There are four big reasons why einkorn is, by far, the best form of wheat to eat even when compared to other ancient grains like spelt, emmer, and kamut.
Most people who love to bake bread, pastries, and other goodies do not realize that einkorn is the best type of wheat to use.
Twenty-five or so years ago, I used to purchase organic white wheat (hard and soft) and spelt in bulk from a local grain co-op for my baking endeavors.
Grinding grain into fresh flour is certainly the most nutritious and tastiest way to bake! I also did this to avoid the conventional toxic wheat desiccated with gut-destroying glyphosate.
Caveat: Baking with freshly ground flour is only better if the bread is traditionally prepared.
Otherwise, the antinutrients like phytic acid are not broken down and harm to gut health is likely over time.
There certainly is a huge difference between modern processed wheat (hybridized by irradiation) and the organic, ancient grains you grind yourself at home.
I remember when I was breastfeeding my youngest child, if I ate so much as a mouthful or two of processed wheat at a restaurant, she would spit up for one or sometimes even two days!
If I ate organic wheat that I ground myself and either sprouted, soaked, or sour-leavened (sourdough), however, she never had any spit-up issues.
To me, this was a huge testament to the radically improved digestibility of wheat that is prepared using the wise methods of ancestral cultures.
Beware of persuasive influencers who claim that all you need to do is grind freshly ground flour and bake bread with baker’s yeast with no proper preparation such as soaking, sprouting or sour-leaving the dough necessary.
This approach is not how traditional societies ever baked their bread, and it is a recipe for serious gut issues!
Most people do not know that baker’s yeast is actually a modern invention only used in the past few centuries!
It quickly gained traction because it made baking faster and easier (NOT healthier). This is the case even when using freshly ground flour!
These quick rise breads using baker’s yeast gradually displaced traditional sourdough to the detriment of those who embraced this early “modern” cooking convenience.
Einkorn Benefits over Modern Wheat
With traditional baking the way to go (using a sourdough starter and NOT baker’s yeast), let’s talk about einkorn as the best type of wheat to bake with.
There are four reasons why I prefer to bake with einkorn wheat and no other type of ancient grains.
This isn’t to say I never use anything else, but if given the choice, I prefer to use einkorn.
Note that einkorn is not to be confused with farro or heirloom wheat.
Better Taste
My first experience baking with einkorn occurred after I received a thoughtful gift of, among other things, einkorn flour and wheat berries. I was delighted when I ground the einkorn into flour and saw how light and white it was.
I am not a fan of bran and am not of the food philosophy that all that fiber is actually good for your gut.
Fiber is a band-aid that covers up the root causes of constipation, a very common symptom of gut imbalance.
I recommend the book Fiber Menance as a good read on the subject.
The truth is that the unhybridized form of wheat…einkorn is the only one…does not have that much bran!
I was thrilled to see that my family thoroughly enjoyed the soaked waffles made with freshly ground einkorn flour.
Later on, I learned to make sprouted einkorn waffles that were more convenient but still highly digestible.
From that point, I gradually incorporated using einkorn for all my baking needs including this very popular no knead sourdough bread recipe.
Most Digestible
Because einkorn is unhybridized and low in bran, it is the most digestible form of wheat you can eat.
While my properly prepared grain dishes made with white wheat or spelt digest fine for our family, you can tell that the same dishes make with einkorn feel even better in the stomach.
This is possibly because einkorn contains good gluten, different on a molecular level from modern gluten in all other forms of wheat including ancient grains like spelt.
Better digestion means better absorption of nutrients, so einkorn surpasses the competition in that category as well.
Visually Distinctive
The first thing I noticed when I ground einkorn into flour for the first time was how much smaller a grain of einkorn is compared with a grain of modern wheat. They are about half the size!
In addition, I noticed that my grain grinder makes less noise when grinding einkorn berries into fresh flour because of softer, low bran kernels.
The distinctive crease on one side of a grain of modern wheat is also absent from kernels of einkorn.
The reason for the differences is that over the centuries, the genetics of wheat gradually changed due to human cultivation practices.
Year after year, farmers selected the seeds at harvest time that suited the goal of higher yields and MORE gluten.
This worked best for big farms and larger-scale agriculture, production, and distribution of wheat products.
The ONLY Unhybridized Wheat
Einkorn is like most plants in that it is diploid.
This means that einkorn contains only 2 sets of chromosomes.
About 2,000 years after einkorn wheat, nature created emmer via the natural hybridization of 2 wild grasses.
Consequently, emmer has 4 sets of chromosomes. Kamut and durum (bulgur) wheat are both descendants of emmer.
Spelt, an heirloom wheat, is the result of hybridization between cultivated emmer and another wild grass. Thus, spelt contains six sets of chromosomes.
Modern wheat is a descendant of spelt.
As you can see, einkorn is the purest and most ancient form of wheat available. With only 2 sets of chromosomes, a very different composition of gluten, and low bran, it is the most digestible form of wheat for baking at home.
Where to Source Quality Einkorn
The only downside of einkorn is that it is not widely available and tends to be more expensive than other types of wheat. It is still quite new to the North American market.
If you are sourcing organic einkorn berries, I recommend this quality brand.
If you need organic sprouted einkorn berries for more convenient baking, this farm based in the United States is my preferred source.
Have you tried einkorn wheat yet? If so, what observations have you made about this ancient, unhybridized wheat?
Excellent points Becky. It pays to buy the best for the foundational foods, and I believe wheat is one of these. Wheat in its natural state like what einkorn is a beautiful thing.
I have been using Jovial einkorn flour for about 6 months. I bought one bag after doing quite a bit of research, to test it out. My son & I aren’t celiac, but we do have a gluten intolerance with some pretty bad effects (gastro-intestinal, migraines, sinus issues). We were able to digest the einkorn wheat with no side-effects. I use it for bread, muffins, pizza dough, pancakes – it has worked beautifully! There is a terrific recipe/tutorial for sourdough on the Jovial website.
For our family, I put einkorn in the same category as raw dairy. We can’t tolerate conventional dairy any better than we can conventional wheat, but the real stuff we don’t have any problems eating. So, Yesterday I loved being able to watch my son eat a big stack of blueberry pancakes, washed down with a large glass of milk.
This has been our family’s experience with the Jovial einkorn flour – Your mileage may vary. 🙂
I would skip it for our family. Gluten is not at all good for us.
Sarah,
Can you go into more detail about your husband’s wheat allergy and why he only had to be on GAPS for 6 months? How did he know that is all he needed to heal? I have a gluten intolerance and other food allergies I am trying to heal through GAPS. I have been on the diet since April, the full diet since the end of May. If everything goes according to plan, I could transition off at the end of November. How can I know for sure? Maybe you can write another GAPS post about this, detailing your husband’s digestion and how he is doing after? Also, the best way to transition off the diet. I know it’s a lot, but I know a lot more people are trying this or the SCD to heal their guts.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge with so many people!
~Sarah
It only took my husband a few months on GAPS, but it is very important to note that he had been eating traditionally prepared, nutrient dense fare for 8 years prior. He just needed a brief stint on GAPS to complete the healing that had already occurred so to speak.
YOu know it’s time to transition off of GAPS and begin reintroducing grains when you have no symptoms for many many weeks. My husband’s symptoms stopped within 3 days on GAPS so he in effect had no symptoms for months. Since 6 months was the minimum time recommended, that is when he went off it.
Thanks Sarah! I don’t know how much hope that gives me though. I was following a paleo/somewhat Weston Price diet including raw goat milk a year prior to starting GAPS. I was still eating starchy things like potatoes and rice occasionally when I would eat sushi. I am doing very well on GAPS but I do miss having grains and just being able to drink raw milk straight without fermenting it! I hope I don’t have to be on the full diet much longer than 6 months. I guess I just have to be patient 🙂
Could I soak the berries for a day, drain, air dry on my dehydrator sheets (not run the machine) and then run through my Vita Mix instead of buying a mill?
Sandra, Do you have a Vita Mix dry container? The blades are slightly different than the wet container and you can use this to mill grain without needing to dehydrate anything.
@Sandra no, I tried making waffles with the fresh flour I ground myself versus the einkorn flour that was already milled in a bag and there was no comparison with the fresh milled. Once you mill flour, the nutrition is basically gone in 3 days. It is worth the time effort to mill fresh.
You mention berries, but will I get the same benefit (for my family, not me) if I buy the flour already milled and then ferment the dough properly?
—
-Wheat – use sparingly!
It’s far too expensive. Otherwise, an interesting product.
Depends on what is important to you. Our family of six grossed $26,000 last year. I buy $5.00/dozen pastured eggs, grass-fed beef, $9.30/pound raw milk cheddar, and occasional $10/gallon raw milk. It’s all relative. I buy einkorn 10- 20 pounds at a time and pay $3.00 per pound with free shipping. It being a nutritional powerhouse, the cost is reasonable. I can’t tell you how much we love it and how wonderful it is to not have a reaction. I call it Jesus wheat, because He likely ate it! :)!
Oh, I do like that … “Jesus wheat”. Very effective terminology.
I agree. The French spend so much more on their food than we Americans do. Americans are used to cheap, high calorie, low nutrient foods and that’s why most are fat as you tend to constantly overeat when the food is not nutrient dense.
I buy the best and always have bought the best even when $$ were tight. The best isn’t always the most expensive but sometimes it is. In the case of einkorn, yes it is twice the price of organic spelt but if you don’t eat an excessive amount of grains in the first place, it is very doable for a modest budget. You can always find other things to cut that are much less important than the nutrition for your body.
Denise, please tell us where you get it in bulk, and is it organic? Thanks!
That’s source is my sponsor 🙂 The best price for organic einkorn on the internet that I can find. Click Resources link in comment above 🙂
I just bought 30 lbs myself. They are all in 1 lb bags (see picture in post), but that is the way it is for now. I’m sure organic einkorn in bulk will become available in the future. It is just way too new to the American market right now.
Don’t you just love being the leading edge of the healthy food movement!!!! 🙂
What Sarah said – that’s where I get it. 🙂
Denise that is amazing! It is wonderful you are taking such great care of your family. Would you mind sharing your secret because I don’t understand how that is possible with such a large family? You probably had little to no medical bills with such a nutrient dense diet!
Oh, Sarah! Where to begin? First, we just dedicated money to the things that have a good return. We rarely go out to eat, have only one magazine subscription, do not have cable, no cell phone contracts – landline through magicjack @ 19.99 /YEAR, and we use tracfones with double minutes ( jobs require it ). Rarely buy clothing retail anymore – we are die-hard secondhanders. I find a good product and I hunt it down at the best price – online or in the store. We have a garden – in very little space. When you commit to not buying junk food, there is more money for good food. And you need less of it because it nourishes so well. It has become second nature.
None of what we have chosen to exclude really benefits a good life and good health, nor do we need it.. Clean healthy food is so important to everyone – particularly to me. I am battling lupus, R.A., fibromyalgia, vitiligo, chronic fatigue, Epstein Barr, hypothyroid, Hashimoto’s, and a coagulation disorder. I am functioning because I have done nothing the “specialists” have recommended.
I presented at our local WAPF chapter meeting on Saturday, giving a little of my background, the importance of healthy foods, and the beginnings of a battle here in MT to get raw milk sales legalized. Raw milk is medicine for me. I have gone four months on just raw Jersey milk, my homemade Kombucha, and water. The milk cure. My pain goes away and I feel great. Now that we live here, I cannot access it except for $10/gallon. And the lion is beginning to roar! We have a rep who will draft a bill – we’ll see what happens. Lots of work ahead, but I want my milk!
I function well because I have good food for medicine. That is worth more to me than any cable show or latte. Priorities. Choices have consequences. I try to make good ones.
Denise, that totally makes sense. I would do the same if I had kids. Health is a bigger priority than having a cell phone plan or cable.
I am sorry you are suffering so much. I will pray for you to continue on your healing journey. Have you considered the GAPS diet? It helps with a lot of those autoimmune conditions. I am sure you have already healed a lot just from following WAPF principles.
Good luck with the raw milk battle in MT!
Is there any place to order this wheat in bulk?