making spelt bread

I recently visited a naturopath to try to get on top of a few things. She suggested that our family change over to spelt, rather than wheat. Spelt is an ancient version of wheat, and it has a higher level of nutrients.

We thought we’d give it a go. We can buy spelt bread at our local shops, but because its specialty bread, its much more expensive. So I decided to give breadmaking a go. My first try on the weekend was not anything to write home about.

Because I’ve been sitting around very unwell, I’ve been doing a bit of reading. My husband (who is a school librarian) brought home some books for me to read. Amongst them was one called “Bread Alone” by Judith Hendricks. It was a good read, not least because it had some bread recipes and tips in it. The character in the book spent some time in her past learning to make bread at a boulangerie in Paris. So I decided to incorporate some of the tips into my bread today.

I used a bread recipe found at Bio-Oz and made a few changes. I used wholemeal spelt flour rather than white, dry yeast instead of fresh, and normal salt as we don’t have any sea salt.

The book suggested halving the amount of yeast and doubling the rising time, so I decided to give that a go.

I combined the lukewarm (rather than cool) water with the yeast, and added a soup-spoonful of honey for a bit of extra flavour. I intended to let it sit while I measured out the flour. However, the phone rang, so I ended up letting it sit for about 1/2 hour. I measured out the flour and put it in the Kenwood bowl (“Kitchen Aid” for Americans?). I poured the yeasty liquid in and set it to low to mix with the dough hook. When it was nearly combined, I added in the salt, which is apparently to strengthen the gluten or something (highly technical here!)

I mixed it until it was just mixed, then took it out and gave it a VERY quick hand knead to make sure all the dryish bits hanging around the edges were combined.

I washed out the Kenwood bowl, dried it, and painted olive oil all over the inside. I plopped the dough in and rolled it around in the bowl to coat it lightly in oil. I placed it in the sink which had about 2cm/1inch of warmish (but not too hot) water, and a damp teatowel over the top.

I left it, taking occasional peeks to see how it was going, and replacing the water about hourly. After the three hours, it had doubled in size, and I thought it looked pretty impressive!

I took it out, gave it a bit of punching, then a very quick hand knead. I shaped it and put it in my oiled cake loaf tin. (I don’t have a proper bread tin).

Then I put it in the sink again, with the damp tea towel over the top. I left it an hour to rise, then put it in the oven and cooked it as directed. It rose yet more as it cooked.

At the end of about 15mins at the reduced temperature, it was looking quite dark, so I took it out and tapped it. It sounded hollow, so was done. With a bit of effort, I got it out of the tin.

And here’s my result. I haven’t tried it yet, but am just itching to. It is a marvellous improvement on the weekend’s effort! According to our baking book, its a bit dark and overcooked. Possibly that’s because of the sugar (honey) and possibly the oven was too hot. I have yet to try the bread itself to see what its texture is like inside, but we’ll see.

I am very proud of my effort though. 🙂 Hope it tastes good.