Whole grain Einkorn Sandwich bread

INGREDIENTS

• 1 ½ cups (350 g) warm water, 100°F

• 1 ½ teaspoons (7 g) dry active yeast

• 2 tablespoons (28 g) honey

• 4¾ cups (456 g) whole grain Einkorn flour or 2¼ cups (450 g) Einkorn wheat berries, ground into flour

• ½ teaspoon (3 g) fine sea salt

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine warm water, yeast & honey. Let stand 5 minutes.

2. In a large mixing bowl combine flour & salt.

3. Add the yeast mixture and mix with a stiff spatula. The dough will be like a thick bran muffin batter.

4. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 375°F and generously grease an 8” x 4” loaf pan.

6. Stir batter well, then pour into prepared loaf pan.

7. Smooth the surface with a wet spatula.

8. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.

9. Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown. Place pan on a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes. Then turn out loaf and let cool for two hours before slicing.

10. Store in a sealed plastic bag for up to 3 days.

    recipe courtesy of Jovial Foods

Whole grain Einkorn Pumpkin Bread

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup (230 g) pumpkin puree, room temperature

• 3 large eggs, room temperature

• ¾ cup (175 g) sugar

• ½ cup (120 g) extra virgin olive oil, plus more for oiling the pan

• 1 teaspoon (2 g) cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon (1 g) ground ginger

• 2½ cups (240 g) whole grain einkorn flour or 1 ½ cups (250 g)Einkorn wheat berries, ground into flour, plus more for dusting the pan

• 1 teaspoon (6 g) baking soda

• ½ teaspoon (2 g) sea salt

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Oil and flour an 8.5” x 4.5” inch loaf pan.

2. In a large mixing bowl with a hand blender or in a standing mixer with the wire whip, beat the pumpkin puree until very smooth. Add eggs and continue to beat until creamy and thick, about 2 minutes.

3. Add sugar and beat for 1 minute.

4. Add ½ cup of olive oil, cinnamon and ginger, beat for 1 minute more.

5. If using Einkorn Wheat Berries grind them in a grain mill, Vitamix or high-powered blender to a fine flour.

6. Combine Whole Grain Einkorn flour or freshly ground Einkorn Wheat Berries with baking soda and sea salt.

7. Add the dry ingredients to the wet slowly, combining with a spatula until just incorporated. Do not overwork the batter.

8. Pour batter into the loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

9. Let cool for 10 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool.

   Recipe courtesy of Jovial Foods

Holiday Gingerbread Cookies

I absolutely love gingerbread cookies! But then again I absolutely love ginger! It has been a tradition of mine to make a Gingerbread house and bake holiday cookies with our family almost every year since I have had children. We have made so many styles over the years and all of our family (children & grandchildren) have enjoyed the endeavor. However, choosing to eat everything we can organically and decorating cookies, gingerbread houses and other holiday treats can be quite the challenge. All of the artificial colors and dyes, tons of sugar do not make for a healthy choice especially for children. Several years ago I made it my mission to offer families a Gingerbread Making Class on the Farm. It was such a fun experience and those who could not attend purchased kits that I put together so they could still enjoy this wonderful tradition. I am praying about offering 1 class before Christmas and I will have kits available for those who would like to purchase them and make them at home.

I went over to Whole Foods to shop the other day and priced out the whole kits they offer. It was NOT organic at all and the list of ingredients was probably twenty or more. The decorating kits were full of soy and other GMO products. It was not labeled to ensure us that nothing was GMO so I can only surmise it was. The cost was about $32.00 not counting any tax .

If I do offer the class I was hoping to offer a child’s individual gingerbread house for $25 and a family gingerbread house for $50. This will include all of the things necessary to put together and decorate the Gingerbread Hose. Look for upcoming details. Till then here is the recipe for Gingerbread that I use to make my cookies.

Ingredients

For the cookies

• 3 cups (360 g) All-Purpose Einkorn Flour

• 1 teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• 8 tablespoons (113 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

• ½ cup (168 g) molasses

• ¼ cup (55 g) packed dark brown sugar

• ¼ cup (50 g) sugar

• 2 teaspoons ground ginger

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

• 1 large egg

For the icing

• ¾ cup (94 g) powdered sugar

• 1 tablespoon milk or water

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda.

3. In a large bowl, stir together the butter, molasses, sugars, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Add the egg and whisk together until well combined.

4. Add the flour mixture and mix until the dry ingredients are no longer visible. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

5. Remove one-third of the dough from the refrigerator. Dust a piece of parchment paper lightly with flour, then roll the dough out to a rectangle that is ¼-inch thick. Cut out the cookie shapes. Lift up the excess dough and refrigerate it until you are ready to make the next batch. Slide the cookies and the paper onto a baking sheet.

6. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes until the edges of the cookies begin to brown. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then move to a cooling rack. Bake the other batches.

7. In a small bowl, mix the sugar and milk or water together to form a thick paste. Transfer the icing to a pastry bag fitted with a #2 tip. Decorate the cookies.

8. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Recipe courtesy of Jovial Foods. I do not use their icing recipe I make a Royal Icing of my own.

Holiday Sugar Cookies

Thanksgiving and Christmas 2022 are on the horizon. Thanksgiving is my favorite celebrated holiday of all. It is a time to reflect and give thanks to God for all of His unspeakable gifts bestowed upon us in one year. Thanksgiving 2021 brought the curse of Covid to our family. It did a lot of damage and its effects lasted halfway through 2022. By God’s abundant grace and mercy I was not consumed and the rest of our family weathered the storm with minimal effects. To say I am so humbly thankful to be among the living is an understatement and once again to have the privilege to celebrate another Thanksgiving is truly a gift from God.

Einkorn is a bit of a challenge when it comes to sugar cookies, but this tweaked recipe from Jovial Foods is the best one I have found to work with. The cookies hold up well to decorating but the key is to not over bake and chill your dough.

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups (270 g) All Purpose Einkorn Flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 8 tablespoons (1113g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 3/4 cup (150 g) sugar

• 1 large egg

• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (optional)

• 1 tablespoon whole milk yogurt

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar for 2 minutes in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-low speed, stopping a few times to scrape down the sides.

3. Add the egg, yogurt and vanilla and mix for 1 minute until thoroughly combined.

4. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just incorporated, scraping down the sides. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill the dough for 1 hour.

5. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

6. Working with half of the dough at a time, very lightly dust a piece of parchment paper and the rolling pin with flour. Roll the dough to ¼ inch thick. Cut out the cookies and place on the baking sheet 1 inch apart. Gather the scraps into a ball, chill for at least 10 minutes, then roll out again.

7. Bake for 10 minutes until lightly golden around the edges. Cool on the sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack before decorating.

8. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Original recipe from Carla Bartolucci’s book Einkorn. I omited the almond flour because it was optional and I found the cookies turned out better.

Happy Reformation Day!!

Today we celebrate the day which marked the beginning of the Protestant Reformation for the Christian Church worldwide. On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther, a Monk and a Scholar penned his “95 Theses” and nailed it to the door of the Church in Wittenberg. What exactly is the Protestant Reformation. Well Ligioner has a good article explaining the celebration in simple terms. You can read it here:

https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/what-is-reformation-day

So today we celebrate the Light of the Gospel and rejoice in the absolute transforming miracle of the Blood of Jesus Christ on my soul for my sins. Truly we have a lot to celebrate and today we take the time to reflect on the Blessings that are God given and celebrate Martin Luther and those brave men and women who dared to challenge the false teaching and false authority that has been given (by their own corrupt systems) over the souls of men and women worldwide! Rejoice!