Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- In a large bowl, mix the einkorn flour and water together by hand just until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest for 20 minutes - einkorn hydrates quickly, so it needs less autolyse time than wheat flour.
- Add the starter and salt. Mix gently by hand just until incorporated, about 2–3 minutes. Einkorn's gluten tears rather than stretches, so avoid kneading - gentle folding does the work instead.
- Cover and bulk ferment at room temperature for 3–3.5 hours, with two gentle folds in the first hour. Watch it closely - einkorn ferments noticeably faster than wheat and overproofs easily. It's ready when visibly puffy and airy at the edges, not doubled.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and shape gently into a round - it will feel looser and less taut than a wheat dough, which is normal.
- Place seam-side up in a well-floured banneton, cover, and refrigerate overnight (10–12 hours - don't push much past this, since einkorn keeps fermenting even in the cold).
- The next day, preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C) with the Dutch oven inside for at least 30 minutes.
- Turn the cold dough out onto parchment paper and score with a simple cross or single slash.
- Lower the dough (on its parchment) into the hot Dutch oven, cover, and bake for 25 minutes.
- Remove the lid and bake another 15 minutes, until deeply golden. Einkorn browns faster than wheat, so watch the last few minutes closely and tent with foil if it's coloring too fast.
- Cool on a wire rack at least 1 hour before slicing.
Notes
Einkorn is the oldest wheat species still in cultivation, basically unchanged since before agriculture as we know it existed, and it bakes like it - this loaf will not look like a tall, open-crumbed wheat boule, and that's not a sign you did something wrong.
The single biggest mistake I made the first few times I baked with einkorn was treating the fermentation schedule like a wheat loaf. It moves fast. I've had bulk fermentation finish nearly an hour ahead of a wheat dough started at the same time, and over-proofed einkorn dough goes slack and hard to shape in a way that's hard to recover from.
Baking it low and slow relative to a wheat boule keeps the crust from setting too dark before the inside catches up - einkorn's sugars behave differently in the oven than modern wheat's do.