Einkorn Brioche Bread

This einkorn brioche bread recipe creates a perfectly light and buttery bread that is perfect for making french toast, buns, rolls, and more! Enjoy the delicious taste of the enriched dough, made with a greater amount of eggs and butter.

Making homemade bread is my favorite thing to experiment with, and bake in the kitchen. The best part about this einkorn brioche bread, is that it is amazing in almost all bread recipes! There is no one recipe that this bread is the best in. The enriched dough creates such soft and fluffy bread, which is the key to many bread recipes.

I have used this bread to make french toast, sandwiches, bread pudding, garlic bread, rolls, and buns. It has easily become my new favorite bread recipe! Although this recipe is also great with unbleached white flour and whole wheat flour, the einkorn flour adds a light, buttery, and nutty flavor.

The secret to getting such a light, soft, fluffy, buttery bread is the additional butter and eggs. Whisking the eggs beforehand, to create an “egg fluff”, also helps give this bread the airiness texture we all desire. Not only will this recipe give you an amazing einkorn brioche bread loaf, but three! If you have larger bread pans, you can place 8 dough balls in each pan, instead of six. Another option would be to make two loaves and rolls, or two loaves and an artisan loaf.

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Tips for Making Einkorn Brioche Bread

• This recipe makes three loaves of einkorn brioche bread. If you do not need the second and third loaves, you can place them in the freezer.
• Make sure the dough balls you create are fairly small. They will rise to the desired height, I promise. However, the bread will not rise in the oven like traditional brioche, so make sure your bread is raised higher than you want (einkorn may fall slightly once baked).
• This recipe can be substituted for unbleached all-purpose flour OR whole wheat flour. You may use less flour with all-purpose, so add cups slowly.
• When making the dough, using a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. This makes the process much easier and hands off. You can also kneed with your hands to shape in a ball to rise.
• Einkorn dough is sticker than traditional wheat / all-purpose flour dough. Use additional flour or olive oil to ensure it doesn’t stick to your hands or your work surface. (I prefer to use additional flour when shaping into the first rise ball, and oil on my hands and surface once I remove the risen dough and shape it into my bread loaf pan.)
• Use oiled parchment paper or aluminum foil to line your bread loaf pan. This will prevent your bread from sticking to the side, and allow for easier cleanup. This is very important if you are using cast iron like me.
• Place the aluminum foil over your dough before you place it into the oven. If you prefer to have a golden brown top, bake the bread for 3-5 minutes, then cover your loaves with aluminum foil.
• You want the water warmed to about 100-105 degrees. If it is too hot, it will kill the yeast.
• Butter the top of the risen bread dough very gently. If you look closely at my pictures, my amount of butter and pressure flatten my dough slightly.

FAQ Einkorn Questions

1. What is einkorn flour?

Einkorn is a species of ancient wheat. It was the first wheat farmers planted 12,000 years ago during the Neolithic Revolution. During the Bronze Age, however, einkorn almost became extinct. Used thousands of years ago by our ancestors, einkorn is different from traditional wheat used today. Einkorn is the only wheat that has two sets of chromosomes, meaning it is the only wheat to not be hybridized. Einkorn also lacks the gluten protein that can trigger issues for those with gluten sensitivity. It also has higher protein, and less carbohydrates that our modern wheat. Einkorn has a silky texture, with a slight yellowish tint.

2. Can I use einkorn if I have celiac disease?

No. Einkorn is not recommended for those who have celiac. It is a great option, however, for those with a gluten sensitivity. My daughter has celiac, and we stick to gluten free flours only for her.

3. How is baking with einkorn different from traditional flour?

You do NOT need to knead einkorn flour as long. Einkorn creates a sticker dough as well, which is why it calls for more flour than if you were substitute for an all-purpose flour.

4. Can I substitute einkorn flour for regular flour?

You can, but you will need to tweak the recipe amount of flour used since einkorn absorbs less liquid than regular flour. If you substitute regular flour with einkorn in a recipe, you will need to use more einkorn flour.

Also note, when using einkorn, your dough will have a different color and texture than when using modern wheat flour.

Ingredients

• Hot Water (100-105 degrees F)
• Yeast
• Einkorn flour (all-purpose or freshly ground)
• Unbleached all-purpose flour (optional)
• Sugar (I love Florida’s Crystals from Walmart OR any unbleached organic sugar)
• Eggs
• Salt (I use a 50/50 mix of sea salt and iodized)
• Milk (whole)
• Butter (I prefer salted)

Directions

1. Fill a bowl or mixing cup with hot water (not boiling). Add yeast, and whisk until yeast dissolves.
2. While yeast mixture sits, whisk eggs on high in a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer. Whisk until the eggs become “fluffy”.
3. Add yeast mixture, sugar, salt, melted butter, and milk into the whisked egg bowl. Whisk until thoroughly mixed.
4. Add 5 cups of einkorn flour in one cup at a time. Add 1 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour, saving the additional cup for hand kneading. If you are not going to hand-kneed, add all of the flour into the mixing bowl. (The dough will stick to your fingers when you try to remove them, however, the dough should continue to keep form.)
5. Sprinkle reserved 1 cup of all-purpose flour onto a flat surface. Shape the sticky dough into a smooth ball. Place the dough in the oven to rise at 95 degrees F. You can also allow your bread to rise somewhere that is warm.
6. Once dough has doubled in size (1-2 hours), remove the dough from the bowl and shape into 18 small to medium sized balls. This will fill 3 cast iron sized bread pans. You can also make two loaves and one artisan loaf or rolls.
7. Allow dough to rise an additional hour (or until it reaches the top). Top each loaf with melted butter, and cover with aluminum foil.
8. Bake in the oven at 425 degrees F for 25 minutes.
9. Allow bread to sit until completely cooled. This will allow the bread time to “finish baking” outside of the oven, and set up.

Uses For Einkorn Brioche

You can use brioche bread for just about anything you would use regular bread for:

• Sandwiches
• French toast
• Hamburgers / hot dog buns
• Rolls
• Bread pudding
• Grilled cheese
• BLT’s
• Garlic bread

Tools

• KitchenAid Stand Mixer
• Cast Iron Bread Pans
• Measuring Cups

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