Allergic to Wheat.
My boys were born with food allergies. The process of determining the allergen with an infant is painful but it was determined to be wheat for them both. As they matured and entered the world of solid food goodness, naturally they ate a gluten free diet to help them avoid wheat.
Here is the issue with gluten free foods: gums. Gums and other similar stabilizers are gut irritants. This is completely ironic! For yes, we made the switch to get away from GI irritation only to find a new cause of it. This is a deep subject, I’ll leave it at that, for now. Needless to say, my boys had their share of exposure while on a gluten free diet but I always knew I would try to make a change, before too long.
Einkorn, A Heritage Wheat
By the time I felt brave enough to try Einkorn, I had already had plenty of GF sourdough experiments under my belt. I knew using actual wheat would be so much easier. And it is!
I opted to skin test with Einkorn play dough (pictured below) before letting my boys eat any. They had previously had skin reactions to handling conventional flours. We had a lot of fun and (drum roll) no adverse reaction to using the play dough.
Why? It is wheat, after all. I can’t say absolutely but the general reasoning is that it hasn’t been genetically tinkered with. That’s right, those all purpose flours that provide perfect loaves of bread, have been made of wheat genetically modified to produce more gluten, larger berries, etc. all to obtain those optimal baking results. But it’s not how it began.
Another concern are pesticides. We use organic Jovial Foods Einkorn. They farm in Italy to avoid all the pesticides (like glyphosate) that are approved for use here in America. I can’t know for sure, but I speculate that is the real reason my boys struggle with wheat. Curious about glyphosate? Read more here and here. Considering Jovial Foods Einkorn? I have a post about purchasing in bulk from their website.
How Einkorn Differs from Modified Wheats
After it was determined my boys would be safe eating einkorn, it was full stream ahead. I converted my GF sourdough starter and eventually abandoned that one to start a new one using fresh milled einkorn. This starter is heavenly. It grows, slowly, somehow more content with it’s place in the world. I linger over it and breath in a floral fermentation fragrance, that I love. It makes these small understated bubbles, like it has a small voice. I now think of conventional sourdough starters as having these big booming personalities, by comparison.
OK, so obviously I’m a nerd for sourdough. I have a real love for any food that truly nourishes my family.
Baked goods will have differences, as well. Remember, this wheat wasn’t bioengineered to be perfect. It won’t rise quite as much. It browns up much more quickly. It is also much stickier in it’s dough from.
You could say that Einkorn sits in the middle of the difficulty scale between gluten free and conventional baking experiences. That being said, all of these differences, are easily adjusted for and the outcome is delish!
*This is not health or medical advice. Always consult with a medical professional before making any changes.
