Our own local Los Angeles baker/restaurateur, Roxana Jullapat, has given us extra incentive to talk about ancient or mother grains in the form of her very first cookbook, Mother Grains: Recipes for the Grain Revolution. In celebration of this wonderful book, we’re going to highlight some of Roxana’s favorite Grist & Toll flours using fun new visuals to help you achieve deeper insight into the grain’s flavor profile and uses, and of course a recipe. There’s also a new item in the G&T web store pairing a signed copy of Mother Grains with a seasonal assortment of G&T flours, ready to help you bake and explore. You can find that set here: https://www.gristandtoll.com/product/mother-grains-gift-set/
Let’s kick things off with the mother of them all – EINKORN!
I hope you enjoy these new illustrations, created by the incredibly talented Ashley Leon, who took my Wheat Flavor Wheel in a new and fun direction for this special collaboration.
What do you smell and taste when you bake with Einkorn flour? Here are some of the flavors that jump out at me!
And here are some of the ingredients that come to mind when I think about baking with Einkorn. Of course, this is completely subjective which is the whole point! Trust your palate. The more you cook and bake and smell and taste a wide variety of foods and ingredients, the more you will put together your own ideas and flavor combinations. For me, these are flavors that come to mind when I think of Einkorn’s malty, creamy flavors and its soft, delicate texture:
Einkorn can be tricky when baking bread. As an ancient grain, it is very high in nutritional value, but doesn’t have much gluten strength at all. For bread recipes, give it a good strong flour partner, like our Hard White (https://www.gristandtoll.com/product/hard-white-flour/ ), which has a mellow color and flavor profile and will add gluten strength but still allow Einkorn’s special flavor profile to come through. I love the blend of 25% Einkorn and 75% Hard White. Or, try something really unique and use Einkorn flour instead of Rye in traditional 100% Rye recipes. It’s also a great substitute for Emmer.
And now the part you’ve probably been waiting for:
Recipe courtesy of Roxana Jullapat
MOTHER GRAINS: Recipes for the Grain Revolution
W.W. Norton & Company, April 20, 2021
EINKORN SHORTBREAD
Makes about 1 dozen 2 1/2″ cookies
You’ll need a 2 1/2 – inch cookie cutter plus an optional tiny one to cut out a decorative center
Ingredients:
1/4 cup (30g) confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup packed (55g) dark brown sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick/115g) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups (155g) G&T Einkorn flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Method:
1. Place an oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 300F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a food processor, pulse the confectioners’ sugar and brown sugar for 1 minute. Add the butter and pulse to combine. Add the Einkorn flour and salt and pulse until the dough just comes together. Turn the dough out onto the work surface and knead into a disk about 6 inches in diameter. Put the disk between two 16-by-12-inch pieces of parchment paper, and with a rolling pin roll the dough from the center out until it is 1/2 inch thick. Peel off the top sheet of parchment. Using a 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, stamp out cookies and transfer them to the prepared baking sheet, spaced 1 inch apart. Using a small heart, star, or clover cookie cutter, stamp out a design in the center of each cookie. Gather the scraps and reroll as you did before to cut a few more cookies.
3. Bake the cookies for 15 minutes. Then rotate the baking sheet and bake for another 10 too 15 minutes, until light golden. Rotating the baking sheet halfway through the baking process will ensure that the cookies bake evenly. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on the baking sheet. Enjoy with a soothing cup of tea. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.