Are you Gluten Intolerant but love a good Hamburger?

[shipo]

To sort of paraphrase Monty Python, "And now for something somewhat different"...

Starting with my wife, there are a number of folks in our circle of family and friends who are gluten intolerant, however, they all are able to easily digest the Sourdough Einkorn bread I've been baking since the COVID lockdown of 2020. Many of these folks love a good hamburger, but woefully peel the bun away and leave it uneaten, so I took pity on them and bought a hamburger bun pan last week and took a shot at making buns. My first attempt was a bit underwhelming from a visual perspective, but WOW did they taste good (so good the entire batch was quickly eaten before I even had a chance to make some burgers). These just came out of the oven; I'm thinking burgers on the charcoal BBQ for dinner tomorrow!

[Zombie13]

shipo - Now you're talkin! I will google Einkhorn Sourdough, and hamburger bun pans, they both sound interesting. I have a veritable Gauntlet of kitchen gear and love to cook. Is Einkhorn gluten free? I also have not yet made sourdough yet; from scratch it takes 10-14 days for the starter to develop and mature - the key is to commit, and *remember* to maintain it! LOL. Here are some pics of our recent bakes and dinners. Spinach and ricotta calzones, chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon rolls, hoagie rolls, japanese milk bread (we inhaled this it was sooo good), kaiser rolls, wheat rolls with vegetable beef stew, zucchini lasagne, blueberries we picked, and a blueberry pie (I am still perfecting my crust crimping skills).

[shipo]

Zombie13, a few comments in no particular order:

• Einkorn isn't gluten free per-se, however, it is an ancient ancestor of wheat and the gluten is different, and this is one of the elements which make it digestible for folks who are gluten intolerant. The other aspect is the nature of the sourdough fermentation process which makes it digestible even more so.
• Here's a link to the producer of the flour I use: https://jovialfoods.com/einkorn/
• Then there is the sourdough process itself; I bought my starter culture four years ago from someone who claimed her cultures date back to the gold miners of the 1849 gold rush. Yeah, about that; I've done some research and it seems more likely IF it dates back to a gold rush, it is probably the 1899 Klondike gold rush. Regardless of whether the culture is that old or not, it is crazy robust; after feeding it and letting it ferment for say six to ten hours, I can stick it in the refrigerator for as long as six months before using (and feeding) it again.
• The benefit of getting someone's old starter, regardless of origin, is anecdotal evidence suggests old starter cultures are far more robust and far lower maintenance than starting your own.
• If you want, I'll figure out a way to send you a split of my starter, from there you should be good to go.

[Zombie13]

shipo - all very interesting! Yes I would be interested in the starter. Do you need to continue using the einkorn flour? Or would other flours be workable as well?

[shipo]

The general consensus is to vary the flours used to feed the cultures; doing so enhances their flavors and the "sour" element. I rotate between organic wheat bread flour, organic Einkorn flour, and organic Dark Rye flour.

One other comment, there have been a number of studies done over the last decade or two which show folks who are gluten intolerant can digest bread made from straight wheat flour when using what has become known as "Long-Fermentation" when preparing the dough. If you query that term there are lots of articles on it and frequently new studies which confirm what long/slow fermentation does from a nutrient and gluten tolerance perspective. My breads are typically fermented anywhere between 30 hours and up to a week.