These herb and cheddar einkorn biscuits are truly easy, delicious, and nutrient rich! Using various dried and fresh herbs from the garden, shredded aged cheddar and freshly milled einkorn flour, you get a deeply flavourful biscuit. Perfect for dipping into a hot soup, making a mini sandwich, or simply lathering in copious amounts of butter. The world is your oyster with these biscuits!

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These biscuits have turned my love/hate relationship with biscuits into love. These ancient grain biscuits are so easy and delicious and pair perfectly with so many other yummies. They are fluffy and flakey with a beautiful golden crust. Using only simple and nourishing ingredients that our great grandparents would have used.

What is Einkorn?

Einkorn is an ancient grain and one of the earliest cultivated forms of wheat. It is rich in protein, vitamins, and minerals compared to modern wheat varieties. Einkorn produces a light flour that has a slightly nutty and sweet flavour, making it an excellent choice for various baked goods.

Its unique gluten structure is often easier to digest for some people, although it still contains gluten. Additionally, einkorn is more resilient in cultivation, thriving in poorer soils and harsher climates, making it a sustainable option even though it’s the most expensive grain I’ve seen on the market.

What is an Ancient Grain?

An ancient grain refers to a variety of grain that has remained largely unchanged over thousands of years. Other examples include, emmer, einkorn, kamut, quinoa, teff, and amaranth. These grains are prized for their lack of modification and hybridization, preserving their original nutritional properties and characteristics.

Where To Source Einkorn Flour

Einkorn is one of the more difficult flours to source. If you’re living in a city, you can mostly likely find a bakery or fancy grocery store that sells fresh-milled einkorn flour or online. If you’re living in the country and you can source whole grains, you may want to consider milling your own einkorn flour. You can start without making a large investment by using a powerful coffee grinder or blender that you already own. A step up would be purchasing a Kitc h enAid grain mill attachment.

If you’re really enjoying working with einkorn and you have a reliable source of grain, you can also consider a Harvest NutriMill which is the one I use almost everyday and love both for its beauty and practicality.

Get your Harvest NutriMill when you’re ready to invest using this link and my discount code BRONSBREAD20 at checkout to get $20 off your order!

If you can’t find einkorn flour in your area, you can use spelt or whole wheat flour for this recipe.

Tips For Perfect Biscuits

Use Cold Ingredients: Start with cold butter and cold milk (or buttermilk). Cold fat creates steam during baking, which helps create those flaky layers.

Cut Butter Properly: Cut the cold butter into small cubes and incorporate it into the flour until it resembles coarse crumbs. You can use a pastry cutter, two forks, or your fingers, but be careful not to overwork it.

Don’t Overmix: When combining the wet and dry ingredients, mix just until the dough comes together. Overmixing can develop gluten, resulting in tough biscuits instead of flaky ones.

Use Baking Powder: Make sure your baking powder is fresh. It helps the biscuits rise and contributes to a light texture.

Fold the Dough: For extra layers, fold the dough over itself a couple of times before rolling it out. This technique creates additional layers that will flake apart during baking.

Chill the Dough: If possible, chill the dough for about 15-30 minutes before baking. This helps solidify the fat and can improve the texture.

Use a High-Temperature For Baking: Bake your biscuits in a preheated oven at a high temperature (around 425°F to 450°F). The high heat helps create steam quickly, contributing to a flaky texture.

Space Them Apart: For crispier edges, place biscuits a little apart on the baking sheet. If you want softer edges, keep them close together.

Brush with Buttermilk, Milk or Egg: Before baking, brush the tops of the biscuits with buttermilk or milk. This promotes browning and gives a nice finish.

What You’ll Need

Materials

Medium Mixing Bowl
Baking Sheet
Parchment Paper or Silicone Mat
Pastry Brush

Ingredients

Einkorn Flour: If you don’t have einkorn flour, you can use spelt or whole wheat flour.

All-purpose Flour: For that fluffiness.

Sugar: Just a little bit to balance things out. You can leave out though if you want.

Salt: Sea salt!

Baking Powder & Baking Soda: The dynamic duo for fluff.

Lard: Cold lard cubed or cold cubed butter, if you prefer.

Buttermilk: Or milk with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice to mimic thick buttermilk.

Cheddar: Shredded and aged.

Herbs: Any mixture of herbs, really. I used parsley, sage, green onion, chives, all the good stuff. You can do whatever combination sounds good to you, though.

Egg: A whisked egg to brush the tops with. You can use milk or buttermilk instead.

How To Make Herb and Cheddar Einkorn Biscuits

Mix Dough

Chill the Fat: Dice the lard or butter into cubes and place them in the freezer for 5-10 minutes to chill.
Mix Dry Ingredients: In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together einkorn flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt.
Incorporate the Fat: Add the chilled lard or butter to the dry ingredients and mix until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Add Cheese and Herbs: Gently fold in the shredded cheese and herbs until evenly distributed.
Combine with Buttermilk: Pour in the buttermilk and fold until just combined, being careful not to overmix.
Chill the Dough: Cover the dough and refrigerate for 1 to 24 hours to enhance flavor and texture.

Prepare Biscuits

Preheat Oven: Preheat your oven to 425°F (220°C).
Prepare the Surface: Generously flour a clean work surface.
Roll Out the Dough: Turn the chilled dough onto the floured surface and pat or roll it out into a rectangle about 3/4 inch thick.
Fold the Dough: Fold the dough into thirds (like a letter) and roll it out again. Repeat this folding process a few times, flouring as needed to prevent sticking.
Shape the Biscuits: After the folds, pat the dough into a rectangle that is 3/4 inch thick.
Cut Biscuits: Divide the dough into 6-10 rectangular biscuits, depending on your desired size.
Chill Again: Place the cut biscuits on a lined baking sheet and refrigerate for another 10 minutes.

Bake!

Egg Wash: Whisk the egg and use a pastry brush to lightly coat the tops of the chilled biscuits.
Bake: Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden brown.
Cool and Serve: Allow the biscuits to cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

Watch The Magic Happen