Homemade Spelt Bread - Can I improve it and can I freeze it?

[ashanta67 10]

Hi just made my first spelt loaf. It's really tasty and was easy to make but it's quite heavy (I used wholewheat spelt). I wondered if I could add something to lighten it a little without using wheat? - It's already stuffed with seeds. I think I overcooked it as the outside is rather crisp!

 

Also, will this freeze as well as "normal" bread?

 

Cheers

 

Ashanta

[chrispin2 10]

Hi Ashanta - I work at the Cat Lane Bakery and we have had a real struggle getting the spelt loaves to our satisfaction - it seems as if it should be easy but it's actually quite a tricky flour to bake with.

 

Some suggestions:

 

 

Part of the difficulty arises because spelt has quite a low gluten content - or at least the gluten is not very strong so it is important to keep the dough on the wet side. So check your recipe - you'll be needing about 65-70grams of water to every 100grams of flour. This will make quite a sticky dough but resist the temptation to add more flour as this will turn it more brick-like. You'll need to use a tin to bake it in as the dough will be too soft to support itself as a bloomer or cob.

 

Maybe try perfecting the loaf without any seeds in to start with - the seeds don't help the development of the gluten and will just weigh the dough down and prevent it from rising. When you are happy with the texture of the baked bread try adding a few seeds to the recipe but don't go mad - keep the amounts small to start with gradually increasing with each attempt so that you can check how well the bread is supporting the seeds.

 

You can buy white spelt flour too - Dove's Farm do a nice one (available at Beanies) so you could mix half in half white spelt with wholemeal.

 

A glug or two of vegetable oil in the mixture can help soften the crumb of the finished bread and can help prevent the crust turning too hard.

 

We also knead spelt dough for quite a long time - at the bakery we use a machine for large dough quantities and for the spelt we allow it slowly to knead the dough for a good 20-25 minutes... that's a good bit longer than most doughs have and is a long time to knead by hand so if you've got a food processor with a dough hook you could use that, but keep it on a low speed. The dough changes to a lighter colour as the gluten develops.

 

It also has a tendency to prove quite quickly, we find, especially in warm weather and then if it over-proves it can collapse back into a brick! So allow your dough a first rise of about an hour - covered, in an oily bowl, in a draught free place - and then shape it and put it in its tin. Slash the top and then prove for perhaps half an hour to forty minutes before baking. Don't allow the bread to climb too high up the tin. Place it in a hot oven which will give the dough a bit of "oven spring" and as you put it in the oven turn the heat down a Gas Mark.

 

 

I hope these comments prove helpful - as I said earlier it has proved one of the trickiest breads we bake to get right. Do let me know how you get on.

 

You can follow Cat Lane Bakery on Facebook if you are interested. I'm hoping that home bakers might use our page to start discussing the issues they have so that it would be a useful place to turn for advice...

 

http://companies.to/catlanebakery/

[ashanta67 10]

Hi

 

Thanks so much for your hints. I think I added too much flour and left it in the oven a little too long. Also the recipe said not to knead it or prove it so next time I will do both - though by hand 20 minutes will be a killer!

 

I will certainly check out the website as I cannot find any "heavy" real bread and hate that rye stuff that's in packets!

 

Thanks Ashanta

[chrispin2 10]

Just a thought, Ashanta - you don't have to knead for 20 minutes all at one go - try kneading for just a couple of minutes, several times leaving a 15 minutes or so between kneads... it does mean you have to stay around the kitchen for the duration but it's a bit easier on the arms.

 

Alternatively, you could try the following recipe which is a no-knead spelt bread with an overnight fermentation.

 

Spelt Sourdough

 

The Ingredients:

530 grams whole spelt flour

350 grams water

10 grams salt

3 Tbs honey or sugar or 2 Tbs agave

1/4 cup sourdough starter

Follow the instructions in the video.

Bake at 450 for 45 minutes or until internal temp is 195-200.

 

Method:

Put water into a bowl

Add 3 tbs honey or 2 tbs agave

Add ¼ cup spelt sourdough and stir.

 

Add flour

Add 10gms salt

Mix

 

Leave 1hour

Stretch and fold every half hour x 3

 

Leave to rise in bowl overnight at room temperature.

 

Next morning turn the oven on to 450F and in it place a cloche (see below) to preheat.

 

Shape the dough into a round ball and place seam side up in floured proofing basket or a ceramic bowl lined with a clean, well-floured tea towel.

Prove for 60-90 mins.

 

Take the cloche out of the oven - carefully! Turn the dough into the cloche (seam side down)

Then return to the oven and bake for 35mins, covered and then 10mins uncovered

 

 

This recipe requires a sourdough starter but you could substitute a little yeast for this - say 10g fresh or 5g dried. (But if you'd like to start your own sourdough starter it's very easy but it does take a few days to get going.)

 

The dough is stretched and folded periodically rather than kneaded.

 

It is baked in a cloche ie in a closed container. I used a large heavy pan with a lid - a Le Creuset in fact. It is preheated in the oven and the dough is dropped into it and covered again. This keeps the bread beautifully moist as it bakes and then the final ten minutes without the lid allows the crust to crisp up. Having said that, the crust is not particularly thick and so this bread doesn't keep for more than a day or so, tending to dry out.

 

Happy baking!