By switching to einkorn sourdough bread, our bread went from being something that caused allergy symptoms in our family and made me physically sick to one of the most gut healing foods I now eat. I have been making my own bread for around 15 years. I started out making white then wheat bread and finally gluten free bread that I made by milling several different grains. I was never completely satisfied with any of these. I discovered sourdough einkorn bread a few years ago, and I can’t see myself ever doing anything else. I started experimenting with recipes and this is my favorite recipe so far because it’s enjoyable, tolerated by our whole family, holds together well for sandwiches or toast, and only uses a few ingredients.

Sourdough bread is a traditional way of making bread without the use of lab made yeast. The only thing you need to make this bread is a combination of flour and water, but other ingredients will make this more flavorful and provide different textures. Yeast occurs naturally in our environment and with the right steps will allow the bread to rise without store-bought ingredients. Because grains have antinutrients or a coating that preserves them and protects them from insects, they are very hard to digest. When we soak or sour these grains, they become more digestible and the nutrients increase significantly.

The process of making sourdough bread starts by making the starter. I learned to make that here, and it takes about 10 days. After the starter is done, you can leave it on your counter and feed it every day, stick it in the refrigerator for up to a week, or put it in the freezer for months. Each time I make bread I take some of the starter and add more flour and water to keep this going. I then take the rest of the starter, and add more water and flour to make levain. This helps the yeast to grow throughout a smaller amount of dough before adding it to a recipe.

The reason I like to use einkorn wheat is because it’s one of the oldest varieties of wheat, and it contains less gluten and more nutrition than traditional whole wheat. It’s so interesting to note that the genetic code of this wheat has not been changed. Einkorn contains 7 chromosomes and modern wheat has 42 chromosomes. Modern wheat has been hybridized to make it shorter with bigger seed heads. Ancient wheat has a hull that protects it from insects where modern wheat does not have a hull. This makes modern wheat a lot more susceptible to pests and it is sprayed more with pesticides. It’s often doused with herbicides at the end to make it easier to harvest. Because of the smaller grain size and having to remove the hull, this makes einkorn more expensive. Because of it’s low gluten levels is has been a little more challenging to work with, but so far I have been able to recreate almost all of our favorite recipes, and we all feel good after we eat it.

When I switched to sourdough bread, I had two kids that refused to eat it for two months. In the past I would have made them bread too, but I was in a busy season of life, and they were old enough to prepare their own if they so desired. Thankfully they didn’t, because they now eat it, and I am convinced that’s it’s much better for them. I write this because sourdough bread is more nutrient dense and so much easier to digest, but it does take a little getting used to, and it can have a bit of a learning curve to it. My biggest issue with making sourdough is forgetting the dough too long and ending up with very sour bread. The best remedy that I have found for this is to set a timer.

The recipe I have below makes 4 loaves of bread. I use about a cup of levain to make a recipe that contains about 4 to 6 cups of flour. I will often make 2 loaves of bread, cereal, and something else like cinnamon rolls or tortillas in one day.