Einkorn (Triticum monococcum) Flour and Bread

This chapter is about Einkorn, a diploid hulled wheat domesticated approximately 10,000 years ago in the Karacadaǧ region of Turkey. Einkorn, one of the founder crops of agriculture along with barley and emmer, spread to Europe during the Neolithic Revolution. However, starting with the Bronze Age, its cultivation lost momentum because of the new availability of higher yielding, free-threshing tetraploid and hexaploid wheats. Nowadays, traditional einkorn crops may still be found in marginal mountain areas of the Mediterranean region, Turkey, Balkan countries, southern Italy, southern France, Spain, and Morocco, whereas its wild progenitor, T. monococcum subsp. boeoticum, thrives in the central and eastern parts of the Fertile Crescent. Seed size has a marked influence on many compositional and qualitative traits because big, heavy kernels have a higher proportion of starchy endosperm and smaller amounts of the external pericarp and aleurone layers. Einkorn germ proportion is only marginally superior to that of bread wheat (3.1 vs. 2.9%, respectively); sharp differences are instead observed for bran (22.9 vs. 16%) and endosperm (74.0 vs. 81%). Einkorn kernels have higher protein and antioxidant (carotenoids and tocols) content than other wheats. The lipidic fraction of einkorn is rich in monounsaturated fatty acids. Some genotypes show very good bread-making attitude, producing outstanding bread loaves with an appealing deep yellow crumb.