Mad Science vs Our Daily Bread…Ancient Einkorn to the Rescue

In a film class many years ago, a professor told us that Godzilla was no mere monster movie. He said that the story (told ingeniously and subversively) revealed the unanticipated consequences of the nuclear age as only the Japanese could after the cruel horrors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Godzilla was the monster that had been unleashed from the disaster. Or rather, Godzilla was the monster that nature had unleashed because of the nuclear bomb.

The more I hear about Frankenfish that have had animal DNA spliced into them to make them grow faster or grains developed to withstand horribly toxic chemicals –– the more I see the shadow of a new Godzilla looming with each new announcement. Do scientists think 1000 steps ahead like great chess players or do most of them just work blindly on the problem at hand (more, bigger, cheaper, chemically tolerant, needs less water etc.) and say “oops” when there are unintended consequences (like chemicals and mutant plants that are killing all the bees and causing birth defects in animals and humans because other plants and living organisms weren’t sufficiently considered when the mad scientist performed his Franken-science). The collateral damage could be epic. Then will “sorry” be enough –– when offspring are no longer viable and those that are born are a mess??? Sorry to be a drama queen, but yeah, I’m a little worried.

This has been on my mind a lot lately with a rather common Frankenfood, wheat. Lately, a son of a friend and my art director have been diagnosed with gluten intolerance –– my best friend's nutritionist told her to cut wheat from her diet to feel better … it’s everywhere. I read that 30% of the population has it. It seems like people are coming down with it like the plague. You’ve got to wonder why. Well, I’ve got one possible reason.

Beginning in the 19th century, wheat changed, I mean really changed to make for bigger yields. The hexaploid wheat strain mutated in farmer’s fields and then was embraced and refined in the 20^th century. And in so doing it wasn’t as easy to digest as it had been (unintended consequence) so that now wheat makes a lot of people sick when they eat it. If they have celiac disease it makes them very sick.

From the National Science Foundation, Old vs New Corn

But there’s more–– the reasons we are all getting so fat are legion, but one may be that we don’t digest wheat the way we used to because it’s different stuff (like corn that once looked more like wheat –– most animals can’t properly digest a solid corn diet so that they get sick eating it –– especially grass-eating, born-to-be-ruminant – heavy on the grass, lighter on the grain cows who live shorter, sicker lives and pass their sickness on to us who drink their milk and eat their flesh). In fact it’s much different than our very recent ancestor’s wheat –– thing is they have discovered that people with gluten intolerance can often eat the ancient varieties with no problems at all.

Einkorn ––Triticum monococcum 14 chromosomes

This is where the very ancient einkorn wheat comes in. The name means “single grain” in German but its Latin name is Triticum monococcum and was thought to originate in Turkey. The gliadin protein (which helps form gluten) of einkorn may not be as toxic to sufferers of celiac disease or those who are gluten intolerant as modern wheat seems to be. Einkorn wheat does contain gluten but is different from most wheats in that it contains only 14 chromosomes as opposed to 28 in emmer (farro) or 42 in modern wheat. This alters the gluten structure.

einkorn, emmer, spelt, kamut grains

Einkorn is old –– very, very old. Archaeobotanist Jack Harlan, suggested that “wild einkorn grain was harvested in the late Paleolithic and early Mesolithic Ages, 16,000-15,000 BC. Confirmed finds of wild grain remains have been dated to the early Neolithic (Stone Age) 10,000 BC. (Helmqvist 1955; Zohary and Hopf 1993). Cultivated einkorn continued to be a popular cultivated crop during the Neolithic and early Bronze Age 10,000-4,000 BC giving way to emmer by the mid-Bronze Age. Einkorn cultivation continued to be popular in isolated regions from the Bronze Age into the early 20th century. Today, einkorn production is limited to small isolated regions within France, India, Italy, Turkey, and Yugoslavia (Harlan 1981; Perrino and Hammer 1982).”

Modern wheat, 42 chromozomes

Wheat varieties break down like this:

“Common wheat or Bread wheat (T. aestivum) – A hexaploid species that is the most widely cultivated in the world.

Durum (T. durum) – The only tetraploid form of wheat widely used today, and the second most widely cultivated wheat.

Einkorn (T. monococcum) – A diploid species with wild and cultivated variants. Domesticated at the same time as emmer wheat, but never reached the same importance.

Emmer (T. dicoccum) – A tetraploid species, cultivated in ancient times but no longer in widespread use.

Spelt (T. spelta) – Another hexaploid species cultivated in limited quantities.”

I wanted to see what the oldest variety was like so ordered my einkorn from Jovial Foods. The first thing you notice on the site is a recommendation from Gluten-free Girl, Shauna Ahern… pretty good recommendation.

I read a great article about the taste of heirloom wheat on Serious Eats that basically said that it’s not about the taste necessarily, because good technique makes any wheat taste good. For me, it’s always a little about history… I wanted to know what our ancestor’s bread tasted like. But it’s also about taste and digestibility Famous baker Jim Lahey said there was no taste difference in the article. He went on to say he makes his bread from mega-corp (and poster child for the factory farm) ConAgra Foods flour. Lahey is the man who invented no-knead bread –– sorry Jim, Con Agra wheat??

The organic Einkorn is not cheap, but not much more than special, small batch flours that I see at the farmer’s market. One 2 lb. bag makes 1 big loaf using a starter (that takes out most of the cost of an 80¢ packet of yeast at least –– you only use ¼ teaspoon of yeast).

What I got on my first try with a long fridge rise was a very crisp crust and a very dense, lightly spongy, cake-y interior. Jovial recommends using no salt, but I have forgotten salt in bread a few times and hated it. They said if you must, use only 1 t of salt. I used 2 and wished I’d done more. I think if I made it again I would use more water. The dough rose well and puffed splendidly in the oven. The 2 lb loaf took longer than 40 minutes and I was a little worried that I couldn’t get the internal temperature much above 170º (most breads are 180-200º) but I put a piece of foil over the top and added another 15 minutes. This made the crust very crisp… almost cracker like but the inside was done. Another idea would have been to make the loaf much flatter and that would have lessened the cooking time. As it is, the loaf rose very high, I didn’t expect that to happen.

I like the flavor. It was a white flour so that is a little confusing since I use a white, whole wheat and sometimes rye mix when I make bread. Because of this I can’t say the taste is earthier because it is just white flour without the germ. But it has a lot more personality than white bread with a warm smell… it is also slightly yellow as if it were made with egg. The texture is really lovely, dense but very tender and spongy. Dr. Lostpast said he was one of the best breads I ever made –– a very impressive review. I would very much like to try it again with whole grain added (Jovial recommended using their wheat berries, ground to make a whole wheat flour). I tried it on a gluten-free subject and it was a success, no stomach upset.

For myself, I am thrilled to taste bread made with flour that was eaten before the Roman Empire. Since I have no gluten intolerance I can’t tell if it is more digestible. I do think if you are gluten-intolerant and have given up bread (perish the thought) this would be nice to have every once in a while. I froze most of it and it holds up beautifully. It made awesome French toast.

Next to try, an Emmer wheat… just to see how it does.

PS Sarah over at All Our Fingers in the Pie wrote about a visit with wheat scientists HERE. You may get a kick out of what they had to say.

Einkorn Bread, recipe from Jovial Foods

PRE-FERMENT

½ tsp active dry yeast

1 cup of Jovial einkorn flour

½ cup + 2 tbsp of warm water

Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water in a glass or ceramic bowl. Stir in the flour and mix with a fork until you get a thick batter. Cover with plastic wrap and let 6-8 hours or overnight.

6 cups of Jovial einkorn flour

1½ cups of warm water

pre-ferment

1 tsp. of sea salt

In a large mixing bowl, mix together unsifted flour and salt.

Add warm water to your pre-ferment and use a spatula to stir together and pour in flour.

Mix by hand in the bowl until all of the ingredients are well incorporated and you have formed the dough. You can add more of flour to make the dough stiffer, but it will be a bit wet and sticky. If you are using a standing mixer, use Speed 1 just until the ingredients are mixed. If you continue to mix on Speed 1, unlike common wheat bread, the dough will not dry and pull away from the edges, but get stickier.

I recommend letting your dough rise in a real ceramic bowl covered with a 100% linen dishtowel. If you use linen, not cotton, the dough will not form a crust on the surface. A glass bowl and plastic wrap will work too, just lightly oil the bowl so the dough is easier to get out later. Let rise in the warmest place in your kitchen, away from drafty spots, for 2 hours. [I let it rise till nearly double which took 3 hours, then I put it in the fridge for 2 days].

Sprinkle the dough with flour to remove from the bowl to your counter. Let relax for a minute and then form a loaf by rolling the dough into a cylinder and tucking the corners under until it is compact.

Transfer to an oiled loaf pan if you want to make a formed loaf. If you are looking for an artisanal bread like the loaf in the picture at the top of the post, place the linen in a basket, sprinkle with flour and flip the loaf nice side down in the basket. Cover with linen and let rise for 1.5 hours. [It took longer than this since the dough was cold… 2 ½ hours]

Heat your oven to 400° for 15 minutes. When the oven is very hot, you can bake your loaf pan for 35-40 minutes, turning after 20 minutes. If you like a real dark crust, you should bake at 425°.

If you are not using a loaf pan, preheat the baking tray or stone in the oven. When the oven is very hot, remove the tray completely from the oven, close the oven door and place on a heatproof surface or counter top. Turn the basket upside down to quickly flip the loaf on the tray. Make a few slashes with a baker’s razor or very sharp knife on the surface to allow for expansion and place in the oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes, turning after 20 minutes. [this took longer, I would say 55-60 minutes to get it to an internal temp of 170-ish – if you started with a very flat dough and let it rise this timing could be right… mine was very fat!!]