It’s been a crazy couple of months but hopefully I’m back on track now. I know, I haven’t posted anything in quite a while now, but t doesn’t mean I didn’t cook 🙂
In fact, I’ve found some pretty amazing things to bake lately. One of them is this delicious spelt bread. We noticed that we get much less stomach aches when we eat food that is low in gluten and since spelt is very low on gluten, I decided to try and make bread. Something I can use for the kids’ sandwiches at school. I used spelt flour in the past and really liked the texture it gives to baked goods. It’s fluffy, soft and has a hint of sweetness. So this bread is not your typical “mix it all up” recipe but it’s really close to that. It came out very tasty, soft yet not too soft and was gone at the end of the day. The important thing when making bread with spelt flour is that you don’t want to mix it too long or it won’t rise as it should and also, you will need to bake it in a Loaf Pan (Clickable link) or any other suitable pan you have, just because otherwise the dough will spread all over and you’ll get a baked splat. The lack of high gluten values makes it softer and that’s why it needs “special care” 🙂 but it’s not too special or too hard, otherwise, you wouldn’t have seen me making it 🙂
- 370 grams Spelt Flour
- 1 tsp Dry Yeast
- 1 Cup lukewarm water
- 2 tbsp White Sugar
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 4 tbsp Vegetable Oil (you can also use olive oil)
- Sesame
- 1 Beaten egg
- In a small bowl, mix yeast with ½ cup water and 1 tsp sugar (from the quantities in the ingredients). Set aside for about 10 minutes, you’ll see bubbles forming which means the yeast is working.
- In a mixer bowl, mix the flour, remaining sugar, remaining water, oil, salt and the yeast mix. Mix on slow speed for 2-3 minutes only until everything is well incorporated. Mix until you get soft, smooth and just a little bit sticky dough. Careful not to over mix it.
- Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover and let stand for 30-35 minutes until the dough doubles its size (and it will). Again, a word of caution, don’t let it stand too long!
- After 30-35 minutes, knead the dough lightly between your hands, only until there is no more air in the dough (you’ll feel the difference).
- Braid or roll in bread pan or English cake pan or any other pan you have that is not too big and can hold the bread (I used bread pan). The pan needs to be greased and covered with parchment paper.
- Let stand in the pan for another 30-35 minutes. In the meantime, preheat oven to 180C/350F.
- Gently brush the bread with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame and place in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove from oven and after a few minutes remove bread from pan and place on oven rack to cool.
I have made this recipe a couple of times now and each time it has totally failed which our chickens love.
There seems to be to much oil! I even went out and bought new yeast with no sucess either. So I am now looking for another spelt bread recipe. Hope others have better sucess.
Hi Cherie,
I’m so sorry to hear that (happy for the chickens though).
I emailed you with a detailed advice but I what I suggest you do is add the oil along with the water, It’ll be just fine and will mix in much better.
For the first few times I had to hand knead the dough and I know it could be challenging to mix in the oil so if you just add it in with the water into the flour you should be just fine.
Thanks for the feedback!
Can you make this with a bread maker instead? will it work out the same?
Hi Ally,
I’m not sure if this will work with a bread maker.
the main thing about working with Spelt is not over-kneading/mixing it and I’m not sure if a bread maker is the right way to go.
I hope this helps,
Maya
How do you know when to stop kneading? I usually knead my dough for 8-10 minutes.
For the initial kneading I only mix/knead (I usually use the stand mixer) only until the dough actually looks like dough and is not a runny or gooey mix. I add the ingredients, mix with the stand mixer and when I see it’s all well incorporated and the dough starts to form a ball or at least is already in one piece as opposed to a mix of ingredients, that’s when I stop mixing.
Urghhh it’s so much easier just to show you 🙂
I don’t think I knead for 8-10 minutes though, probably closer to 3-5 minutes using the stand mixer.
What a success!!! Fabulous recipe – my kids asked me why i only made one loaf. Thank you!
Thank you so much, I am SO happy you liked it. I make it on a weekly basis, 2 loaves at a time 🙂
This recipe has been the best I have tried so far!! The bread came out super soft!!!!! Thank you so much for sharing!!!!!
I’m really glad to hear you like it.
It easily became my go-to recipe too.
Truly amazing! My first attempt at bread with yeast and it turned out perfect! I used sprouted spelt flour for a little added nutrition, but otherwise followed exactly. My dough didn’t rise before baking, so I was a little worried, but I baked it anyway and it turned out great. It was gone in less than 24 hours.
I’m so happy to hear. The fact that it was gone in less than 24 hours means it was a success too 🙂
Next time, I suggest you do the following to make sure your dough rises:
1. Double check to see that the yeast are working and still fresh
2. Place the dough in a warm place (especially now in the winter time). You can preheat the oven to a very low temperature and turn off after 5 minutes and than place the dough in it, covered of course. It’ll help the yeast and will result in a rising dough.
I did give a few tips about yeast doughs in my last newsletter. You’re more than welcome to subscribe or I can just send you that copy. Just say the word.
Thanks for the great feedback!
Thanks for the great advice! I am making a loaf now for the week and luckily I saw your response. I just put the dough in oven that was still warm from dinner for the first rest. We are in CA, though, and it is 70 degrees outside : ) Thanks again for the wonderful recipe! Even though it didn’t rise before baking, it rose a LOT during baking. I will not be buying store bought sandwich bread any more!
The second time it rose before baking, but not during baking. The dough seemed a little sticker than last time too. Hmmm. Still edible, but much denser. Not as light and soft as the first batch. I hope to be able to recreate the first batch next time. I guess being new to yeast, this is all to be expected!
Yes. And I think it’s great you’re trying it out 🙂 sometimes the bread comes out dense because it deflates a bit when you put it in for baking. Happened to me too a few times. Spelt flour is gentle, that’s for sure 🙂 I’m glad you like it though, it tastes so good!
YUMMMM!!! This recipe came out fabulous! Fluffy, sweet, and so yummy! I used white spelt flour. I’m thinking of trying half and half next time. AND I plan on making more than one loaf too! Thank you for this yummy recipe!
I’m glad you liked it 🙂
Doing a half and half version may require different amounts if water but should work just fine!
I love this recipe too and have another great one to share soon up my sleeve 🙂
Thanks for sharing.
I’m going to try this 😀
Can you freeze it?
You most certainly can! I do it all the time! Enjoy 🙂
Hi, I made this today with sprouted spelt flour (all I had) and followed your directions well but it didn’t rise very much (a little during the first rise and a little during the second — the yeast was proofed so it was fine). It tastes great but it’s only a couple inches high, it didn’t rise much the second time. I did have it covered sitting on the stove above the oven that I turned on to warm up and then off so it was cozy both times. It tastes great, but I would like to know if there’s a secret to getting it to rise better. I have read if you have it too warm (like putting it in a warm oven that’s been heated and then turned off) then you risk it rising too fast and tasting too yeasty. I also have some gluten free “perfect flour blend” (includes only sweet brown rice flour, tapioca starch, arrowroot powder, sorghum flour and xanthan gum) mix wonder if it would be ok to replace some of the sprouted spelt with it, maybe it would be lighted and rise better? Let me know your thoughts. We are not gluten intolerant, but want to get away from the “monster / frankewheat” I’ve read our regular wheat has turned into. Thanks very much! Pam
Hi Pam,
I’ll start with saying that I’m not sure how this bread will work with the flour mix you mentioned since I haven’t tried it :)I’ll just say that yeast work well with gluten so just be ready to get a different result when using even less gluten.
As for the bread, sounds like you did everything right and so the only things I can think of are more kneading and longer rising time.
Spelt ‘likes’ to be kneaded like any other bread just not too much. So next time give it 8-10 kneads after it’s mixed, if you need to, do it with oily hands so it doesn’t stick. The other thing is rising time; based on factors like temprature, kneading time, flour type etc. the rising time may vary. Sometimes I make breads that won’t nudge for the first 30-35 minutes and then rise like crazy 15 minutes after. If your yeast were proofed then you should have no problem. Just do t forget it for two hours while it rises to avoid over rising. A maximum of around 1 hour should be enough. I hope this helps and thanks for the feedback 🙂
I just made this best ever & totally “spelt” bread using olive oil.It is so moist and delicious. I shaped it in a braid before putting it in a glass loaf pan. Beautiful to look at ….better take a photo before it disappears.
thank you so much !
I’m so glad you liked it and that it came out like it should 🙂
Could you please give me the flour measurements in cups . I tried to convert & it came out very runny not able to knead. Looked like cake mix in my stand mixer. I think I don’t have enough flour. Thanks
How much flour did you use?
370 grams is roughly 2.5-3 cups.
Try putting the flour in and when you add the water do it gradually so you are in control over the texture of the dough.
Did you use the regular beaters in your stand mixer instead of the dough hooks (and does it make a difference which is used)? Would you use more or less water for a half & half mixture of spelt and white spelt? I am looking forward to trying this recipe!
Hi Stan!
I use the dough hook for most breads, I find that it sticks less 🙂 but it doesn’t really matter as long as you mix it enough time, or the right amount of time.
For a half and half, I would use approx the same amount. Now, having said that, different flours absorb liquids in a different way so just make sure you add the water gradually and keep an eye on the dough forming.
P.S.
My apologies for the delayed reply, apparently there was a serious problem that’s now fixed.
I dont have a Mixer. Can I kneed this by hand and have the same results? Thanks!
Yes you can.
Just make sure you don’t over knead it.
Also the dough is a bit tacky so maybe use some vegetable oil on your hands when needed.
Can I triple the recipe? Or do you need to do 1@ time?
I’ve doubled before but never tripled. I think it’ll be ok.