My Journey with Einkorn in the Hills of Tuscany

I’ve fallen in love with the ancient grain Einkorn so I jumped at the chance to attend a workshop to learn more about baking with it. The event was hosted by Jovial Foods, and the setting was a beautiful villa nestled in the hills of Tuscany.

I wanted to get more practice making different types of bread using Einkorn, and what better way to learn than to go to the source, the source of the wheat, that is. 

Jovial Foods is the main grower of Einkorn wheat. Currently, their wheat is only grown in Tuscany. They also produce Einkorn pasta products and olive oil from ancient olive trees as well as gluten-free products.

Carla (one of the partners and our host at the workshop) has recreated almost all types of breads using Einkorn. This interested me because that’s what I’ve been trying to do.  I got to learn from her trials and errors.

I have a lot more experimenting to do, but while I was there, I had the opportunity to immerse myself in the beauty and history of Tuscany and learn more about this ancient grain.

 

Making Pasta with Einkorn

The first evening, we learned how to make pasta. The owner of the factory that produces Einkorn pasta showed us how to mix the dough and run it through the pasta machine to produce long sheets of pasta. The long sheets were placed on the table to dry, then run through the machine again to cut the dough into the appropriate shaped noodles.  Then the noodles were placed on the table to dry until it was time to boil them for dinner.

We made regular egg noodles, whole wheat noodles, Swiss chard pasta, and potato gnocchi; all with Einkorn flour. I had never made pasta before. I was amazed at how easy and fun it was to prepare. Of course, it always looks easy when someone else is showing you how to do it, but now that I’ve seen how to do it, I’m going to take the plunge and try it myself.

The gnocchi was soft, like a light and feathery marshmallow that you could flick across the room. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that forming the grooves in the gnocchi didn’t require any special tools. We just pressed a piece of gnocchi dough down with our fingers and slid it across the tines of a fork. Then we gently flicked the piece of dough onto a baking sheet.

We worked late into the night making the pasta and gnocchi and enjoying the fellowship of new friends. When we finally sat down to eat, I was too tired to take any photos of the finished pasta and sauces, but trust me, it was good.

 

Eating and Loafing Around

The next day, we learned how to create different types of loaves using Einkorn. We prepared the dough for sandwich bread, whole wheat bread, ciabatta, and no knead bread.

As we were mixing the dough for each type of loaf, Carla (our host) would give us tips and insight into the nuances of each bread. I watched, listened, participated and soaked up as much knowledge as I could.

I volunteered to work on the whole wheat dough so I could use their European grain mill to grind the grains into flour. After grinding the Einkorn berries into flour, it was time to mix the dough in one of their beautiful ceramic bowls. When the mixing was complete, we covered all of the bowls and left the dough to bulk ferment. 

Once the bulk fermentation was complete, Carla demonstrated how to shape the loaves, then the loaves went through the final proof and were baked and left to cool.

Carla is working on a cookbook of Einkorn breads so these loaves were used in the photo shoots. There was so much going on that I didn’t get photos of all of the loaves, but I did get a shot of the Ciabatta and the crusty no-knead boule.

After the photo shoots were finished each day, we got to taste test the breads. In addition to the loaves we prepared, Carla also made muffins, Tuscan bread, bagels, crackers and a few coffee cakes, among other things. All of the breads and cakes I tasted were great!  

 

Baking Pizza in the Food-Fired Oven

I love Pizza so my favorite session was making the pizza dough and baking it in the wood-fired oven.

After we made the pizza balls in the kitchen, we took everything outside to the brick oven. Each of us prepared our own pizza using the toppings of our choice. Then Clay (29Villa San Lorenzo) would bake the pizza quickly in the wood-fired oven.

I made a marguerita-style pizza. It seemed only fitting since I was in Italy. I forgot to take a photo of it, but it sure tasted good.

I’ve always wanted to learn how to use a wood-fired oven. However, after seeing how it’s done, I think I’ll wait a little while longer before I try it myself.  I’m not sure my recovering tennis-elbow arm is strong enough yet to handle the long paddle (or the fire) without getting burned. For now, I’ll stick to pizza-on-the-grill or on the baking stone.

It was interesting to watch Clay handle the wood-fired oven. He’s a pro at it. In fact, I heard it through the grapevine that he has a pizza cookbook coming out soon. He’s also a renowned photographer and took all of the photos for Carla’s Einkorn Bread Book which will be coming out next year.  I don’t know the titles of either book but look for them soon.

 

Spending time in Tuscany was a great way to recharge and recalibrate. The fact that I also got to learn more about baking with Einkorn was icing on the cake. It was a delightful and informative learning experience. I plan to do a lot more experimenting now that I have some more insight into how to work with Einkorn.

Happy Baking!

Cathy

Einkorn and Olive Oil Pizza Dough

Bread Baking Day #49 is hosted by Cravo e Canela - Uma Cozinha no Brasil. The theme is Pizzas & Italian Breads Revisited. I love pizza so any excuse will do.

I’ve been experimenting with Einkorn this month so I decided to make a whole grain pizza crust using only Einkorn Flour. I invited my taste tester over for pizza night, and to get him engaged in the process, I let him choose the toppings. He likes to watch the Food Network Channel so I thought he might have some good ideas. Turns out, he had some great ideas.

We created a masterpiece if I do say so myself.  The crust was thin and crunchy and the toppings were exceptional. We used Muir Glen Fire-Roasted Tomatoes, chunks of a mozzarella-prosciutto roll, tomato and basil-flavored feta cheese and a blend of Parmesan, Asiago, and Romano cheeses, red and green bell peppers, onions and crushed red pepper.  Delish!

 

Whole Grain Einkorn Pizza Crust

This whole grain pizza crust utilizes an overnight sponge and a biga. It’s a very soft and sticky dough so I added 7 tablespoons of bread flour to the final dough.  However, after I added the bread flour, and felt the dough, I realized it probably would’ve been okay without it, but it turned out great so it didn’t matter.

Makes: 5 Individual Pizza Doughs

Adapted from: Whole Grain Breads by Peter Reinhart

Ingredients:

Soaker:

• 227g (1 3/4 cups) Einkorn flour
• 4g (1/2 tsp) salt
• 198g (3/4 cup plus 2 T) water

Biga:

• 227g (1 3/4 cups) Einkorn flour
• 1g (1/4 tsp) instant yeast
• 198g (3/4 cup plus 2 T) water

Final Dough:

• Use all of the soaker
• Use all of the biga
• 56.5g (7 T) bread flour
• 5g (5/8 tsp) salt
• 5g (1 1/2 tsp) instant yeast
• 2 1/4 tsp agave nectar
• 4-5 T Olive oil
• additional Einkorn flour for adjustments

 

1. Making the Soaker:

Mix the soaker ingredients together until the flour is hydrated and the dough forms a ball.  Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter for 12 to 24 hours.

 

2. Making the Biga:

Mix the biga ingredients together in a bowl until the dough forms a ball.  Knead the dough in the bowl for a couple of minutes to ensure the flour is completely hydrated.  You’ll need to use wet hands for this part because the dough is really tacky.  Let the dough rest for 5 minutes, then knead it again using wet hands.  Transfer the dough to a clean bowl and cover it tightly with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate it for at least 8 hours. Take the biga out of the refrigerator about 2 hours before mixing the final dough.

 

3. Mixing the Final Dough:

Combine the soaker, biga, 7 tablespoons of bread flour (or more Einkorn flour), salt, yeast, agave nectar, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium bowl. Mix with a dough whisk or wet hands until the ingredients are evenly distributed throughout the dough.  The dough should be soft and slightly sticky.  I had to add more flour to get it to not be so sticky.

 

Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and roll the dough in it.  Knead the dough for 3 to 4 minutes, until the dough is soft and very tacky.  My dough was definitely tacky, sticky actually.  Let the dough rest for 5 minutes while you line a sheet pan with parchment paper, then oil it with olive oil. 

 

Knead the dough for another minute and make any final adjustments.  The dough will feel soft, supple and very tacky, sticky if you ask me.  Divide the dough into 5 equal pieces, about 6.25 ounces each.  Form each piece into a tight ball and place the balls on the prepared pan.  Roll the balls in the oil to coat the entire surface.  Cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use, up to 24 hours.  You can use the dough right away, but it was so sticky, I refrigerated it for several hours until it was time to make the pizza. I left the dough balls in the refrigerator until the last minute and didn’t even worry about letting them warm up to room temperature before shaping them.  They were still really tacky so this helped.

 

4. Baking the Pizza:

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. for an hour with a baking stone on the bottom rack.

Press the dough ball out with your fingers.  I spread the dough out on parchment paper drizzled with olive oil to help the dough spread more easily and keep it from sticking to my fingers.  It also gave the pizza a nice crunch.

 

Parbake the dough for a couple of minutes before adding the toppings.  Then add the toppings of your choice.  As I mentioned earlier, we topped our pizzas with fire-roasted tomatoes, chunks of a mozzarella-prosciutto roll, basil-flavored feta cheese and a blend of parmesan, asiagio, and Romano cheeses, red and green bell peppers, onions and crushed red pepper.  It was a great combination!

 

Bake the pizza until the toppings are done, about 5 minutes.  Remove the pizza from the oven and transfer to a cutting board.  Wait 3 to 5 minutes before slicing and serving, to allow the cheese to set.

 

Thanks to Cravo e Canela - Uma Cozinha no Brasil for hosting BBD#49 and to Zorra, the founder of Bread Baking Day.

 

Happy Baking!

Cathy