I recently got some emmer (farro) flour from bluebirdgrainfarms.com ( link ) and have made 3 loaves with it so far.  I got interested in emmer after researching biblical era bread making. This post includes photos of my most recent loaf and a recap of my experience so far with this flour.

For those unfamiliar with emmer, it is an "antique" grain and genetic ancester of modern wheat.  I think it was used (along with barley) in Egypt and the middle east until about the time of the Roman conquest but I wasn't there so you'll have to ask the antiquarians about exact dates.

Anyway, I got curious and ordered some emmer flour from the folks at Bulubird Farms.

I've made three yeasted loaves so far with the flour: (1) an artisan loaf, 60% hydration; (2) a pan loaf, 67% hydration; and (3) another artisan loaf, 67% hydration.  Each loaf was made using 450g flour, 0.5 tablespoon instant yeast, 0.5 tablespoon salt, and either 300g or 270g water.

This is a low-gluten flour that behaves differently from my usual bread flour.  Emmer dough seems stickier than dough made with King Arthur flour and doesn't seem to gain "elasticity" from kneading/mixing.  Labeled protein content is almost identical to King Arthur bread flour as is labeled protein content of King Arthur All Purpose flour, which I find confusing.  I think 60% hydration is better than 67% to reduce stickyness.  Pan loaves should only be baked in a thoroughly greased pan.

The emmer flour is a "whole grain" product that produces a crumb similar in color to regular whole wheat.

The taste of the emmer bread is quite distinctive, sort of "nutty",  and I find it tasty and less harsh than whole wheat bread.  The emmer flour seems a little coarse and the emmer bread feels vaguely granular in my mouth.  Overall I like the bread quite a bit and it might be even better with stuff in it like sugar and raisins and such.  The package label has a muffin recipe that might be very nice (if I ate  muffins).

One drawback to this flour is the cost.  Including shipping it's close to $4/pound!

Hi all. I just registerd. I received my first order of Emmer flour today, and I wanted to make a quick loaf to see how we'd like it. I started with a cup of warm water, a teaspoon of honey and two teaspoons of plain granular yeast. After the yeast got foamy, I started my mixer and started addding flour. I added a cup of emmer and it made a strange-looking/acting dough so I added half a cup of bread flour and then another half cup of emmer. I also added 2 teaspoons of Xanthan Gum and a dash of ginger powder. This made a very sticky dough that was vitrtually impossible to knead. I kept adding bread flour by hand, but the dough quality never improved. I gave up and decided to let it rise for an hour before kneading it some more. I kneaded in more bread flour and it still was acting weird... tearing apart instead of stretching. The yeast is making plenty of gas, but the dough just won't hold together. Is this normal for emmer? The reason I ask is that this is also my first time adding Xanthan Gum to dough. I've read that it helps with low-gluten baking, but it doesn't seem to be helping me at all.

I haven't seen it posted here before so I will risk duplicating. I have found an excellent source of whole grains and whole grain flours especially for emmer or as it is known in Italy, farro. Emmer is one of the precursors to our modern hybridized wheat and is exptremely high in protein. There is some evidence to suggest that emmer and its simpler DNA is more tolerated by those with intolerance to modern wheat gluten. This is a family run organic farm on the west coast... Bluebird Grain Farms and they have a web site at http://shop.bluebirdgrainfarms.com" target="_blank">http://shop.bluebirdgrainfarms.com.

Besides the emmer they grow and sell soft and hard wheat flour and grain, rye and others. All organically grown.

Farro is an old Italian word for Iron and as such can ONLY mean emmer because emmer is the only grain in the world whose limiting factor is iron and will provide 100% of the bodies needs in one cup a day. Farro from italy most often isn't even emmer any more but is spelt. The Italians think the americans can't tell the difference (and they are right - most everybody but I cannot) tell emmer from spelt from barley from wheat from einkorn, especially pearled.

Anyone know of good sources for whole grain farro (emmer, Triticum dicoccum).  This is not spelt. Thanks.

Sylvia