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| Many people with gluten sensitivities tolerate einkorn wheat. Vegan einkorn banana bread with chocolate chips and walnuts. Follow Foods For Long Life on Facebook and Pinterest. |
Einkorn Wheat
My husband is sensitive to gluten. The minute he eats a piece of bread, he sneezes or gets stuffy. Worst of all (for me), he snores at night. So now he mostly avoids wheat.
A few months ago Doug bought some Einkorn wheat flour and Einkorn whole wheat pasta to try. It's an ancient form of wheat that was cultivated thousands of years ago. Modern wheat has been hybridized for various reasons (improve yield, increase gluten content, etc.) and some think that this has lead to the increase in wheat sensitivity. Although people with celiac should not consume any form of wheat or grain that contains gluten, some gluten sensitive people have reported little or no reaction to this type of wheat. Doug has had no reaction to items baked with All-Purpose Einkorn flour or eating Einkorn whole wheat pasta (which is very yummy.) Many claim it's even more digestible than spelt.
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| Einkorn wheat contains different gluten than modern wheat |
Not all Gluten is Created Equal
Modern wheat contains the A and D Genome. Einkorn does not contain the D Genome which is what is used to detect the presence of gluten in an Elisa test. Wheat gluten studies show Einkorn may be non-toxic to some people who suffer from gluten intolerance.
Oldest and Simplest Form of Wheat
Einkorn is diploid, containing 2 sets of chromosomes. Emmer wheat has four sets, and spelt and modern wheat has 6 sets (hybridizing passes the chromosomes from the different plants to the hybridized plant). With only 2 sets of chromosomes, Einkorn is the oldest and simplest form of wheat there is which may explain its naturally low gluten content.
Other Benefits
Einkorn wheat has twice the vitamin A (in retinol equivalents), three to four times more beta-carotene, three to four times more lutein, and four to five times more riboflavin than modern wheat.
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| You can also get Einkorn whole wheat pasta. |
It's Not a 1:1 Substitute
Modern wheat absorbs more water than Einkorn so when you are baking with Einkorn, you can not just substitute it 1:1 in your normal recipes. Einkorn has some recipes that you can practice with while you are getting the hang of using this flour. Here's my favorite vegan banana bread recipe from my eBook, Health Begins in the Kitchen, that has been modified for Einkorn flour.
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Einkorn Banana Bread with Walnuts and Chocolate Chips
Vegan, Dairy Free, Less Gluten
[makes 12 servings]
Requires an 8.5" x 4.5" loaf pan or three 5 3/4" x 3" mini-loaf pans.
Best with an electric hand mixer.
Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil plus some for greasing pan
2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds
4 tablespoons room temperature water
1/3 cup organic cane sugar
1/3 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mashed bananas (2 bananas)
2 cups all-purpose organic einkorn flour
2 packets stevia
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped English walnuts
1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease the pans.
In a small cup, make flax eggs by beating the ground flaxseeds with water. Beat well and set aside.
In a large bowl, add oil, sugar, applesauce, and vanilla and beat with an electric hand mixer until creamy. Add mashed bananas and flax eggs and beat again until well combined.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, stevia, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and beat with electric hand mixer until well combined.
Fold in walnuts and chocolate chips and pour batter into prepared loaf pan or three mini pans.
Bake until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the loaf, about 40 to 50 minutes for the large loaf pan or 25 to 35 minutes for mini loaf pans.
Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove the loaf from the pan and place upright on a cooling rack for another 15 minutes. Slice and serve.
Nutrition
Per serving: 210 calories, 10 grams total fat, 2 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 4 g protein, 28 g carbohydrates, and 186 mg sodium.
4 comments:
Thank you so much for posting this recipe! The loaves turned out exactly how they're pictured. The bread is soft, moist, fluffy and delicious. My four-year-old son was so excited that he got this special treat for breakfast. It was indeed a rare treat to eat a baked good. The only thing I changed for reference is I used sunflower oil instead of olive oil. Do you have a recipe for Einkorn zucchini bread that is dairy, soy, and egg free? Thanks so much!!
Hi,
So glad your son enjoyed the treat!
I don't have a recipe for zucchini bread yet, but judging by the zucchini in my garden, I'd better make one soon. In the meantime, check out my zucchini-orange bread recipe that's made with whole wheat and just substitute the flour for Einkorn but you'll have to USE LESS LIQUID. For sure, change the 6T of water to 4T or a bit less. You may have to experiment a bit. Modern wheat absorbs much more liquid than Einkorn.
Here's the link http://foodsforlonglife.blogspot.com/2014/08/zucchini-orange-bread-or-muffins-they.html. If you try it, let me know how it turns out.
Joanne
Morning Joanne - I tried it and the zucchini bread turned out perfect! Beautiful rise, good texture, etc. The orange peel was a nice addition too. I imagine using a bit of cinnamon would taste nice if I didn't the zest to use. I used 4 T. water and subbed out the whole wheat flour for einkorn. I forgot to mention I didn't use stevia in either recipe as I don't have that on hand in my pantry. Thanks so much for these recipes! They both are repeats! :)
That great!
Have you ever tried the Einkorn pasta? They have spaghetti, linguine, fusilli and rigatoni. They are really good - we had the spaghetti last night. Yumm. Here's a link http://www.einkorn.com/einkorn-pasta/.
Thanks for letting me know how the zucchini bread turned out. Think I'll make some today.
Joanne
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