Ancient grains · 70% hydration

30% Einkorn: Baking the Grain That Refuses to Stretch

Log 023Logged 4 Oct 2026By The Starter DeskFlour Ancient grainsHydration 70%Crumb 3/5

Cross-section line drawing: one 15 degree cut, 3 mm deep, 15 degree cut, 24% open crumb — Crumb line drawing · delicate, golden, falls apart if you cut it hot

Formula at a glance — Log 023

Ingredient	Amount	%
Bread flour	700 g	70 %
Other flour	300 g	30 %
Water	700 g	70 %
Sourdough starter	180 g	18 %
Salt	18 g	1.8 %

Percentages are of total flour weight.

Shaping	short, fat batard in a well-floured 18 cm banneton
Scoring	one 15 degree cut, 3 mm deep, 3 mm
Bake curve	225 °C, 15 min steam, 34 min
Crumb rating	3/5 · 24% · delicate, golden, falls apart if you cut it hot

Einkorn is the oldest wheat still in cultivation and the worst one for bread structure. Its gluten is weak and its bran is sharp, and at 30% it will tear if you look at it wrong. The dough must never be lifted off the bench — everything happens in the bowl, with a scraper, and the finished loaf is short and fat by necessity rather than by choice.

Working with a dough that has no elasticity

Three letter folds in the bowl, 25 minutes apart. A lift-and-fold — the standard move for wheat — will pull an einkorn dough apart at the shoulder. Instead, slide a bench scraper under one third, fold it over the middle, rotate 90 degrees, repeat. The dough never leaves the bowl until it goes into the banneton, and even then it is tipped, not lifted.

Ingredient	Weight	Baker's %
Bread flour	350 g	70%
Whole einkorn	150 g	30%
Water	350 g	70%
Starter 1:5:5, 5 h at 26 °C	90 g	18%
Salt	9 g	1.8%

Short bulk, short retard, low oven

Bulk is 2.5 hours at 26 °C to a 30% rise. The cold retard is only 8 hours, the shortest for any shaped loaf here. Einkorn's enzymes break down its own gluten quickly, and every hour past eight in the fridge costs structure that cannot be recovered. Bake at 225 °C with 15 minutes of steam and 34 minutes total — einkorn browns fast and a hot bake gives a hard shell over a fragile crumb.

Scoring, cooling and cutting

One 15-degree cut, 3 mm deep. Deeper than that and the dough tears along the cut instead of opening. Cool for at least three hours: an einkorn loaf cut warm falls apart into crumbs at the cut face, and no amount of careful slicing helps.

Crumb rating 3/5: delicate, golden, dense at the base.
Flavour is sweet and faintly grassy; it disappears if you bake it dark.
Do not attempt a free-form tall loaf — this is a short batard for a reason.

Einkorn at 30% is the ceiling for a hand-shaped loaf. At 40% the dough is better off in a tin, and at 50% you are essentially baking a batter with a crust.

Sources / 参考来源

Published reference works consulted for this log:

Method, in order

Working with a dough that has no elasticity
Short bulk, short retard, low oven
Scoring, cooling and cutting

Questions that came up

Can I use white einkorn instead of whole einkorn?

Yes, and it is much easier to work with. White einkorn has no sharp bran, so you can go to 40% without the dough falling apart, and the flavour is milder but still distinctly sweet.

Why is my einkorn loaf dense at the bottom?

Either the fold count was too high or the bake was too fast. Einkorn needs fewer folds, not more, and a 34-minute bake at 225 °C. A 45-minute bake at 245 °C sets the base before the dough has finished expanding.

Other logs in this flour type

Home baking notes, shared for information only. Oven temperatures, flour absorption and starter strength differ between kitchens; adjust for yours.