It was 6:47 on a Tuesday morning, and I was standing in my kitchen staring at what can only be described as a puddle. Not bread dough. A puddle. The kind of thing that spreads slowly across your countertop with the quiet confidence of something that has absolutely no intention of holding a shape. I had followed my usual sourdough routine to the letter. Or so I thought. What I had not accounted for was that I had swapped in einkorn flour for the first time, told myself it would be “basically the same,” and proceeded to treat it exactly like my trusty bread flour. Reader, it was not basically the same. And that puddle? It turned into the best loaf of einkorn sourdough bread I have ever eaten. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.
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What Even Is Einkorn, and Why Should You Care?
Einkorn is one of the oldest cultivated grains on the planet. We are talking about a wheat that was being harvested around 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent. It has never been hybridized or significantly altered by modern agriculture, which makes it a genuinely ancient grain in the truest sense of the phrase. It has a beautiful golden color, a nutty, almost buttery flavor, and a nutritional profile that puts modern wheat to shame in several areas, including higher protein content, more fat-soluble vitamins, and a different gluten structure that many people find easier to digest.
That gluten structure is also exactly why it behaved like a total toddler in my kitchen that Tuesday morning. Einkorn contains gluten, but it is a weaker, more extensible gluten compared to modern wheat. It absorbs water differently, it ferments faster, and it does not respond well to being handled the same way you would handle a high-gluten bread dough. Once I understood that, everything changed.
What You Will Need for Einkorn Sourdough Bread
Before we talk technique, let us talk flour, because the flour is everything here. I have experimented with a few different options and always come back to Jovial. They source their einkorn from small farms in Italy, and the difference in flavor is genuinely noticeable. Here is what I keep stocked in my pantry:
- Jovial Organic Einkorn Whole Wheat Flour, 32 oz 2-Pack — This is my go-to for a deeply flavored, rustic loaf. The whole wheat version gives you all the bran and germ intact, which means more nutrition and a heartier crumb. The two-pack means you will not run out mid-experiment, which, trust me, you will appreciate.
- Jovial Organic Einkorn Whole Wheat Flour, 32 oz Single — Perfect if you are just dipping your toes in and want to try a single bag before committing to a larger purchase. Same beautiful grain, same Italian sourcing.
- Jovial Organic Einkorn Unbleached All Purpose Flour, 32 oz — For a lighter, more open crumb, this all-purpose version is fantastic. It is more approachable for beginners because it is slightly more forgiving than the whole wheat version.
- Jovial Organic Einkorn Unbleached All Purpose Flour, 10 lb Bag — Once you fall in love with this grain, and you will, buying in bulk is the move. This 10-pound bag is what I order now, every single time.
- Jovial Organic Einkorn Whole Wheat and All Purpose Flour Variety 2-Pack — This is the ideal starter bundle. You get one bag of whole wheat and one bag of all-purpose, which lets you blend the two and dial in the texture and flavor you love most. This is actually the combo I wish I had started with.
Beyond the flour, you need your active sourdough starter, filtered water, fine sea salt, a bench scraper, a proofing basket, and a Dutch oven. Nothing exotic. The magic is entirely in the flour and the technique.
The Technique Adjustments That Actually Work
Here is where I have to confess the full extent of my Tuesday morning disaster. I had mixed a dough at roughly 75% hydration, which is totally standard for a modern wheat sourdough. I did four sets of stretch and folds over the first two hours, exactly as I always do. By the end of bulk fermentation, my dough had not just relaxed. It had completely surrendered. It was slack, sticky, and spreading sideways with great enthusiasm. Shaping it felt like trying to wrap a wet towel into a ball.
The bread still came out of the oven looking reasonable, but the crumb was dense and gummy in the center, and I ate it mostly out of spite and determination. Then I did what any obsessed home baker does: I read everything I could find and tried again the next weekend.
Lower Your Hydration Significantly
Einkorn flour absorbs water more slowly and less completely than modern wheat. If your usual recipe calls for 75% hydration, drop it to 60 to 65% when working with 100% einkorn. If you are blending einkorn with all-purpose flour, start at 68 to 70% and adjust from there. The dough should feel soft and slightly tacky, not wet or extensible. When in doubt, add water slowly and stop early.
Handle It Less, Not More
With modern wheat sourdough, more folding generally means more gluten development and a better structure. With einkorn, the opposite is true. The weak gluten network degrades quickly under repeated mechanical stress. I now do just two gentle sets of stretch and folds in the first hour and then let the dough rest completely. That is it. Hands off. Walk away. Go drink your coffee in peace.
Watch Your Fermentation Time Like a Hawk
Einkorn ferments faster than modern wheat, especially if your kitchen runs warm. At 75 degrees Fahrenheit, I aim for a bulk ferment of about four to five hours instead of my usual six to seven. You are looking for a dough that has increased in volume by about 50 to 60 percent and shows some bubbles on the surface and edges. Do not wait for a full doubling. By the time it doubles, you have likely overproofed it, which is exactly what creates that gummy, dense crumb I suffered through on attempt number one.
Cold Proof Overnight and Score Shallow
After shaping, I pop the dough into the fridge for an overnight proof, usually ten to twelve hours. Cold proofing helps firm up the slack dough and makes scoring much easier. When you score, go shallow. A deep cut on einkorn dough can cause it to spread rather than spring up. A single shallow score at a low angle gives you a nice ear without blowing out the side.
The Loaf That Made Me Fall Completely in Love
The weekend after my puddle disaster, I mixed a new dough at 63% hydration using a blend from the Jovial variety pack, half whole wheat and half all-purpose. I did two gentle folds, watched the bulk ferment carefully, shaped the dough before it overproofed, and slid it into the fridge that evening without a single moment of drama.
The next morning I preheated my Dutch oven for a full 45 minutes at 500 degrees Fahrenheit, dropped in the cold dough, and baked it covered for 20 minutes before removing the lid to finish the crust. What came out of that oven was extraordinary. The crust was deep amber and shatteringly crisp. The crumb was soft, golden, and fragrant with that unmistakable einkorn nuttiness. My partner wandered into the kitchen, took one bite, and asked if I had somehow gotten better at baking overnight.
In a way, I had. The disaster taught me more about einkorn sourdough bread in one morning than I could have learned from any recipe. Sometimes the puddle on the counter is the lesson.
If you have been curious about baking with heritage grains but have felt intimidated, I want to encourage you to just start. Grab a bag of Jovial flour, lower that hydration, be gentle with your folds, and trust the process. Your first loaf might be a toddler-shaped disaster. Your second one might be the bread you have been chasing your whole baking life. Either way, you will learn something delicious. Come back and tell me how it goes in the comments. I genuinely want to hear every story, especially the puddle ones.