Crispy Einkorn Flour Waffles

When trying to avoid conventionally grown wheat, you might find yourself getting creative on carb replacements. With these crispy einkorn flour waffles, you won’t feel like you’re missing out on one of your breakfast favorites.

While my dad’s specialty was pancakes, I have many fond memories of spending the night at my cousin’s house and waking up on Saturday morning to the smell of waffles.

In my mind, the waffle iron was enormous – big enough to make four waffles at once… which kept my cousins and me from having to fight over them.

That’s probably a standard sized waffle iron today. I wouldn’t know… because in our quest to find something other than a nonstick waffle iron, my husband and I ended up with a much-smaller-than-it-looked-in-the-picture cast iron camping waffle iron.

But back to my uncle’s waffles…

Part of what made them great was that you had the choice of plain waffles or waffles with bacon bits. To my recollection, these weren’t bacon bits out of a plastic bottle. It was fresh bacon made that morning, crumbled up, and added to half the batch.

Family + fluffy waffles + salty bacon + sweet maple syrup always equaled one happy Saturday morning in my mind. Can this be achieved with einkorn flour instead of conventional wheat flour? Absolutely!

Because we lean toward vegetarian recipes here at Green Child, there’s no bacon in these waffles (but you could certainly add it without changing anything else in this einkorn flour waffle recipe).

Why Einkorn Flour Waffles?

If you’ve tried many of our baking recipes, you’ll notice we use einkorn flour often. I wrote in-depth about my experiences with an allergy elimination diet and how it is the perfect substitute for our family (none of us suffer from Celiac Disease but some of us are sensitive to conventional wheat) in this post about the benefits of ancient grains and einkorn.

In a nutshell, today’s grains aren’t the same variety as my uncle used to make those amazing waffles in the early 80’s. Instead of “amber waves of grain,” today’s farms grow dwarfed grains that have been hybridized and genetically modified to create a greater yield on less acreage.

Today’s wheat crops get less sunlight because the grain is lower to the ground. And the mineral content – zinc, magnesium, iron, and copper – is lower in these new varieties (source).

And then there are the problems with glyphosate.

Because my family doesn’t have gluten or wheat allergies, we avoid the issue of conventional wheat by using ancient grains instead. These are grains that have experienced little or no changes due to selective breeding over time.

Some popular ancient grains are spelt, barley, millet, farro, and einkorn. Over the past decade, I’ve experimented with most of these and have found einkorn flour to be the easiest substitution for regular flour.

By far the easiest to use version of einkorn we’ve found is from Jovial Foods. You might remember our favorite chickpea chocolate chip cookies – they were made with Jovial’s All Purpose Organic Einkorn Flour.

Crispy Einkorn Flour Waffles Recipe

If you’ve ever noticed sugar in a waffle recipe (and wondered why it’s there since you’re going to coat them in syrup), it’s to help create waffles with soft centers and crispy edges.

It isn’t necessary for flavor, so it’s technically optional. Be sure to let the waffle iron heat in between each waffle. The super hot iron will help give you crisp edges without extra sugar.

Beating the egg whites before adding them to the batter helps these waffles stay light and airy even though einkorn flour can sometimes be a bit more dense and thick than typical white flour.

Einkorn Waffles Ingredients

• Einkorn flour
• Aluminum free baking powder
• Butter
• Milk or buttermilk
• Egg yolks
• Egg whites
• Vanilla
• Salt
• Organic cane sugar (optional)

Make the Waffles

Serve with grass-fed butter, berries of your choice, and/or organic maple syrup. We use farm fresh eggs and local whole milk. Buttermilk also makes a nice option for waffles.

1. First, heat the waffle iron until it’s hot.
2. While the waffle iron is heating up, stir together the sugar, vanilla, flour, baking powder, salt, melted butter, milk, and egg yolks in a large bowl.
3. Beat until the batter smooth.
4. Next, gently fold in the egg whites until they are just stirred in. Make sure to not over-mix.
5. Now pour the einkorn flour waffle batter by heaped ¼ cups into the HOT waffle iron.
6. Bake until the waffles have crisp edges and are golden brown.

Einkorn Waffles FAQ

Serve and Store Einkorn Waffles

This recipe makes 8 large waffles. Serve einkorn flour waffles with grass-fed butter, berries of your choice, and organic maple syrup.

Freeze any extras and reheat in the toaster oven for a quick breakfast on school mornings.

As I mentioned, we have a small cast iron waffle iron to avoid cooking on a nonstick surface. If you know of a safe, full size waffle iron, please tell us about it in the comments.