Made with a mix of mostly whole grain emmer flour and some spelt, this is an enriched loaf with some olive oil added. The result is a great simple everyday loaf that can be used for toasting, sandwiches, or sweet dishes like french toast. This is a no-knead recipe, made using stretches and folds, that rises overnight.
Emmer is an ancient grain and emmer bread can be found in many bakeries in Germany and other parts of western Europe. It’s still commonly used in home bread making and in other dishes, like wheat porridge, elsewhere in the world – but I’m most familiar with its use in German baking. You may need to look online to find emmer flour or grain if you can’t find it in shops. Some suppliers may call it farro (a term that covers emmer, spelt, and einkorn).
For some more bread recipes made with 100% ancient grains, try this whole grain einkorn sourdough bread, khorasan bread, or yeast-based einkorn bread. Each of these are single grain breads with no spelt mixed in.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Emmer flour: I have never made this with a sifted or ‘white’ emmer flour. This is meant to be a whole-grain loaf. See more on some differences in the behaviour of the flour below, in the Recipe Notes section.
- Spelt flour: pictured is sifted spelt flour, which makes the bread a little easier to work with. If you want a fully whole-grain bread, use whole grain spelt instead.
- Yeast: you can use traditional dry yeast or fresh yeast. My preference is for fresh yeast but I know it can be hard to get – fresh is a bit better for longer rising times.
- Olive oil: using olive oil adds the best flavour, but you can use a different type of oil if preferred.
Step by Step
Step 1: combine the yeast and water in a large mixing bowl.
Step 2: add the flour and mix into a shaggy dough.
Step 3: do four rounds of stretches and folds.
Step 4: shape the dough into a ball and cover to rise overnight.
Step 5: in the morning, the dough should be doubled in size and look bubbly.
Step 6: transfer to a lined loaf tin.
Step 7: set aside to rise again for about two hours.
Step 8: bake until golden and cool fully before slicing.
Recipe Notes
Emmer flour is, I’ve found, pretty highly variable. I made this several times in Denmark and Germany and it always turned out nicely, but the emmer flour I could get in Denmark was very coarsely ground so the texture was quite different. You can see in the ingredients above that the flour I get in Germany is very finely ground, almost powdery, so the result is a slightly tighter loaf.
How coarse the flour is will also alter how the dough looks and feels after rising. The very coarse flour seemed to absorb a bit more water, so the dough was easier to shape after rising (in Denmark). With the very fine flour, it was a little floppier. This doesn’t matter as it’s going into a loaf tin so you really don’t need to shape it at all – just transfer the dough right to the tin. I did not shape the pictured loaf.
If you can get fresh yeast, use it. Your loaf will have a stronger rise in the oven as the active reaction lasts longer than with dry yeast. It’s ideal for overnight dough. When I use fresh yeast for this recipe, the loaf rises over the edge of the bread tin. I’ve used dry yeast for the loaf pictured as I think it’s more commonly available to most readers and does make a visible difference here.
This is a relatively high hydration loaf because it’s made with mostly whole grains, which absorb more water. It does make the dough potentially harder to work with, if you were doing shaping (it can be used to make a boule, for example) but results in a lovely bubbly loaf with a nice interior crumb.
How to Store
Storage: keep the bread in a sealed container at room temperature for about three days, maybe longer. It does dry out after a while but can be toasted. If stored in a warm, humid place, it is likely to mould rather quickly.
Freezing: transfer the fully cooled loaf (sliced, or whole) to an airtight container and freeze for up to three months. Individual slices can be thawed directly in the toaster. Otherwise, thaw at room temperature.
Expert Tips
- Give it time to rest: whole grain loaves should rest for at least several hours, and cool completely, before slicing. If you find that your breads are gummy, or leaving something that looks like pilling on your bread knife, they need to rest more before being cut.
- Skip the stretches if you’d like: you can follow the same method as for this dark rye bread and skip the stretches and folds. The resulting loaf will be a little denser and have less gluten action but it’s still very good.
- Don’t skip the oil: a relatively small amount of added oil makes a real difference to this loaf. If you don’t add it, the crumb will be denser and the loaf will be overall harder and a bit bland.
- Increase the rising time: if your home is very cold, you may want to give the bread another 30-60 minutes to rise in the tin before baking. Look for some bubbles appearing at the top of the dough and it having risen by about 25%.
More Whole Grain Bread Recipes
Rye Spelt Seed Bread
Sourdough Rye Bread
Dark Rye Bread
Honey Oat Bread
If you make this Einkorn Bread or any other ancient grain bread recipes on Occasionally Eggs, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email.
Overnight Emmer Bread
Description
Ingredients
- 300 ml water room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon traditional dry yeast or a pea-sized piece of fresh yeast
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 300 grams emmer flour
- 100 grams light spelt flour
- 6 grams fine sea salt
Instructions
- Add the water to a large mixing bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. If using fresh yeast, whisk to dissolve. Set aside for ten minutes.300 ml water, ¼ teaspoon traditional dry yeast
- Whisk in the olive oil, then add the emmer flour, spelt flour, and salt. Stir until a shaggy dough forms. If you prefer to skip the stretches and folds, skip the following step and go right to letting the dough rise overnight.2 tablespoons olive oil, 300 grams emmer flour, 100 grams light spelt flour, 6 grams fine sea salt
- To do the stretches and folds, let the dough rest, covered, for 30 minutes. Then over the next couple of hours, do a round of stretches and folds every 30 minutes, for a total of four rounds.
- Cover the bowl well with a tea towel and large plate or board. Set aside to rise at room temperature overnight, or for about eight hours. I usually keep mine in the oven (light off) to provide a little extra protection.
- In the morning, line a bread tin with baking paper. Transfer the risen dough to the lined tin (no need to shape) and smooth out the top if necessary.
- Let the loaf rise, covered, at room temperature for another two hours. It should rise a bit more during this time.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Bake the bread for 40-45 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Let the bread cool for about ten minutes in the tin before removing to cool fully on a wire rack. Let it cool completely before slicing, preferably for a few hours to avoid a gummy texture. Store in a sealed container for a few days or freeze for up to three months.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.
Should I convert the amounts of flour for this recipe if using freshly-ground flour?
Hi Kristen, I’ve been getting this question with some frequency and I think it’s only needed when you’re measuring with cups, not properly with grams (because freshly ground flour has a much greater volume than old flour). I have a home mill and have made this with store-bought, home-milled, and freshly milled flour purchased from a local mill and haven’t had to make any changes. Should be fine! The only issue you might run into is if your home-milled flour isn’t fine enough – make sure you’re using a fine setting on your mill or run it through twice.