What is Challah?
Challah is a loaf of (typically) braided bread of Jewish origin made from simple ingredients. From what I understand, it is enjoyed on the Sabbath and festival occasions and holds a lot of symbolism. I’m not well versed enough on the subject to expound upon it here. In case you are wondering, I am not Jewish – I just really love and appreciate Challah!
Why Einkorn Challah?
The reason I chose to develop a recipe for Einkorn Challah Bread was out of necessity: I have a sensitivity to modern wheat and cannot tolerate dairy well. I also wanted a recipe that used a healthy oil and sweetener as opposed to canola oil and refined sugar. I’m hoping this recipe will serve you well if you have similar wishes and needs!
About Einkorn Flour
You can buy milled einkorn flour or whole berries that you mill yourself. I purchase my milled all-purpose einkorn flour, by Jovial Foods, from several places: Thrive Market, Amazon, and my local grocery store (I’m so pleased they carry it!). Please note this recipe is for the all-purpose einkorn, not the whole wheat.
You may be wondering why I chose einkorn for this recipe – what is einkorn, even? Einkorn is considered to be the “original wheat.” Modern wheat and flour we use today has been greatly altered and bred over the centuries and is a different product than wheat used to be. Einkorn is generally considered more nutritious, lower in gluten, and it’s incredibly delicious too! That being said, you can’t always just substitute it one-for-one in place of modern all-purpose flour as it handles a little differently.
Measuring Ingredients for Einkorn Challah
I’ve included both imperial (e.g. teaspoon) measurements as well as metric (e.g. grams) measurements for your convenience. I fully recommend weighing your ingredients on a food scale such as the one I have, as it will give you the most consistent outcome.
How to Make Einkorn Challah Bread
Ingredients
530 grams all-purpose einkorn flour (4 cups)
13 grams salt (2 teaspoons)
14 grams active dry yeast (1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon)
200 mL warm water, plus extra for brushing (¾ cup + 2 Tablespoons)
55 grams coconut oil, melted, plus extra for prepping bowl (¼ cup)
75 grams honey (3 Tablespoons)
2 large eggs + 1 yolk (save the white for brushing the bread!)
poppy seeds, optional
How to Make Einkorn Challah
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the einkorn flour, salt, and yeast.
- In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the warm (not hot!) water, melted coconut oil, honey, eggs, and yolk. Be sure to set aside the extra egg white in a bowl in the refrigerator for later.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. With dough hook attached, knead on low speed for several minutes until a wet and sticky dough forms. You will want to pause once or twice to scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Be sure to check under the dough for unincorporated flour.
- Once the ingredients are fully combined, let the dough rest in the bowl for 10 minutes. This gives the einkorn a chance to absorb more of the liquid.
- While the dough is resting, grease a medium-large bowl with coconut oil. This will be the bowl for your dough’s first rise.
- Once the dough has rested, lightly flour a clean surface with einkorn flour. Turn the dough out onto the floured surface using a spatula to scrape it out of the bowl. Don’t worry that it’s so sticky – it will be okay!
- Lightly flour the top of the dough as well. Gently form the dough into a round and place it in the greased bowl. Flip it over once so that both the top and bottom of the dough are now greased. Cover with a cotton tea towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm (not hot!) location. Let rest 1.5-2 hours. It should double in size.
- Once the dough is finished resting, turn it back out onto a lightly floured surface. Using a bench scraper (dough scraper), divide the dough into 3 even portions.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Gently pull each section of dough into a long strip (no longer than the baking sheet) and place on the parchment lined baking sheet parallel to one another.
- Braid the 3 sections. I find it helpful to start in the middle and work my way toward the ends. When finished braiding, tuck the ends under.
- Cover with a cotton tea towel or plastic wrap and let rise 1 hour in a warm location.
- When 1 hour is nearly finished preheat oven to 350 °F.
- Take the saved egg white out of the refrigerator and whisk it together with 1 Tablespoon of water. Gently brush the mixture all over the top of the dough using a pastry brush. Sprinkle the dough with poppy seeds, if desired.
- Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until bread is golden. Internal temperature should be about 180 °F
- Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool before slicing. Enjoy!
Get the recipe!
Einkorn Challah Bread (Egg Bread)
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Dough Hook (Can mix by hand, but it will increase prep time.)
Ingredients
- 530 grams all-purpose einkorn flour (4 cups)
- 13 grams salt (2 teaspoons)
- 14 grams active dry yeast (1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon)
- 200 mL warm water, plus extra for brushing (¾ cup + 2 Tablespoons)
- 55 grams coconut oil, melted, plus extra for prepping bowl (¼ cup)
- 75 grams honey (3 Tablespoons)
- 2 large eggs + 1 yolk (save the white for brushing the bread!)
- poppy seeds, optional
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the einkorn flour, salt, and yeast.
- In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the warm (not hot!) water, melted coconut oil, honey, eggs, and yolk. Be sure to set aside the extra egg white in a bowl in the refrigerator for later.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. With dough hook attached, knead on low speed for several minutes until a wet and sticky dough forms. You will want to pause once or twice to scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Be sure to check under the dough for unincorporated flour.
- Once the ingredients are fully combined, let the dough rest in the bowl for 10 minutes. This gives the einkorn a chance to absorb more of the liquid.
- While the dough is resting, grease a medium-large bowl with coconut oil. This will be the bowl for your dough's first rise.
- Once the dough has rested, lightly flour a clean surface with einkorn flour. Turn the dough out onto the floured surface using a spatula to scrape it out of the bowl. Don't worry that it's so sticky – it will be okay!
- Lightly flour the top of the dough as well. Gently form the dough into a round and place it in the greased bowl. Flip it over once so that both the top and bottom of the dough are now greased. Cover with a cotton tea towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm (not hot!) location. Let rest 1.5-2 hours. It should double in size.
- Once the dough is finished resting, turn it back out onto a lightly floured surface. Using a bench scraper (dough scraper), divide the dough into 3 even portions.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Gently pull each section of dough into a long strip (no longer than the baking sheet) and place on the parchment lined baking sheet parallel to one another.
- Braid the 3 sections. I find it helpful to start in the middle and work my way toward the ends. When finished braiding, tuck the ends under.
- Cover with a cotton tea towel or plastic wrap and let rise 1 hour in a warm location.
- When 1 hour is nearly finished preheat oven to 350 °F.
- Take the saved egg white out of the refrigerator and whisk it together with 1 Tablespoon of water. Gently brush the mixture all over the top of the dough using a pastry brush. Sprinkle the dough with poppy seeds, if desired.
- Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until bread is golden. Internal temperature should be about 180 °F
- Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool before slicing. Enjoy!
Notes
Did you enjoy this recipe? Try these other einkorn recipes!
The post Einkorn Challah Bread Recipe (Egg Bread – Dairy Free) appeared first on Hymns & Home.]]>
Notes About Banana Chocolate Chip Einkorn Muffins
About All-Purpose Einkorn Flour
You can buy milled einkorn flour or whole berries that you mill yourself. I purchase my milled all-purpose einkorn flour, by Jovial Foods, from several places: Thrive Market, Amazon, and my local grocery store (I’m so pleased they carry it!). Please note this recipe is for the all-purpose einkorn, not the whole wheat.
You may be wondering why I chose einkorn for this recipe – what is einkorn, even? Einkorn is considered to be the “original wheat.” Modern wheat and flour we use today has been greatly altered and bred over the centuries and is a different product than wheat used to be. Einkorn is generally considered more nutritious, lower in gluten, and it’s incredibly delicious too! That being said, you usually can’t just substitute it one-for-one in place of modern all-purpose flour as it handles a little differently.
Measuring Ingredients
I’ve included both imperial (cup/teaspoon) measurements as well as metric (grams) measurements for your convenience. I fully recommend weighing your ingredients on a food scale such as the one I have, as it will give you the most consistent outcome.
Mixing the Batter
While this recipe is pretty straightforward with combining dry ingredients, then wet, then mixing it all together, it’s important that you don’t over-mix your batter. Over-mixing muffin batter leads to tough, unpleasant muffins. This may be a little less important with einkorn as it’s lower in gluten than modern flour, but nonetheless don’t over-mix! I’m the type of person that wants to be thorough, so it’s really tempting for me to want to get every last bit of flour mixed in. Don’t! A little unmixed flour is actually just fine in muffins.
Changing the Oven Temperature
You’ll notice that this recipe starts the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit and immediately drops it to 375F when the muffins go in. That initial higher temperature helps the muffins get a nice golden, domed top. The temperature is then lowered slightly so the muffins can bake normally without over-browning.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family and I have! Please let me know if you give them a try!
Blessings,
Melissa
Get the Recipe!
Banana Chocolate Chip Einkorn Muffins
Equipment
- 2 Standard Size Muffin Tins
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose einkorn flour 480g
- ½ tsp salt 5g
- 4 tsp baking powder 18g
- ½ cup light brown sugar 113g
- ½ cup granulated sugar 104g
- 1 can coconut milk, full fat, unsweetened 13.66oz; 403ml (387g)
- 1 cup mashed bananas, very ripe 265g, about 3 medium bananas
- 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract 13g
- 2 large eggs ~120g
- 1½ cups semisweet chocolate chips, or to taste ~255g
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 °F
- Prep muffin tins by lining with paper liners OR by greasing.
- In a large bowl, whisk together einkorn flour, salt, baking powder, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together coconut milk, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla extract.
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and gently fold the batter together a few times, leaving much of the flour unmixed.
- Add in the chocolate chips and gently fold together the batter until just a few little spots of flour remain. Do not over-mix.
- Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins, filling each well about 3/4 of the way full.
- Place tins in oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 375 °F.
- Bake until muffins are lightly golden and spring back to the touch, about 17-19 minutes.
- Immediately remove muffins to cooling racks and allow to cool before serving. Enjoy!
Ingredients for Almond Einkorn Cake
All-Purpose Einkorn Flour
You can buy milled einkorn flour or whole berries that you mill yourself. I purchase my milled all-purpose einkorn flour, by Jovial Foods, from several places: Thrive Market, Amazon, and my local grocery store (I’m so pleased they carry it!). Please note this recipe is for the all-purpose einkorn, not the whole wheat.
Baking Powder & Salt
I always add a little salt to my sweet baked goods as it helps to bring out the flavor. I like to use Redmond Real Salt in all my cooking and baking. Baking powder helps the cake rise.
Butter & Sugar
Creaming the butter and sugar together with a mixer is such an important part of forming the texture of the cake and keeping it light. I love real butter – it just can’t be beat (see what I did there…)! Definitely use unsalted. If you can, I recommend using a grass-fed butter like Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter. If you’d like to substitute a dairy-free butter, as I frequently have to do, I highly recommend using Earth Balance Baking Sticks (I prefer the soy-free version). They perform quite well in baked goods.
Whole Milk
I call for whole milk I this recipe, but if you want to use a lower fat milk or a non-dairy milk you are welcome to do so. Just be aware it may slightly alter the texture or baking time.
Eggs
Did you know that you should weigh your eggs in the shells when measuring ingredients? That is if you’re going by weight of course. Three large eggs, as called for in this recipe, are roughly 184g in-shell.
Vanilla and Almond Extracts
Definitely use pure extracts if you can – it makes a huge difference in the taste of your cake! If you can’t have almonds, just use 2 tsp of vanilla instead.
Ingredients for the Buttercream Frosting
The vanilla almond buttercream frosting is a powdered (confectioner’s) sugar based frosting. Again, if you can’t have real butter I have found the Earth Balance Buttery Spread works well for this, or alternatively you can substitute palm oil shortening for the butter and a dairy-free milk to achieve a non-dairy frosting.
How to Make Almond Einkorn Cake
Prep your pans
To achieve a tall layer cake I used two 6-inch round cake pans. Each 6-inch cake will be split in half horizontally resulting in 4 layers of cake.
Lining your cake pans with circles of parchment paper is key in ensuring your cakes release cleanly from the pans. Butter or grease your pans first, line with parchment circles, then grease the parchment.
Creaming the Butter and Sugar
Did you know that the process of creaming the butter and sugar is actually important in determining how light your cake is? When you cream the two together, the sugar beats air into the butter. This creates air bubbles that capture the gases released by the baking powder, keeping the cake light with a finer crumb.
Alternating the Dry Mixture and Milk
When adding the dry mixture and milk to the mixer you should alternate dry and wet small amounts at a time, ending with dry. This process keeps the batter light and fluffy by coating the flour and preventing over-mixing and over-development of gluten.
Making the Frosting
You may not need all the milk for your frosting, depending on how thick or thin you would like it. If you want it even thinner than half a cup gets you, feel free to add a little more. If you can’t have almonds, you can simply leave it out and double the vanilla extract for a vanilla buttercream recipe.
Decorating the Almond Einkorn Cake
The Almonds
I purchased my sliced almonds already toasted just to save myself some time. You can easily toast your own – just toss them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 350F for several minutes until lightly golden. (Stir as needed.)
I love the look of the almonds at the bottom of this cake, plus they also taste great and add a nice texture! Too many almonds on the sides, I thought, would hide the layers of the cake I want to show, but you’re welcome to use more almonds and completely cover the sides of the cake. That would be really tasty too!
The Fruit
Since I’m decorating this for Valentine’s Day at the time of writing this recipe, I decided to decorate the top with strawberry hearts. To make a strawberry heart, simply do the following:
- Cut the top (greenery) off the strawberry.
- Slice the strawberry in half vertically.
- Cut a ‘V’ notch out of the top center of each slice.
- Remove the pointy corners at the outside edges of the heart.
- Save the strawberry scraps in a bag in the fridge or freezer for smoothies, ice cream toppings, a snack…anything!
The very center strawberries have been half dipped in chocolate. I melted some semi-sweet chocolate chips and a partial bar of dark chocolate in a double boiler, then dipped half of each strawberry in it. Let them cool/dry on waxed paper, then pop them on your cake!
Get the Recipe!
Almond Einkorn Cake With Vanilla Almond Buttercream Frosting
Equipment
- 2 6-inch cake pans
- Parchment paper
Ingredients
Almond Einkorn Cake
- 3¼ cups all-purpose einkorn flour (368g)
- 3 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 13 TBSP unsalted butter, softened (185g)
- 1¾ cups granulated sugar (362g)
- 3 large eggs, room temperature (~184g)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp pure almond extract
- ¾ cup whole milk, room temperature (185g)
Vanilla Almond Buttercream
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened (226g)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp pure almond extract
- 6 cups powdered sugar (~720g)
- ¼-½ cup whole milk (60-120g)
Decorations
- 1-1½ cups toasted sliced almonds optional
- fruit (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries) optional
Instructions
Almond Einkorn Cake
- Set oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 350 °F.
- Grease the the cake pans with butter or nonstick cooking spray. Line bottoms of the pans with parchment rounds and grease again.
- In a large bowl, whisk together einkorn, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Using an electric mixer (stand or handheld), cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.
- With mixer running on low, beat in one egg at a time, fully incorporating before adding the next egg.
- Beat in vanilla and almond extracts.
- With mixer still on low, beat in ⅓ of the dry mixture followed by ½ of the milk. Continue alternating until all the dry ingredients and milk are just incorporated. Don't over-mix.
- Divide batter between pans (use a food scale to get the even). Bake until cake is set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, approximately 40-45 minutes.
- Let cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pans to ensure the cake comes out cleanly. Place cakes on wire racks and cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream Frosting
- With an electric mixer (stand or handheld), beat butter until smooth.
- Beat in vanilla and almond extracts.
- Beat in powdered sugar ½ cup at a time, fulling incorporating before adding more. Mixture will get quite thick.
- Add in milk a little at a time until desired consistency is reached. You may not need all the milk depending on how thick you want the frosting.
Assembly
- Once cakes are completely cool, slice each in half horizontally using a serrated knife.
- Alternate layers of cake and frosting. Frost outside as desired.
- If using sliced almonds, gently press them into the sides of the frosted cake to adhere. Top with berries if desired.
Notes
I hope you enjoy this recipe and I’d love to know if you try it!
Blessings,
Melissa
I’ve been making SO many muffins recently trying to perfect some recipes that are in the works, but I can’t say we’re mad about it! Haha, we love muffins.
You may be wondering why I chose einkorn for this recipe – what is einkorn, even? Einkorn is considered to be the “original wheat.” Modern wheat and flour we use today has been greatly altered and bred over the centuries and is a different product than wheat used to be. Einkorn is generally considered more nutritious, lower in gluten, and it’s incredibly delicious too! That being said, you usually can’t just substitute it one-for-one in place of modern all-purpose flour as it handles a little differently.
The almost buttery-nutty flavor of the einkorn pairs wonderfully with warm brown sugar, a hint of almond, and bright, sweet blueberries! Enjoy these muffins with your coffee or tea!
Ingredients for Blueberry Almond Einkorn Muffins
All-Purpose Einkorn Flour
You can buy milled einkorn flour or whole berries that you mill yourself. I purchase my milled all-purpose einkorn flour, by Jovial Foods, from several places: Thrive Market, Amazon, and my local grocery store (I’m so pleased they carry it!). Please note this recipe is for the all-purpose einkorn, not the whole wheat.
Salt & Baking Powder
I think these are pretty self-explanatory. I always add a little salt to my sweet baked goods as it helps to bring out the flavor. I like to use Redmond Real Salt in all my cooking and baking.
Brown Sugar
The brown sugar gives these blueberry almond einkorn muffins an extra warmth! My recipe calls for half a cup, but you can adjust it slightly if you like your muffins a little sweeter (or less). The blueberries already add some sweetness all their own.
Whole Milk
I call for whole milk I this recipe, but if you want to use a lower fat milk or a non-dairy milk you are welcome to do so. Just be aware it may slightly alter the texture or baking time of the muffins.
Eggs
Did you know that you should weigh your eggs in the shells when measuring ingredients? That is if you’re going by weight of course. Two large eggs, as called for in this recipe, is roughly 113g.
Butter
I love real butter – it just can’t be beat! Definitely use unsalted. If you can, I recommend using a grass-fed butter like Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter. It makes the muffins even more delicious. If you’d like to substitute a dairy-free butter, as I frequently have to do, I highly recommend using Earth Balance Baking Sticks (I prefer the soy-free version). They perform quite well in baked goods.
Vanilla and Almond Extracts
Definitely use pure extracts if you can – it makes a huge difference in the taste of your muffins! Vanilla and almond paired with blueberry and brown sugar – it’s so cozy!
Blueberries
I prefer using frozen and thawed blueberries as it’s the most economical option for us. You are welcome to use fresh if you’d like. I buy organic frozen blueberries in bulk from Costco – they are super sweet and tasty!
How to Make Blueberry Almond Einkorn Muffins
Measuring the Ingredients
I’ve included both imperial (cup/teaspoon) measurements as well as metric (grams) measurements for your convenience. I fully recommend weighing your ingredients on a food scale such as the one I have, as it will give you the most consistent outcome.
Prepping the Blueberries
You’ll often see recipes with blueberries call for tossing them with a little flour prior to mixing them into the batter. This is to try to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the muffins. While this technique is somewhat effective, it really depends a whole lot more on the viscosity of the batter and how well it can support the weight of the blueberries. I added this step to the recipe, however, as it can’t hurt!
Mixing
While this recipe is pretty straightforward with combining dry ingredients, then wet, then mixing it all together, it’s important that you don’t over-mix your batter. Over-mixing muffin batter leads to tough, unpleasant muffins. This may be a little less important with einkorn as it’s lower in gluten than modern flour, but nonetheless don’t over-mix! I’m the type of person that wants to be thorough, so it’s really tempting for me to want to get every last bit of flour mixed in. Don’t! A little unmixed flour is actually just fine in muffins.
Changing the Oven Temperature
You’ll notice (hopefully!) that this recipe starts the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit and immediately drops it to 375F when the muffins go in. That initial higher temperature helps the muffins get a nice golden, domed top. The temperature is then lowered slightly so the muffins can bake normally without over-browning.
Directions
Move oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 400 °F
Line muffin tin with cupcake liners or spray with cooking spray.
Place blueberries in a small bowl and set aside.
Measure the einkorn flour into a large bowl. Scoop out one Tablespoon of the flour and add it to the bowl of blueberries. Toss gently to mix.
Whisk the salt, baking powder, and brown sugar into the large bowl of flour.
In another bowl or glass measuring cup whisk together milk, eggs, cooled butter, vanilla, and almond. (I use the large measuring cup which measured the milk.)
Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and gently stir a few times, leaving some flour unmixed.
Add the blueberries to the mixture and stir a few more times, scraping the bottom of the bowl to draw up any flour from the bottom. Do not over-mix! Batter will be a bit lumpy and some spots of flour may remain – this is okay.
Spoon batter into muffin tin, filling each well 3/4 of the way. Do not fill all the way to the top. Once the batter settles in each well, you may add a little more to reach 3/4. You may have a tiny bit of batter leftover depending on if you used liners or not.
Place muffins in oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 375 °F
Bake until lightly golden and muffins spring back to the touch, about 20-23 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.
When the muffins are done, immediately transfer them to a cooling rack. Allow to cool slightly before serving. Enjoy!
Question and Answer
Why einkorn?
Einkorn is higher in nutritional value and lower in gluten than modern wheat. It’s also delicious!
Can I substitute regular all-purpose flour?
Not one-for-one. Einkorn handles a bit differently than modern flour in its absorption of liquid, etc. This recipe has been designed specifically for einkorn.
Can I substitute gluten free flour blend in this recipe?
I have not tried gluten free blend for this recipe, but my guess is that a cup-for-cup blend would work pretty well. Einkorn has a lower gluten content than modern flours and strikes me as somewhat similar to gluten free flour in its behavior and absorption of liquid, so I would guess it would do quite well. My favorite go-to flour blend is King Arthur Measure for Measure Gluten Free Flour Blend.
Can I substitute dairy-free milk for the whole milk?
Yes, but try to choose a full-fat variety. I would recommend something like a canned coconut milk slightly thinned out with water. You can substitute a regular almond or oat drink, but it’s going to have a thinner consistency than whole milk and may affect your baking time and texture a bit.
Can I substitute dairy-free butter or margarine?
I have not tried this recipe with those, but whenever I want to substitute a dairy-free butter in baking I always use Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Baking Sticks and have excellent results.
Should I use fresh or frozen blueberries?
Either is fine, since this recipe calls for thawing the frozen blueberries before adding to the batter. To prevent frozen blueberries from bleeding color into your muffins, give them a quick rinse in cold water and pat dry before proceeding with the recipe.
Can I use a sugar substitute?
Honestly I am not at all familiar with sugar substitutes as I never use them, so I cannot speak to this. Sorry!
Can I make these egg-free?
I have never tried it for this recipe, but I understand the difficulty of not being able to have eggs (was egg free for over a year). If I was to try anything, I would substitute two “flax eggs” in place of the eggs. One flax egg = 1 TBSP flax meal plus 3 TBSP water. To replace the 2 eggs in this recipe you would need 2 TBSP flax meal plus 6 TBSP water. Mix them together and allow them to rest for 5 minutes before adding to the batter. Again, this is just a guess – I’ve never tried it with this recipe. I do not recommend powdered egg replacer – that just results in a gummy texture.
You can find the printable einkorn muffin recipe below – I hope you enjoy it as much as my family and I have!
And as always, thanks so much for being here!
Blessings,
Melissa
Get the Recipe
Blueberry Almond Einkorn Muffins
Equipment
- 1 Full Sized Muffin Tin
Ingredients
- 1 cup fresh or frozen and thawed blueberries (130 grams)
- 2 cups all-purpose einkorn flour (240 grams)
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder (8 grams)
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed (113 grams)
- 1 cup whole milk (240 grams), brought to almost room temperature
- 2 eggs (approx. 113 grams), brought to almost room temperature
- 1 stick unsalted butter (8 TBSP), melted and slightly cooled (114 grams)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (4 grams)
- ¾ tsp pure almond extract (3 grams)
Instructions
- Move oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 400 °F
- Line muffin tin with cupcake liners or spray with cooking spray.
- Place blueberries in a small bowl and set aside.
- Measure the einkorn flour into a large bowl. Scoop out one Tablespoon of the flour and add it to the bowl of blueberries. Toss gently to mix.
- Whisk the salt, baking powder, and brown sugar into the large bowl of flour.
- In another bowl or glass measuring cup whisk together milk, eggs, cooled butter, vanilla, and almond. (I use the large measuring cup which measured the milk.)
- Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and gently stir a few times, leaving some flour unmixed.
- Add the blueberries to the mixture and stir a few more times, scraping the bottom of the bowl to draw up any flour from the bottom. Do not over-mix! Batter will be a bit lumpy and some spots of flour may remain – this is okay.
- Spoon batter into muffin tin, filling each well 3/4 of the way. Do not fill all the way to the top. Once the batter settles in each well, you may add a little more to reach 3/4. You may have a tiny bit of batter leftover depending on if you used liners or not.
- Place muffins in oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 375 °F
- Bake until lightly golden and muffins spring back to the touch, about 20-23 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.
- When the muffins are done, immediately transfer them to a cooling rack. Allow to cool slightly before serving. Enjoy!
Video
A number of people in my family cannot have dairy or conventional wheat (including me), but can tolerate certain amounts of einkorn. In preparation for Thanksgiving I wanted to find a good option for pumpkin pie that uses an einkorn crust and a creamy filling without the dairy.
How I Made an Einkorn Pumpkin Pie
Please note: You’ll need to start a day in advance if you want to make the sugared cranberries!
The Crust
An einkorn pumpkin pie obviously needs an einkorn crust! For this I turned to Lisa at Farmhouse on Boone. Her recipe for einkorn pie crust uses butter, which I just can’t do, so I found a workaround. The recipe calls for frozen, unsalted butter. Instead I used Earth Balance soy-free buttery spread.
I weighed out the amount needed using my digital kitchen scale, then spread it onto waxed paper and popped it into the freezer until frozen. It worked fine! I do feel like the Earth Balance will re-warm more quickly than regular butter, so you will need to work quickly to avoid it becoming too soft. Earth Balance also makes baking sticks so you could easily freeze one of those.
I split the dough into two sections, but instead of using the second half to top the pie, I rolled it out and cut out my shapes – I’ll get to that in a minute!
The Filling
For the einkorn pumpkin pie filling I decided on a recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction. Obviously I didn’t use the dough part of her recipe, but I followed her instructions for making sugared cranberries and then tweaked her filling recipe: In place of heavy cream I skimmed the top creamy layer off a can of full fat unsweetened coconut milk (I had just enough from one can). In place of milk I used unsweetened almond milk. If you can’t tolerate nuts then you could probably just measure out the proper amount of liquid leftover in the coconut milk can (the thin stuff). The coconut really is a nice touch with the pumpkin.
I had a good amount of filling leftover and I’m planning to make that into mini crustless pumpkin pies.
Before adding the filling, I blind baked my einkorn pie crust. I lined it with parchment paper and filled it with dried beans, then baked it at 375F for about 10 minutes and for an additional 5 minutes after removing the paper and beans. I then added my filling and baked according to Sally’s instructions. Mine only took about 45 minutes (I shielded the crust with foil after about 25 minutes).
The Decorations
As I said, I followed Sally’s sugared cranberry directions to make those. However, for the dough cutouts I took that second half of einkorn pie dough, rolled it out, and used my vintage style pie dough cutters to make leaves and turkeys. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like my cutters are readily available anymore. I did find a set here if you’re interested. Otherwise you could use the leaf and turkey from something like these or leaves and acorns from these. Then I baked them on a parchment lined baking sheet at 350F for about 10 minutes. You could brush them with an egg wash prior to baking if you’d like them to be a little more brown (I didn’t).
Let your pie cool completely (several hours), then decorate! I decided to go all the way around the edge of the pie, alternating leaves and turkeys, then added a little embellishment in the middle and scattered some cranberries!
I know this post wasn’t an “original recipe” or anything, but sometimes it’s helpful just to brainstorm together to find workarounds for our individual needs and maybe get a little inspiration for decorating!
If you’re celebrating Thanksgiving soon, I wish a very Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones!
Blessings,
Melissa