Einkorn Sourdough Bread Timing
So, you want to bake einkorn sourdough bread but you don’t think you have the time? With teenage children, a business to run, and an endless amount of interests, I rarely sit down if it’s not at my desk or at the dinner table. Every second of my day is filled, and yet I have managed to fit freshly baked sourdough bread into my family’s life for over a decade. In fact, I made this beautiful Einkorn Sourdough Boule this morning with minimal effort. Here’s how I timed it:
- At 5pm when I got home from work, I mixed up a batch of sourdough levain in a large mixing bowl. Mixing time by hand: less than 1 minute
- At 11pm just before going to bed, I mixed up the dough for a Classic French Boule. I added 30g of extra flour because I was not going to wait up to turn the dough. I used an einkorn kneading tool so I didn’t touch the loaf or knead it on the counter. No mess to clean before going to bed. Mixing time by hand: less than 1 minute
- I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in the kitchen cabinet until I woke up at 6:30am. First rise time: 7 hours
- I placed a linen couche in a colander, dusted it with flour, transferred the dough to a dusted work surface with a bowl scraper, shaped my loaf and placed the bread in the linen. I cleaned up the counter with a bread scraper and set the bowl to soak in the sink for easy clean up later. Shaping time: less than 1 minute
- I placed a Dutch Oven in the oven at 500ºF for one hour while I let the dough rise. Second rise time: 1 hour
- I inverted the loaf in the Dutch Oven, slashed the top with a bread lame and baked the loaf for 40 minutes. Bake time: 40 minutes
- I lifted out the bread and put in on a wire rack to cool. I let the Dutch Oven cool, then rinsed it out before storing. I shook the excess flour out of the linen couche, hung it up to let the moisture dry, then I folded it and put it back in the drawer. Clean up time: 5 minutes
So you see, sourdough can fit anyone’s schedule because it is so forgiving! A few more things:
- If the dough rises more than 3 to 5 hours, that’s fine. It might be a tiny bit more sour, but you might find you like that better. And, if you have a new starter, it will be better to let your bread rise longer.
- If you can’t bake when the dough has finished the first rise, you can refrigerate it for 6 to 8 hours, then shape and bake.
- When I make pizza dough, I usually cook half of the dough and then refrigerate the rest for up to 2 days. I think the pizza I make on the third day tastes even better!
- By the way, if you have the cookbook, you might have noticed that I am baking the bread at a higher temperature. I like my bread with an extra crispy crust!
You can find instructions to make this loaf on the jovial website or in my cookbook. Good luck and remember, we are always here to answer questions.
Thanks,
Donna
If I had an all purpose flour, and I substituted my fresh ground whole grain einkorn cup for cup or gram for gram that the recipe calls for, what kind of ingredient or liquid adjustments in general should I probably make? I also have the same question if I used cup for cup the einkorn flour instead of whole wheat? I find it easier to make adjustments to the fat and liquids in a recipe rather than the flour. Thanks so much!
So, it is bedtime and was wondering do I just leave it continuing to rise until morning or put it in the refrigerator until morning? I saw a note on this article that leads me to believe I should put it in the refrig and begin tomorrow morning with step #3. Thank you!
I made the Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread from the cookbook and I've previously made the Classic with your AP flour. I'm using a Pullman pan by USA Pan (interior dimensions 9x4x4) which is roughly the same as the loaf pan size in the recipe. For both breads, the top of the dome of the dough rose to about 1.25" below the top edge of the pan after 1 hour of resting. In the oven they rose maybe 1/4" more. But your recipe says to let it rise in the final proof to 1/2" above the top edge of the pan. I baked them anyway because of all of the warnings about over proofing and something that I read in the book about how you can't extend the final proof. However, this post says that the proofing times SHOULD be extended for newer starters. Please let me know what I should be doing. My first proof in the bowl increased by 50-75%. Second one about the same. And not much additional rise in the oven. Should I be proofing longer for either or both proofs?
- I'm not using the cover of the Pullman, just using it like a regular loaf pan
- When the directions call for oiled plastic wrap to cover the loaf (or bagels), I'm assuming that you mean to cover the loaf (with direct contact) vs covering the bowl or pan? Please clarify.
I've been baking Sandwich Bread every week for 2 months now, 4 loaves at at time. I weigh out everything. I use a Whisper Mill to grind the Einkorn Wheat. I mix everything as little as possible and stop. After the first proof (45-60 min), I scoop the dough out on a floured table, quarter it and put it in the loaf pans using floured hands. I do not knead it, I don't even fold it over. It rises nicely (30 min), domes up, and then 15 minutes in the oven it crashes. Every time. What am I doing wrong?
Oh, one variation on the recipe -- I use 1/4 cup of Lemon Juice as an activator for the yeast... this works great for Hard Red Winter Wheat. Is this messing with my Einkorn dough?
So sorry to hear of Carlas passing.
Also- once I prep a batch of levain, should I feed my base starter before storing it back in the fridge? I usually bake a loaf every other week.
Any guidance will be genuinely appreciated.
After refreshing, always allow your starter 6-18 hours (depending on your starter's strength) to bubble up before placing in the fridge.
Mature starter will survive a few days outside the fridge, but if you are only baking every other week, we do recommend keeping it in the fridge in the meantime. However, you do not need to refresh before placing it in the fridge. As long as there are 10g left to refresh, you can place the leftover amount in the fridge, then at least 6-18 hours before you plan to make another levain (maybe the day before), refresh so that you have a fresh, healthy starter for baking. When your starter is really strong, you don't even need to do that. You can use cold leftover starter straight from the fridge in your levain. Just refresh whenever you get down to 10g.
We hope this helps, feel free to call our baking experts for more sourdough baking advice! 877 642 0644