In the heart of Carpinteria, a quiet revolution in bread baking is taking place. Christina Welch, a lifelong resident of this coastal town, has transformed a simple moment of cultural exchange into a thriving cottage bakery rooted in history, health, and heart.
It all began just before the pandemic, when Christina and her husband hosted two German exchange students. One day, the students baked her a loaf of homemade bread — a taste that instantly transported her back to her years living in Kiel, Germany in the late 1980s. That one loaf sparked a journey. Eager to recreate it, she asked about the ingredients and learned a new word: “Dinkel” — the German term for spelt, an ancient grain known for its nutritional richness and digestibility.
Despite several attempts, the bread just didn’t come out right — until loaf number six. After tweaking the recipe and making it her own, Christina finally nailed it. Family and friends couldn’t get enough, encouraging her to start selling it. So, she got her California Cottage Food License and officially launched what would become Dinkelbrot Delight.
But it wasn’t until a relative asked her to try baking with another ancient grain, einkorn, that Christina found her true passion. “That’s the bread I want to sell,” she remembers saying. Einkorn, the oldest form of wheat still in existence, has a weaker gluten structure and is packed with nutrients — making it ideal for those with gluten sensitivities (though not celiac). Since then, she’s fully immersed herself in the world of einkorn, educating her palate and her customers alike. “It’s day and night,” she says. “I can’t eat anything else now without thinking, ‘this would be better with einkorn.’”
Her passion is palpable in every handcrafted loaf. Whether it’s her Big Brown Seed bread — stone-milled to preserve the live culture and the integrity of the whole grain — or her flavor-packed sourdoughs like jalapeño cheddar and caraway sesame, each loaf is made one by one, with care and integrity. And it’s not just bread. Christina’s cinnamon rolls, affectionately called “LoLo Rolls,” are airy, nutty, and perfectly sweet — “to die for,” as she puts it. Her German-style pretzels, made with authentic food-grade lye, are another customer favorite for their rich color, chewy texture, and unmistakable flavor.
For Christina, this isn’t just a business — it’s a deeply personal mission. “I don’t want to grow too big,” she explains. “That would take away from the homemade flavor. It’s nice knowing I’m making something healthy and much tastier than anything store-bought.” Still, the word has spread. Customers travel from as far as Los Angeles and even out of state to get a taste of Dinkelbrot Delight.
You can find Christina’s goods locally at The Food Liaison in Carpinteria or Field + Fort in Summerland. Stay updated on her latest creations on Instagram (@dinkelbrotcarpinteria) or order directly from her website dinkelbrotdelight.com.
With every loaf, roll, and pretzel, Christina Welch is proving that ancient grains — and old-world care — are very much alive and well in Carpinteria.
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Down the ancient grain/wheat rabbit hole. It’s more complicated than hominy grits vs corn grits.
“Confusion with other wheats
Especially in the context of descriptions of ancient cultures, the English word spelt has sometimes been used for grains that were not T. spelta, but other species of hulled wheat such as T. dicoccum (emmer wheat) or T. monococcum (einkorn wheat, also known as “little spelt”, in French “petit épeautre”). This confusion may arise either from mistranslation of words found in other languages that can denote hulled wheat in general (such as Italian farro, which can denote any of emmer, spelt or einkorn; spelt is sometimes distinguished as farro grande, ‘large farro’,[4] emmer as farro medio, (‘medium farro’),[4] and einkorn as farro piccolo, ‘little farro'[5]), or changing opinions about which actual species of wheat are described in texts written in ancient languages. Thus, the meaning of the ancient Greek word ζειά ([zeiá]) or ζέα is either uncertain or vague, and has been argued to denote einkorn[6] or emmer rather than spelt.[7] Likewise, the ancient Roman grain denoted by the Latin word far, although often translated as ‘spelt’, was in fact emmer.[8] Similarly, references to the cultivation of spelt wheat in Biblical times in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia are incorrect: they result from confusion with emmer wheat.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelt
What does this mean? “stone-milled to preserve the live culture ..” Culture like sociologically, or like in yogurt?
“Einkorn, … ideal for those with gluten sensitivities” I ain’t touching this with a ten-foot pole! But if you have real sensitivities, be careful. And of course, as stated in the article, it has gluten so those with celiac disease cannot eat it. (“Einkorn, the oldest form of wheat still in existence, has a weaker gluten structure and is packed with nutrients — making it ideal for those with gluten sensitivities (though not celiac).”
Re: grits, I consider hominy grits to be ground from nixtamalized dried corn and grits to be from non-nixtamalized dried corn. In other words, grits is (are?) polenta/corn meal; just depends on how coarse or fine you like your meal.