by The Real Clean Living

www.therealcleanliving.com

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through my links I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

When we went through the GAPS protocol for our boys’ food allergies, we eliminated all grains. Every single one. For months, there was no bread, no pasta, no flour of any kind in our house. It was one of the hardest parts of the whole process — but it forced me to question everything I thought I knew about the food we’d been eating.

When it came time to reintroduce grains, I wasn’t going to just grab whatever was on the shelf. I’d spent months reading every label, researching every ingredient, and understanding what was actually causing problems in my kids’ bodies. I needed to know: is there a wheat that isn’t part of the problem?

That’s when I found einkorn. And my boys have never had anything else. Not once. Regular wheat flour has never been in our kitchen. I’d also never baked bread before in my life — so I learned to bake with einkorn sourdough from the very beginning. No comparison point, no habits to break. Just real flour and a whole lot of figuring it out.

What Is Einkorn Wheat?

Einkorn is the oldest known variety of wheat — over 10,000 years old. It’s the original grain that humans first cultivated. The word “einkorn” literally means “single grain” in German, and it’s been growing wild in parts of the Middle East and Europe since before organized agriculture existed.

Here’s what makes it completely different from everything else on the shelf: einkorn has never been hybridized. Not once. It has only 14 chromosomes — two sets of 7. Compare that to modern wheat, which has been crossed and hybridized so many times that it now has 42 chromosomes. Three times the genetic complexity of the original grain.

That matters. A lot. Because every time wheat was hybridized, the gluten structure changed, the nutrient profile shifted, and the grain became something our bodies were never designed to process.

What Happened to Modern Wheat

Modern wheat — the stuff in your bread, pasta, crackers, and cereal — has been hybridized over 50 times since the 1960s. The goal was never nutrition. It was yield. Scientists crossed wheat varieties to create shorter, sturdier plants that produced more grain per acre. Great for the farming industry. Not so great for your gut.

The hybridization process fundamentally changed the gluten structure. Modern wheat contains something called the D genome, which produces the strong, elastic gluten that makes fluffy bread and stretchy pizza dough. That D genome is also what triggers the strongest inflammatory immune responses in people with gluten sensitivities.

Einkorn only contains the A genome. No D genome at all. Its gluten is weaker, more water-soluble, and breaks down far more easily during digestion. It’s still gluten — einkorn is NOT gluten-free — but it’s a structurally different kind of gluten that many people tolerate much better.

The Glyphosate Problem (And Why Einkorn Avoids It)

Here’s something most people don’t realize: a lot of conventional wheat is sprayed with glyphosate — the active ingredient in Roundup — right before harvest. It’s called desiccation. Farmers spray the crop to dry it out evenly so it’s easier to harvest. Which means traces of glyphosate end up in your flour, your bread, your pasta, your kids’ crackers.

Glyphosate has been classified as a probable carcinogen by the World Health Organization. It disrupts gut bacteria, may contribute to leaky gut, and has been linked to a whole list of health concerns that are still being studied.

Einkorn wheat is not treated with glyphosate. Period. Einkorn producers grow it without herbicides, pesticides, or synthetic fertilizers. When I was researching what to bring back into our kitchen after GAPS — after spending months healing the boys’ guts — there was zero chance I was introducing a grain sprayed with the same chemical that may have contributed to the damage in the first place.

Einkorn Is More Nutritious (By a Lot)

Einkorn isn’t just “not as bad” as modern wheat. It’s actually significantly more nutritious:

Beta-carotene: 3-4x more than modern wheat

Vitamin A: 2x more than modern wheat

Lutein: 3-4x more than modern wheat (important for eye health)

Riboflavin (B2): 4-5x more than modern wheat

Protein: Up to 19-21% protein content vs. 10-12% in modern wheat

Starch: 30% less starch than modern wheat flour

That golden color you notice in einkorn flour? That’s the beta-carotene. Modern wheat flour is white because those nutrients have been bred out of it — literally hybridized away in favor of higher yields and longer shelf life. Einkorn kept everything nature put in it because nobody messed with it.

What We Use: Jovial Einkorn Flour

We use Jovial einkorn flour. It’s the only flour in our pantry, and it’s what I reach for every time I bake — bread, pancakes, muffins, pizza dough, all of it.

Jovial is 100% organic, USDA certified. Their tagline is “wheat as nature intended,” and they’re not exaggerating. Here’s what’s on the bag, and it tells you everything you need to know:

The only wheat never hybridized. This is the big one. Einkorn’s 14 chromosomes vs. modern wheat’s 42.

Low gluten index. The A genome gluten that’s more water-soluble and easier to digest.

Easy to digest. Because of that different gluten structure, many people who struggle with regular wheat tolerate einkorn well.

Unbleached and unbromated. No chemical processing. No potassium bromate. Just flour.

100% organic. No glyphosate, no pesticides, no synthetic fertilizers.

Jovial also makes einkorn pasta, einkorn crackers, and einkorn baking mixes if you’re not ready to start from scratch. They’re the largest and most widely available einkorn brand in the U.S. — you can find them online, at Whole Foods, Thrive Market, and most natural grocery stores.

I’m not just recommending Jovial because it’s convenient. I’m recommending it because it’s what I’ve fed my family from the very beginning. My boys have eaten Jovial einkorn bread their entire lives. It’s the brand I trust.

Other Einkorn Brands Worth Knowing

If you want to explore beyond Jovial or can’t find it locally:

Ancient Grains — Grown without herbicides, pesticides, or manufactured fertilizers. They also sell whole wheat berries if you want to mill your own.

Bluebird Grain Farms — A farm-to-bakery operation in the Pacific Northwest. Organic, freshly stone-milled, excellent quality.

Grand Teton Ancient Grains — Certified organic, stone-milled, and specifically tested glyphosate-free.

Baking With Einkorn: What You Need to Know

Einkorn does NOT bake exactly like regular flour — or so I’m told. I wouldn’t know because I never baked with regular flour. I learned to bake with einkorn sourdough from scratch, which honestly might have been an advantage. No bad habits. No expectations of how dough “should” feel. Here’s what I’ve learned:

Less kneading. Einkorn’s gluten is more delicate. Over-kneading makes it gummy instead of stretchy. Be gentle with it.

Less liquid. Einkorn absorbs liquid differently. Start with about 15-20% less liquid than your recipe calls for, and add more as needed.

Shorter rise times. It rises faster than modern wheat dough, but it won’t rise as high. Don’t expect the big, puffy loaf you get from bread flour. Einkorn bread is denser — in a good way.

Lower baking temps help. Drop your oven temp by about 25°F from what the recipe says. Einkorn browns faster because of the higher sugar and lower starch content.

It’s worth the learning curve. I went from never having baked anything to making einkorn sourdough every week for my family. If I can do it, you can do it. The first loaf might not be pretty. By the third, you’ll have it dialed in. And there’s something deeply satisfying about feeding your kids bread you made with your own hands from a grain that hasn’t been messed with.

What to Look For When Buying Einkorn Flour

Certified organic. This ensures no pesticides, herbicides, or synthetic fertilizers were used.

Stone-milled. Stone milling preserves more nutrients than roller milling. It keeps the bran and germ intact, which is where the vitamins and minerals live.

Whole grain vs. all-purpose. Einkorn comes in both. Whole grain has more nutrients and fiber. All-purpose is sifted and lighter — better for pastries and lighter baking. I keep both in my pantry.

Unbleached and unbromated. No chemical whitening. No potassium bromate. This should be non-negotiable.

Glyphosate-tested. The best brands test their grain to certify it’s glyphosate-free. Look for this on the label or website.

The Bottom Line

The wheat most people eat today is not the same grain humans ate for thousands of years. It’s been hybridized beyond recognition, sprayed with chemicals, stripped of nutrients, and then “enriched” with synthetic vitamins to make up for what was lost. That’s not real food.

Einkorn is the original wheat. Non-hybridized. No glyphosate. Easier to digest. More nutritious. It’s what wheat was supposed to be before the food industry got ahold of it.

My boys have never had regular wheat flour — and they never will. Einkorn bread, einkorn pasta, einkorn pancakes. They don’t know any different, and honestly, that’s one of the best decisions we made coming out of our GAPS journey.

If you’re on your own clean living journey — even if you’re just at the beginning — your flour is one of the easiest, most impactful swaps you can make. You don’t have to give up bread, mama. You just have to find better bread.

Start with one bag of Jovial. Make one loaf. See how your family feels. That’s progress over perfection — and that’s the whole point.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult with your healthcare provider before starting any supplement, especially for children or if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications. The Real Clean Living is not responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided.

Ready to clean up your kitchen, bathroom, and cleaning cabinet — without the overwhelm? Our Clean Living Bundle gives you the cheat sheets and week-by-week guide to swap out the worst offenders at your own pace. No guilt, no perfection required — just real progress. [Get the Bundle]

Real Food. Clean Products. No Confusion.