participants. And the breads in each course vary from each other. This time there was a bread with a heritage grain, nuts and fruits. To give the emmer whole grain flour enough time to soak we put it completely in the poolish. The nuts and fruit mixture soaks overnight as well so they do not withdraw the water from the dough.

I liked the resulting bread very much. The Emmer has a nutty flavour which underlines very nicely the aroma of the walnuts. Raisins and apricots add a fruit sweetness which is still subtle and goes well together with goat cheese.

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March 9th, 2018

Three Grain Bread (Variant 2)

Category Bread Tags: Buttermilch, Emmer, only with yeast, Rye, Spelt, sun flower seeds, wheat free 30 Responses

Sometimes I have “phases” in which I concentrate on a special topic while baking. At the moment it is whole grain. Maybe the very cold or dark winter is the reason why I am craving for grains, I do not know. But it is as it is and so I played a bit with the recipe I posted two weeks ago. The result is a beginner friendly bread which needs not so much planning as works without preferment. To still archive a balanced flavour I opted for a mixture of buttermilk and a tiny bit of balsamico. The amount of balsamico has to be well balanced, as to much can cause a unwelcome stingy tartness. But carefully dosed it creates a flavour with reminders of sourdough taste.

For the rest, I keep the parameters: enough time for kneading and proofing, so the whole grain flour can soak up all liquid its need. And for a little change in the palate I switched wheat with emmer flour. But if you have no emmer flour at hand, it can be baked with spelt flour all along, too.

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January 20th, 2018

Three Grainy

Category Overnight, Rolls Tags: Emmer, only with yeast, overnight, Rye, Spelt, wheat free 14 Responses

I like relaxed baking on weekend mornings. And so I often knead a dough in the evening and put it in the fridge to ferment over night while I dream sweetly. The next morning all I have to do is forming rolls, letting them rise a bit and placing them in the oven.

Following this principles I created the recipe for the Three Grainy Rolls during Christmas holidays. They are easy to make and so perfect for lazy holiday mornings. The dough contains three different grains: spelt, emmer and rye. This adds a deepness to the flavour which is enhanced by the cold fermentation in the fridge. Adding a bit of sourdough is optional, the recipe works well with out but with sourdough is flavour is even more enhanced.

Due to the butter in the dough the rolls have a fluffy crump which is perfect for breakfast. I love them most with a good amount honey!

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December 16th, 2017

Sandwich Bread with Emmer

Category Bread Tags: Butter, egg yolk, Emmer, Malt, Poolish, rose hip 35 Responses

I struggeled a lot with Emmer or Einkorn Whole Grain Sandwich breads this year. The problem was always the weak gluten network of the ancient grain in combination with the bran in the whole grain bread which destabilized the gluten network even more. And so the crumb never satisfied my high standards.

Adding Spelt flour to the mixture did not do the trick and so I still try to create the perfect recipe. And will continue in the next year. To relax meanwhile I decided to bake a sandwich with white wheat flour and 30 % whole emmer flour.

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