SPELT BREAD

Spelt makes excellent bread. Artisan bakers and even supermarkets around Britain are turning to spelt because of its flavour and health properties.

Spelt produces a light grey, densely-textured bread with a good crust and a unique nutty flavour. Spelt bread baton

What’s different about spelt flour?
Spelt flour behaves similarly to wholemeal flour. It can be difficult to get a really light, well risen loaf if you only use spelt flour. If that is the case try adding some strong white flour into your spelt bread recipe, which will give a better shape and texture to the loaf without altering that special spelt taste.

Spelt has a slightly weaker gluten than the strongest common wheat flour, which gives it more extensibility (stretchiness in the dough).

Spelt bread made in a machine

Bread machines have been developed for use with conventional wheat flours. As the proving time for spelt flour is shorter than that for ordinary flour, bread made exclusively with spelt flour will rise and collapse before the machine’s baking cycle has completed. Spelt bread recipes for bread machines replace half the spelt flour with strong white bread flour. Another way is to run the dough programme then remove the dough from the machine, put on a baking tray and allow to rise and bake in a conventional oven.

Spelt bread using yeast
Spelt bread recipes using yeast tend to rise, ripen and mature quickly. This makes spelt especially good for quick and single rise breads as well as with double rise bread baking methods.

To adapt a bread recipe using yeast for use with spelt flour you should reduce the proving times to prevent over ripening and bake as normal.

Spelt sourdough
Sourdough bread is arguably best made from spelt flour, which reacts very quickly with sourdough culture. Try it and you will be converted!

Click here to see our spelt bread recipes.