Einkorn bakes.
Did two bakes this week using the fresh milled einkorn flour I've been experimenting with. One was a spur of the moment thing that used a northern cornbread recipe substituting einkorn for the cornmeal and flour. As with most guickbreads it was highly enriched. The result was better than expected being both light and very tasty. The other was a natural leaven bread using 75% einkorn to 25% whole wheat new flour (not counting the flour in the starter). The loaf was dense like most whole grain breads are but also was good tastewise. The picture is of the latter.
Conclusions so far about einkorn:
1) Einkorn is a pain to mill because it leaves a sticky residue on all exposed surfaces of my high speed mill.
2) It is major league sticky when mixing.
3) A soaker or a long autolyse should be used since liquid is slow to be absorbed and less liquid is needed.
4) Gluten formation reminds one of high concentration rye doughs.
5) Dough need structure (bannetons, pans, ...) when final proofing or it will spread into a puddle.
6) The taste of einkorn makes it worth learning how to work with it.
Anyone familiar with einkorn feel free to add to this list.
Stu
Comments
Stu, Thats a great start. I have been experimenting with absolutely 100% Einkorn bread for the past year (bud not grinding my own berries) and I agree with you completely. Keep in mind that besides making bread, wheat was used as glue including as wallpaper glue in Europe and I suspect that the may have been using Einkorn to put that wallpaper up (LOL). My family does like the taste and they enjoy what I produce. I've experimented with every single part of my process and have found that every part has had a small tweak in some way or another to make Einkorn work better for me. I have found Einkorn stuck to me in the strangest places, its that sticky. As for structure, or the lack thereof, I've actually chased Einkorn that has oozed off the counter (fortunately I've caught it every time before it hit the floor).
I do soak/autolyse for 8 to 18 hours and bake with no less than 67% and as much as 85% hydration so it can be done. I like the high hydration better because it otherwise is a dense loaf.
Keep experimenting, its worth it!
the mysteries. A long soak but high hydration is still key. I think much of the water is not only absorbed with a long wet time but it absorbs/uses the extra water/steam while it is baking more so than modern wheat or even rye. Perhaps the Einkorn matrix releases it's own steam earlier in the baking process. If that is the case, weighing the loaf before and after baking should give a higher weight loss difference than the average high hydration wheat loaf. Anyone have an oven with a built in scale so loaf weight can be measured while it bakes?
I agree on all other points. Perhaps because of the success with higher hydrations:
7) I find the baking time is longer and should not be rushed.
Do you know if nonstick gloves are available? Even then einkorn would put them to the test. With this weeks bake I did notice that the bread wasn't done as quickly as usual and had to tent the loaf so the top didn't burn.
I think next is 100% with 70% hydration.
Stu
Freshly milled grain is more difficult to deal with than bought flour. I dread to think what freshly milled einkorn is like.
I agree with every single point. This is why I shy away from einkorn only daring to delve into it every now and again. I actually find rye easier as you can make this like a cake batter without getting your hands dirty (or stuck). Einkorn has the disadvantage of needing a more dough-like structure but is really sticky. No avoiding the hands on approach. And while rye is really delicious, einkorn can be bitter especially if it hasn't risen properly. Einkorn can be nice but still a hit or miss and have yet to find a great recipe for it.
If anyone does have a good recipe then please share.
is with 85% hydration (doing the preferment tonight) a large amount of pre-fermented whole flour and a 5% Tangzhong or water roux. I have to make it a few times before I post the recipe.
Einkorn Queen, Eli Rogosa, recommends that once the loaf is baked let it stand half an hour in the turned off oven.
"Preheat the oven to 400°F Turn down the oven to 350°F. Bake the loaves at 350°F for 45 minutes or until the tops of the crusts are golden brown. Turn the oven off, but keep the loaves inside for another 1/2 hour before taking them out."
I am also tempted to plug Einkorn into my favourite rye ratio with chia, and then tweak it. I could possibly get the chia to hold enough water for a free form loaf. (dream on, right?)
-------------------------
I have copied and checked the math on a free form Einkorn-Rye recipe on my bag of Einkorn flour, it takes a total of 500g of flour (300g whole Einkorn) 200g of sour milk with 250g water (hydration 86%) and uses 7g IDY, 20g honey with 14g salt. 80g of sunflower seeds or other oily seed and if no seeds are used, use 80g more flour. Combine ingredients with mixer 5 minutes, place in a floured bowl (that's a new one)cover and let rise at least half an hour in a warm spot to double. Knead dough for one minute (oh no!) and shape into a ball. Lay on baking sheet and let rise about 20 min. Preheat oven 200°C with fan. Bake about 45 min.
I'm working on a tangzhong for it and more detail for the rising & baking before trying it. But go ahead! Total weight is 1085g
Let us know how it goes Mini. The perfect formula is out there. I'm counting on you. No pressure :)
I just mixed up some soft einkorn dough, about 50g of dough to play with. 95% hydration
I found your non-stick gloves!
I took a pair of clean white cotton gloves and ran them under the cold tap, then wrung the water out and put them on. They could use a little elastic at the cuffs. I scooped the dough into one hand and then played with the dough for a minute without any sticking. I rolled the dough into a cigar, then a ball, then flattened the ball and made a bagel and then I mad it back into a ball all without a problem and maintained a smooth dough surface.
Then I took off the gloves and set them aside. I picked up the dough ball with my bare hands, a tiny bit moist from the gloves. I stuck to it immediately! The dough started to then loose its smooth surface get rough from pulling off my hands. I dropped the dough onto the wet gloves and then washed my hands.
This is hot news off the press, guys! Photos? naturally...
Think of the potential! A wet wrung cloth to shape a loaf or use with other doughs or to lay on the scales to weigh out dough. You do get a few minutes to play. I didn't pressure knead the dough but to fold and roll into a ball or to braid or make bunnies, it will do! I put the gloves back on to make a few photos, my biggest problem was getting a glove off with soft dough in one hand to take the picture without mashing the shaped dough. The dough even cleaned up dough bits on the glove. Pretty neat.
Your turn...
Mini...I think you're some sort of baking guru, and I'm not joking either! Thank you!!
With einkorn sourdough, gloves are less successful. But they work great with a just hydrated yeasted dough. Keep a light touch.
I was just kidding about the gloves but it sure looks like you found a solution to washing hands for ten minutes. I will definitely try that next bake. Progress is slow because as you say have to eat up the last try.
This evening part of my storage leaven will start being converted to einkorn.
Another thing I'm considering is running the ground whole einkorn through a sieve and cooking the sifted out parts in milk before adding to the dough. With whole wheat this seems to mellow the taste as well as allowing for better gluten developement.
It also appears that a higher hydration than targeted will be needed.
If we work together attacking the problem from different angles we might get a better method for einkorn baking.
Good luck on your newest bake.
Stu
adding rubber bands at the wrists for my shaping today. Amazing to go from sticky spatula to gloves that don't stick. My dough was very soft but I managed to coat it nicely with chopped pumpkin seeds and pick it up to put into a long loaf pan.
My biggest problem with Einkorn sourdough is telling when it is ready to bake.
I just screwed it up too, I tipped it out of the shiny pan after 50 minutes baking and it is too soft inside and partially cracked open. Drat. I also rolled it on the rack to upright it and now my loaf has rib marks. Double Drat. Giving it another 30 min at 210°C. Smells good, now that the burnt seeds on the bottom of the oven have cleared out.
Hope your loaf turned out in the end sometimes you just have to eat it not admire or take a picture. A thermometer may be the answer to judging when eincorn is done maybe a center temp of 95C.
Took 20g of storage leaven added 50g einkorn and 50g warm water and left it on the counter overnight. It didn't expand like the usual modern wheat leaven but when stirred could see a network of bubbles had formed. Fed 50g of the new culture with 50g einkorn and 50g water and put in fridge. Will see what it is like Friday.
Still haven't located the cotton gloves but will before this weeks bake.
I just ground a kilogram of einkorn in my Wondermill, and can't corroborate your experience of sticking. My einkorn flour behaved in no way different from other flours in the mill, I cleaned it out with a brush afterwards, as I usually do, without any problem.
Also, I can't agree that einkorn has about the same properties as dark rye, I would rather compare it to spelt or kamut.
I baked a lot with einkorn, to 100% einkorn breads I add yogurt, to give them more structure and prevent spreading. Tastewise I prefer it to whole wheat.
Karin
of einkorn to whole wheat.
In rising tests, just letting it ferment, 10g 100% hydration, simply stirred to moisten. covered. 23°C
IDY. I get more than doubling, volume x 2.5 before it can no longer support itself. Sample doubled in 30 minutes, peaked in 4 hrs, fell in 5 hrs. remained stiff. After stirring flat, it rose in the night to double again (11 hrs later) and has levelled out.
With sourdough it had doubled in 5 hrs and was still slowly rising. Not sure if it fell in the night but it is slightly higher now and still domed at 2.1 times the volume.
8) Einkorn seems to have nice gas trapping qualities and can tolerate bulk rises.
The loaf was left in the oven as it cooled down after adding another 10 min 210°C baking time for a grand total of 1.5 hrs for 1.3kg dough. I managed to saw through part of it. Very hard outer crust. No surprises there. Dolly loves it so we shared, although I have to admit I crunched some of the crust myself. Wrapped it in foil to finish cooling and bagged it overnight. Like the flavour, like the inner crumb. Now to get a tighter smoother softer crust. Sounds like more trapped steam and a lower temperature. With wet gloves, I just might knead the paste a little bit. I'm also less afraid to let the dough rise more before baking. I was being over cautious in that respect.
Maybe the einkorn loaf would respond to the rye bread practice of brushing boiling water over the baked bread just out of the oven? It certainly decreases the bulletproof hardness of some ryes.
Paul
The crust did soften up after being in a plastic bag all night. Still, I was sooooo close to running it under the tap. :)
Good to know we're on the same wavelength. The brioche is better, I think the form helps prevent drying also but I have noticed that the bread quickly shrinks away from the form while baking.
9) The key to flavour is a long ferment. The dough can take it.
Seems like the longer it ferments, the better it gets.
I've been looking for an excuse to dump the inherited high speed mill for a slower stone grinding one. What is your assessment of the Wondermill? Edit Also where did you get your berries? Mine came from AncientGrains.com.
Mini you've been doing all the experimenting. I'm taking notes and will incorporate this week. Probably starting tomorrow.
Bottom of the barrel
Oh NO! I'm out of einkorn flour, hit two stores and both were sold out. :( I got a loaf in progress and thought I had back up. :O NO!
Have a nice starter 861 g of it peaking with 103% hydration and it is like stirring marshmallow creme. Guess I will just have to wing it. This is going to be weird...
Ran out of Einkorn flour... got 425g water with 50g sd starter and only 386g of (500g) einkorn flour.
Decided to look for a soft dough recipe I could plug into. Decided on Floyds posted recipe of "Lazy Man's Brioche" http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/lazymansbrioche
I will add 114g bread flour to make up for the einkorn, 70g powdered milk, yeast, eggs, butter, etc. I have to move fast as my dough has peaked (10 hrs)
I know now I can spread out this dough on a wet towel, fill and roll it up. Cut off cinnamon rolls and we shall see! That's the plan. "cross your bread sticks." EDIT: not a chance! :)
EDIT: Ended up adding to the recipe 100g more bread flour, 2g salt, 80g raisins and some grated orange peel. More like a very thick batter than a dough. It's rising like a soufflé (straight up) and it smells lovely of butter. Put my little mixer to work. I ended up with 1,510 g dough... um... I spooned the dough into a buttered bundt pan and let it rise an hour. Deep steam pan. Already getting too brown after 20 minutes at 210. Covering with foil and turning down a notch to 180°C.
Baked total of 1hr 20 min. Inside temp 212°F or 100°C (boiling) Slid out easily onto a rack. Smells Divine.
That looks really good enjoy. Ground some einkorn berries just a bit ago. From about a quart and a third it yielded three quarts of flour and a cup of sifted out bits. That is a lot fluffier than the white wheat ground just before. Took the einkorn leaven out of the fridge to leave on the counter just to see how it does. It hadn't done much visually but did smell riper than when put in the cold.
the yeast count in einkorn starter. Doesn't look like so much but then when fed seems to reproduce quickly.
My brioche is somewhat dense for a brioche, a fine crumb closer to cornbread both in mouth feel and tastes. Then I would say the corn flavour could be stronger. More like a pound cake... not very sweet with white raisins. A cinnamon butter would be good on it, so would butter and jam. It's a sturdy raisin bread.
The basic recipe (see link previously) does call for a long mix and my dough hooks took to the task. I can just taste the sourdough aspect of it. Maybe stuffing the dough was too great an ambition, go sweet with monkey bread? With chipped apples thrown in? Sounds like I turned it into a cake...
Dolly won't leave me alone for it. She keep crawling between me and the computer.
Lazy Man's Brioche turned Einkorn Raisin Bread reads like this:
Preferment
10 hrs fermentation at 23°C (could be shorter, watch the dough and make your own flavour call, retard early in fridge for longer wet time)
Dough
Suggested mixing: hand beat the eggs into the preferment and move to a mixer with hooks or paddles to add the blended dry ingredients. Mix until the butter has almost disappeared completely keeping dough cool. Clean side of bowl every few minutes. Add raisins and then move heavy sticky batter to a buttered pan.
Let double in volume (about an hour) then into the lower half of a steamy preheated oven (200°C (390°F) turning down to 180°C or 355°F for 75 to 90 minutes. Cover with foil if needed to prevent over browning. Add enough water to keep steam generating for the whole bake, about 4 cups or a litre of water in a empty bread pan on bottom floor of oven.
I baked until inside temp measured 100°C or 212°F with a probe (meat) thermometer.
My guess... If skipping the IDY, use preferment just before or at peak, sourdough may take several hours to proof almost double before baking however, sour and nut flavours should be more prominent.
If using 100% einkorn, I would change the bread flour to 114g Einkorn. I would put the eggs in with the water as part of the liquid measurement. Gotta get my hands on more flour!
That loaf really looks like good. Hope Dolly appreciates it.
The storage leaven that was pulled from the fridge yesterday afternoon became active as soon as it warmed. It had a good lattice of bubbles when stirred, so I decided to start dough. Mixed 35g of the leaven with 400g water then added 500g high extraction einkorn flour. Put the mixture in a partially heated pantry/ storage room that stays about 50F this time of year.
Just took it out and since it was in a clear bowl could see a network of small bubbles forming. To this 8g salt, 40g sorghum syrup ( a local product), and 30g melted coconut oil (definitely not a local product) will be added. It will then be placed back in the pantry awaiting my return in about 10 hrs. If it has shown progress it will be formed (if it cooperates) and proofed in a pullman pan.
BTW after yesterdays milling of more flour than has been done at one time before, I was informed that the process has to be moved from the kitchen to outside or my workshop. It might have something to do with the appearance of a white film coating all near surfaces.
So... you're a banned miller to be moved. Give the banner a kiss. :) Breathing in flour dust is not healthy. The inflammable dust should be blowing elsewhere (out there somewhere or into a good filter or exhaust fan) and ...I would suggest milling as a masked adventurer. Dolly would be banned from the room as a side kick. Mil would be banned because she likes open flames. Just the thought makes me (hold on) sneeze! One of the reasons I don't mill myself.
Got home and the bowl of einkorn dough was forming tiny bubbles so I decided to shape and proof. I confidently wet a clean cotton sackcloth dish towel floured the perimeter of the bowl and scraped the dough onto the towel. It stuck like the glue it is. Got most of it off the towel and onto a floured counter and tried to double roll. Finally scooped up the mass and plopped it into the pullman pan where it is hopefully proofing in the oven with the light turned on. It will probably be one of my best loaves yet. The towel is destined for grease ragdom and will keep the mill company in the workshop.
Sorry it's sideways. This is from the packet of Doves Farm Einkorn flour.
and very similar to what I started out doing until I ran out of einkorn flour. I still think that after the fermenting time, a water roux folded in gave very nice results. Also pumped more water into the loaf. Bake immediately after spooning into form... That's the part of the recipe I'm playing with. I know it can rise more. Gotta make comparison experiments. No kneading, love it! Thank you for posting the side panel recipe. Looks like 80% hydration.
Hey, what do you suppose is "original" yeast?
I'm sticking to the 500g of einkorn flour and playing with it. I was in two more SPAR stores today and they also were out of the flour. ??? They are leaving the shelf price tag marker up so hopefully it is back ordered.
http://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/flour-and-ingredients/original-yeast-125g/
I think it's just dried yeast, not quick action. Has to be proved before using.
Perhaps the stickiness of the Einkorn is telling us "don't handle".
I'm loving all these experiments from both of you. I'm waiting till you and Stu have found the perfect formula ;)
without flour. I had already started the motions to feed my starter (added water) when I no longer had flour. I put the lid on and stuck it into the coldest part of my refrigerator (until I get more flour.) I suppose I could feed it some einkorn bread if the flour situation extends too long and my starter needs feeding.
That's also something I want to try for flavour, feeding the starter einkorn altus. I have about 20g of einkorn starter under about 30g of cold water that is getting a darker shade of grey. (reminds me of when I created it -- at the end of 5 days) I will have to feed it as it was ripe when I added water a few days ago.
Edit... That's what I did, I cut up two slices of einkorn bread and put it into a jar. Then stirred the starter and poured it over the bread cubes (about a cup) added a tablespoon water to the old starter jar to get all the starter and added it to the crumbs. Put jar of cubes and starter it into the refrigerator. It should be good for the weekend and maybe the week.
In the UK. Seeing more of it around. I'll send you some.
The loaf proofed for three hours and I noticed that there were bubbles coming to the surface and popping so decided to go ahead and bake. Put the lid on the pullman pan set it in a cold oven and turned the oven to 315F. Baked for 40min then slid open the lid and watched a cloud of water vapor emerge to reveal a partially done pale loaf. Closed the pan and let bake another 20 min then removed the lid for another 5 min took temp it was 210F. Put it on a rack to cool overnight.
The crust is soft and browned, the crumb has a well spaced network of small to medium size holes. The taste is good but tends more to the sour side than I really wanted.
For the next 100% einkorn I will go with a long autolyse followed by an addition of a larger percentage of natural leaven plus a small amount of IDY and a machine kneading. Baking method will depend on the structure of the dough.
You must have posted that while I was doing the above note. It is interesting that steaming seems to be emerging as a method as well as the long bulk fermentation.
I still want to try and get developed gluten with the eventual goal of a free form loaf. May be a pipe dream.
My pleasure. Just thought it'd be something to get ideas from. I don't think Einkorn likes to be handled too much and making it into a free form dough might be too much for it to handle. But best of luck and keep us posted. You're doing very well and I'm learning from this thread.
Was it wrung out or dripping wet? How tight was the weave? Curious that it stuck... Did you lift the cloth corners and see if the dough would release as you flopped the dough onto itself?
Free form, how about adding Chia seeds? Or crumbled altus?
When I think of baking in open hearths, baking inside of clay bowls make more sense. Porous clay bowls soaked with water, one under, one inverted on top. I did like the way my clay baker turned out an einkorn loaf. Didn't even have to remove the lid.
Or what if the dough was rising/fermenting in a clay bowl and when it reached, say half the volume of the bowl, it was turned upside down onto the hearth oven floor. The dough expands to fill the bowl, one has the shape and the only thing to find out is if the dough releases from the bowl. ???
edit: Wait, this sounds familiar... http://www.aeraweb.org/lost-city-project/feeding-pyramid-workers/
wet dough, covering moulds, scroll down
I was surprised that it stuck. The towel was sold as flour sack material the weave is pretty tight, can't see through it. It was rung out as well as possible by hand. Could that be the problem? I did folded the dough back onto itself to see if it would stick there instead of to the towel, no luck. The clean gloves I have on hand are some heavy cloth ones meant for handling hot things the package doesn't say exactly what they are made of I'll wet a finger and poke the next dough to see if it sticks.
The taste of einkorn lends itself to being mated to seeds and other ancient grains and that is a future line of experimentation. I' m thinking amaranth, quinoa, steelcut oats, sunflower and pumpkin as well as chia.
Before using a DO I was baking on a cheap pizza stone covering the loaf with an unglazed flowerpot that had the hole plugged with some washers and an eyebolt. Might be able to adapt that set up, worth looking into.
When I first started to become interested in sourdough I read one of Ed Wood's books/advertisements that mentioned baking in Giza. The pictures were good information. Maybe if the machine doesn't work I'll try kneading with my feet, the microflora there might just add something.
There is now 400g einkorn autolysing with 300g water in the pantry. I have to go get some IDY as well as visit the towel to make more flour.
experimentation...
small doughs with different hydration placed on a wrung out towel and see which sticks or doesn't stick. Maybe I will do it on a tilted board and let the dough fall/roll down the towel. Perhaps the cloth needs a nap or slightly fuzzy surface. My cotton gloves are not new and are lined dried and not ironed. Don't think that makes any difference. I wrung them out and had them on and off several times without rewetting the gloves, Did learn to pull on the fingers before taking them off because if the glove reverses inside out, it is difficult to get the fingers reversed to put on again. I soaked the gloves in cold water afterwards before rinsing and tossing into the wash.
Perhaps a fermented sourdough sticks more. I will try playing with a ripe starter next time.
Just to add another dimension. I found some gloves that look a lot like the ones your using and made the large investment ($.99) in the cause of experimentation. They are made of 70% cotton and 30% polyester and have a fairly loose weave. I'd show you a picture but still can't figure out how to insert from my tablet which I think of as just an oversize smart phone. I wet the gloves and poked and grabbed some autolysed einkorn only flour and water and while it didn't exactly stick, there were little globules that looked like the beginning of a major mess coming off. The gloves will be rewashed and line dried with expectation of another try.
I wrote a comment for teaman4077's post about einkorn that includes the latest attempt. I'm going to take a short eating break so I can reduce the stock before it gets to the point where the chickens get it. French toast for breakfast.
EDIT The latest attempt makes excellent french toast especially with sorghum syrup.
to my wet towel and while scraping off the dough, I pondered how much added fibre I should desire in bread. I soaked the towel in cold water and the dough washed out easily. So, fermented einkorn sourdough sticks even to wet cloth. Fun. Now what? Roll in flour or nuts or seeds. Will try it on a yeasted Einkorn dough, next. Was your dough yeasted?
I took a portion of that Einkorn loaf baked in grated pumpkin seeds (that got depanned early in the bake) and cut it up, processed it into crumbs. roasted and dried them in the oven. Then sat down with a nice little bowl of them, drowned them in milk and sprinkled sparingly with my Canadian maple sugar flakes. Reminds me sooo much of Grape Nut Cereal. The rest went into a jar to flavour bread doughs or starters. Or use with cheese dishes. Remind me to google for Grape nut bread.
Suddenly dark again. Poor birds, so much wind and every second hour a hail/sleet storm. Great weather to bake. Lousy day to be a bird or a spring flower. Some of our feathered friends are on the downward side of the house huddled on my window sills.
Glad you got more Einkorn flour. The dough that stuck to the towel was a straight sourdough. Right now there is a hybrid natural yeast and quick bread that will go into the the oven shortly. Flour was autolysed overnight then a small amount of starter and salt was added and allowed to ferment all day at room temp. Then egg, honey, baking powder and baking soda was added and mixed. The dough was formed into sort of a boule and put in a highly floured banneton for a short rise. One good thing about Einkorn is that you don't have to let it rest to relax the gluten.
We are supposed to have thunderstorms tonight. We need the rain just hope it doesn't come down in buckets.
Decided to cut the loaf size down so there is not so much bulk to eat when getting rid of experiments.
I will let you know how this loaf turns out.
was an interesting experiment in that I took a familiar rye/chia recipe and replaced rye with einkorn. I mixed the dry ingredients and divided them equally. For liquids half the dough was made with water, the other half water and egg white. Each contained sourdough. 103% hydration. The two doughs were then placed in the refrigerator overnight.
The dough had about the same consistency as a 80% hydration einkorn dough, yup, just as runny. (So a 80% hydration with seeds might be just the ticket.) Anyway. After the immediate cool retardation, the dough was folded in the bowl and rested, twice (dough height is quickly lost in 5 minutes) (I just did it to test the texture of the dough about every 2 hrs) at room temp (22°C) and then moved to a buttered loaf pan with half the dough at each end.
Thinking to compare: egg whites w/ chia vs water w/ chia.
When the dough was nearing double (bulk rise still) I took a narrow spatula and deflated half of each dough, degassing the very outside quarters so that I could compare a stirred deflated crumb to a fallen crumb. I dropped the loaf pan hard onto the counter top to pop any big bubbles rising anywhere in the dough. Sure enough quite a few bubbles broke the surface in the middle only to quickly fill in again. The dough sat covered,rose more returning to "almost double" before being covered foil and baked for 40 minutes, uncovered for 10 more min. 200°C turned down to 180°C after 20 min. Could have used more browning but my thin little loaf was done and had lost that cloudy steamed look it had from being under foil.
The loaf sprung lightly in the oven, got a nice gentle roundness to the top and did not split. (I see I should clean up the "edges" if possible before baking.) This loaf resembled more the first photo of this discussion. Small chia seeds can be seen just under the top crust. The loaf appears equally risen all along it's length with no obvious differences in expansion. It appears that whether or not egg white is used with chia it make no difference. If the dough is played with (as in spooning from bowl to pan) or just banged to deflate large bubbles, nothing seems changed. I let it cool and cut the crust easily in half, the long way to compare the 4 quarters. Bagged it overnight.
Took photos today after the bread has settled. Bread has passed the Austrian MIL test this morning. She was surprised there were no spices in the bread! Also surprised it was 100% Einkorn! Yes, there is a bit of sour. Delightful! This loaf is still using sourdough fed partly with einkorn altus. <---highly recommend can also dust pans with milled einkorn crumbs.
I gave her a slice of the (egg white included) bread but the whole loaf tastes good. The crumb made with only chia and water has a slightly moister mouth feel in chewing. (I think the egg white shortens shelf life and better for "first day only" breads.)
End of loaf showing oven spring and shape. Egg white end.
Water/chia crumb vs. Water/egg white/chia crumb (right) Cuts taken from the "ends"
Below: Test cut to compare all four crumbs (water/chia on right half)
End quarters were stirred before final proof (marked with green bands to end of loaf)
Middle quarters were degassed via shock wave from dropping (left and right of purple band)
I think I prefer the no fuss dropped crumb myself. SIL will be tickled pink!
Time for add ins if desired and time to make a 80% hydration dough and add 6.1% Chia seeds.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/comment/322258#comment-322258
(lets hope that's the right link this time)
I like the taste of this loaf much better than the Einkorn/Chia loaf. Hard to say. The crumb on this loaf is much softer. I still need to get a beautiful looking loaf. I got an idea... :)
The latest attempt was interesting. It ended up 67% hydration without figuring in the egg and honey. Went like this:
1 ) Autolyse 200g Einkorn with 150g water let sit overnight.
2) Add 15g Einkorn starter 20g more Einkorn flour and 4g salt, let ferment 10 hrs. @ room temp.
3) Gently stir the dough to check bubble formation (a little) then add 25g more Einkorn, 8g baking powder, 4g baking soda, 30g beaten whole egg and 10g honey.
4) Dump onto a heavily floured counter and form kind of a boule. Pace in a banneton dusted with a combination of rice flour and Einkorn bran. And let have a very short 30 or 40 min proof.
I mentioned all this earlier but wanted to repeat with the amounts.
5) Preheat a greased glazed earthenware pot with a lid (this is like a wide top bean pot) to 450F. Dump the boule into the pot. It stuck to the banneton only in two spots and kind of oozed down the side of the pot to sort of settle in the bottom. Put the top on the pot place in oven and turn down to 425. Bake for 15 min.
6) Remove lid. Think this may not be as bad as the bake started. Turn heat to 375F bake 10 min and put on cooling rack.
The loaf had good lift and shape with the banneton lines kind of skewed off to one side and wrapped underneath. There was also a lacey edge from where the boule slid down the side of the pot. The top had a natural split that is attractive in an organic kind of way.
The crumb has a good structure and is moist. It tastes however of the chemical leavening, not overpowering but present, less baking powder next time or more enrichments.
I wish that I could show pictures but spent an hour trying to figure out how to do that with no luck. I think that I need professional help (with the tablet) maybe my six year old great nephew is available.
I am late to this thread but here is a thread I started similar to this one:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/45573/100-organic-whole-wheat-levain-no-knead