Haniya won’t be able to eat the Whole Spelt Bread I made this morning, but the rest of us will. I can hardly believe how beautifully it turned out. I have missed many things about bread — the making of it, the smell of yeast baking, the chewy texture, the golden brown crust, that perfect rise, the warm and stretchy dough, using my Bosch mixer again. The spelt can’t be kneaded as long as wheat, because the gluten it contains is more fragile. It is doesn’t feel the same as wheat — it feels gloppier and stickier, but should still be warm and smooth.
See also my recipe which yields 3 large loaves.
Whole Spelt Bread – Wheat-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free
makes 2 large loaves or 3 regular loaves
- 6-2/3+ cups whole spelt flour (Vita-Spelt recommended)
- 2-2/3 cups warm water
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon SAF yeast
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon raw agave syrup or raw honey
- 1/4 cup poppy seeds (optional)
Put 3-1/3 cups of the spelt flour, all the water and all the yeast in mixing bowl. Mix until just blended. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow to sit for 15 to 30 minutes, until bubbly and doubled in size.
Punch down (if using mixer, briefly turn on mixer intermittently). Add olive oil, sea salt, agave or honey, poppy seeds and the remaining 3-1/3 cups of spelt flour (1/2 cup at a time). Work in the flour until the dough is springy and it pulls away from sides of mixing bowl. It will be a little sticky, but should not feel wet. Add more flour as needed. If using mixer, increase mixer speed to dough setting (Speed 2 on Bosch Universal) and knead for no more than 6 minutes. Otherwise, knead by hand for 8 to 10 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic.
Transfer dough to a well-oiled large bowl. Rotate dough around so it gets coated on all sides, top and bottom, with the oil in the bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm (but turned off) oven*. Let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
Punch down dough. Divide into 2 portions (for large loaves) or 3 portions (for regular loaves). Shape loaves and place in oiled loaf pans. Cut into top of each loaf 3 times diagonally with a sharp knife. Put pans in a warm place draft-free place to rise, such as near (but not on) the burner that vents the oven’s heat.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. When loaves have risen to just over the top edge of the pan, transfer the pans to the preheated oven. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the tops are nicely browned and the loaves sound hollow when tapped. Turn loaves out onto cooling racks. Brush with oil or cover with a towel to keep crust soft. When just cooled, put in bread bags. Set one out for immediate use and freeze the rest.
Dinner Roll Variation: After the first rise, punch down dough and divide into 2 portions. Divide each of the 2 portions into 16 pieces. Shape rolls into balls by tucking edges underneath and spreading out loosely on 2 greased 9 x 13 inch baking pans. Spray tops of the rolls with olive oil spray or brush with olive oil. Put pans in a warm place draft-free place to rise, such as near (but not on) the burner that vents the oven’s heat. Let the rolls double in size. They should be swelled and touching each other. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Put pans back in oven and bake the rolls for 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove pans from oven. Spray tops of rolls with olive oil spray or brush with olive oil and transfer rolls to cooling racks. Once cool, transfer rolls to bread bags. Freeze any rolls not needed immediately.
© Copyright 2008 by Wardeh Harmon
They look wonderful!!
Mmmmm…it looks wonderful and I can just smell it… warm hugs
I wish I could try some! Do you let your spelt bread rise as long as you would wheat bread, or will it fall?
I thought of something that may help Haniya, if she doesn’t tolerate the spelt very well. I haven’t actually tried this, but I think it will work. Make the bread dough the night before and add either lemon juice or raw apple cider vinegar to the dough, probably a couple of tbsp. Let it sit overnight (counter top or refrigerator?) then bake the bread the following morning. The longer rising time is supposed to break down the gluten in the bread. I would try it, but I have no one to test the bread on afterwords. Let me know how she does.
Love,
Tiffany
That’s a thought. I have heard of this in “Nourishing Traditions.” You said the longer rising time helps break down the gluten, so should it actually be rising overnight? Or would I be stalling the rising, but letting the acid work in the meantime? Thanks for thinking of this.
I forgot to ask about the time on rising. Well, it seemed to be about the same time. I didn’t time it, though, I watched it until it looked good. Sorry that isn’t too specific.
Love, Wardeh
Wow–I’ve been using spelt in pancakes and waffles for years but never dared grind it for bread; now I can’t wait to try your recipe–those loaves look better than my wheat bread!
I hope it works for you! I couldn’t believe how nice the loaves look. When I used to bake whole wheat bread, they only looked this good and fluffy by adding more gluten. These loaves didn’t need anything like that, the spelt worked beautifully. The dough doesn’t stretch the same way or the same amount as wheat when the gluten develops. But it got really soft, smooth and elastic and was a pleasure to work with. Please let me know how it goes for you! Love, Wardeh
Wardeh,
In the NT book it says to let the dough “soak” for at least 7 hours at room temp. They also soak only half of the mixture and add more flour the next morning. Maybe you could use spelt for the first half and add GF ingredient for the rest. My thought was that if you let the whole recipe “soak” that, that would be even better?
I have heard both, that the rising time breaks down the gluten as well as the acid, I’m not really sure which is more helpful. The NT book also focuses on fermentation or “soaking” to break down the phytic-acid in the outer layer of all grains to make the nutrients more available to our bodies.
Traditional french bread is made with a starter that is soaked overnight, then you add more ingredients the next day, and then it has at least 2 risings. An all day project but well worth the wait.
I too am slightly wheat sensitive, but have not gotten away from it enough. I bake alot, especially in the beginning when I was getting off sugar. Now that I am off sugar, I don’t NEED the baked goods as much.
I don’t know if Haniya can eat oats, but that is one that is irritating to my stomach if I don’t soak them first. I put about 1 cup of oats, 1 tbsp of plain yogurt, or you can use lemon juice or vinegar. Water to cover and let it sit overnight at room temp. Then in the morning cook it with more water for about 5-10 minutes until you reach your desired consistency. Add a little salt, raisins, soaked nuts, honey or agave to sweeten. I also top it off with butter and real maple syrup sometimes. I think I may have already told you this?
I got out my NT book so I could tell you exactly what it says.
Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
Some studies indicate that spelt gluten breaks down easily during fermentation, making it more digestible than modern varieties of wheat. They also recommended trying Kamut.
I also believe that we should eat more closely to what our ancient ancestors ate. For example if my ancient ancestors didn’t eat wheat, then maybe I shouldn’t either. That’s just a thought.
One more thing they recommend in NT is fermented vegetables like saurkraut, to aid digestion. That has seemed helpful to me at times. I don’t really like store bought saurkraut, but homemade is good.
I think I am just babbling now because I am tired. I hope I didn’t take up your whole blog space.
I really think it is great that you are so willing to try so many different recipes to please your family.
Love, Tiffany
Tiffany, thank you for all that information. I guess it is time for me to check out that book again. Or buy it. I do watch for it but I’ve never seen it. Haniya didn’t react well to the barley from yesterday and she can’t handle oats either. I am curious whether the soaking will help. I wish I experimented more! Thank you for sharing so much. You couldn’t take up too much space. Love, Wardeh
Those loaves look heavenly. If you hadn’t said they were not wheat I would have thought you had made reg. wheat bread. Oh how I’d love to reach through the monitor and try a slice w/some butter or honey (both would be great
)
Wardeh, I had a question about bread. I make my own using a bread-maker but it cannot be used as sandwiches, too crumbly doesn’t hold together as well as store bought bread. I wondered if you had any tips to improve this- dough enhancer perhaps?
Sangeeta, could you email me the recipe so I could look it over? Love, Wardeh
YUM! I just took my loaf out of the oven and tried it, and it was fabulous! Thanks for the great recipe– I think what I’ve been doing wrong all this time was adding more flour because working with spelt seems to make a stickier dough (I’ve been modifying regular wheat recipes). I made a tasty loaf last week but it fell apart while eating. This one is much more moist and I think it will actually support the insides of my sandwiches for the week!
Alissa,
I am really thankful you shared your experience and happy to hear you like the recipe. Spelt makes beautiful bread, we just can’t expect the dough to feel exactly the same as wheat. Here’s to great sandwiches for you for a week!
Love, Wardeh
My sandwiches were great last week! I even messed up the recipe, but it still came out good and tasty. I halved everything, so I thought, but I just made it again and realized that I didn’t cut the amount of water in half last time. This time was a lot easier to knead and is rising much faster. Yay!