100% spelt sourdough bread
This is 100% spelt bread - 10% whole-grain spelt flour home milled, 90% white spelt flour, 70% hydration, 10% inoculation.
I tested a new approach in making this bread - no autolize, no "fermentolize", just mixing all ingredients including salt at slow speed and after 3 minutes at higher speed for gluten development until the dough didn't stick any more to the walls of the bowl of my Kitchen Aid mixer - about 2-3 minutes more.
4 stretch and folds, preshape, shaping using stitching method and our on counter before short cold retard as we needed the bread for breakfast. Baked in iron-cast skillet the standard way 30 minutes covered.
Due to extensible gluten property of spelt gluten I decided to completely skip autolyse or fermentolyse and just mix the dough and develop gluten right away. I think this approach paid off as the crumb is very nicely evenly opened.
Happy baking,
Joze
Comments
I love the ear and the crumb! Well done!
The spelt flour is not easy to bake although white spelt has very good baking properties. Therefore I am always happy when I get open crumb with spelt flour.
It is nice to be in contact with you after a while! I am still only 50% retired, so from time time I still have to work :-)
Happy baking!
Joze
Massive ovenspring: it tore even beyond your cut.
I found interesting fact that direct mixing without autolise is very good approach for spelt. One of the effects of autolise is to get more extensible dough what is very good when you have a strong wheat bread flour with very good elasticity. However, the spelt gluten is more extensible, actually too much, so you don't want to get even more extensible dough which would spread in the oven. Thus mixing all ingredients including salt and developing gluten afterwards is the approach I used here and the result was very good.
Happy baking,
Joze
That is a truly beautiful loaf! Question - do you buy 'white spelt' flour, or do you sift your home milled stuff? If the latter, do you know what the extraction is (i.e. how much of the bran is sifted out)?
I buy white spelt flour - should be of type 630 to 700 (we use same numbers as in Germany or France where the numbers are divide by 10) . Sometimes I also use home milled spelt flour from grain and usually extraction is about 85% - the same percentage that I get also for wheat flour extraction. There is a huge distinction between the bought white flour and home milled 85% extraction. The home milled one contains a lot of small particles of bran., so I woudl assess it as type 1500. The dough made from it is more sticky and the texture of the crumb is less opened and not so puffy.
Happy baking!
Joze
once fairly coarse, sieve and hold back the bran, then mill the remaining flour again on a fine setting - would you get flour closer to type 630 to 700? I am new to milling so still have heaps to learn.
that is a really great loaf and your comments re extensibility of spelt have me thinking about shortening the autolyse on my current project.
Leslie
Hi Leslie!
Definitely I would advice you to shorten autolyse if you are dealing with spelt. Recently I came across this paper:
https://thebakingnetwork.com/protecting-gluten-in-a-weak-dough/
and I must say that I can confirm the observations from my own experience.
Regarding milling: It might be possible, but on my mill I think I can't achieve it. I did a short experiment in this direction some time ago but was disappointed. I think the most critical is the very first step where you would like to extract the bran before proceeding in next steps. Somehow you get only big particles which it is hard to separate. Maybe one could do it with airflow as the bran is lighter, but that's just my guessing.
Happy bakink,
Joze
I shortened autolyse from 2 hours + to just 1 hour (Trevor Wilson's Tartine Style Country Champlain has 24% whole spelt flour and 12% rye flour) and it was much better. I watch BF very closely too. Next bake I think I will shorten even further.
I have bought a Mockmill 100 and so I can mill from very coarse through to quite fine. Last bake I milled at the middle setting, sieved out the bran then milled the remaining flour and I feel that the flour was much finer and smoother! Maybe I will try to mill once a bit coarser again, sieve and then mill finely and see what I get from that. Just realised that you had 10% whole grain spelt and 90% white spelt so my comment would just apply to trying to achieve the 90% white spelt.
This was an amazing loaf for 100% spelt which I find is often quite dense.
thanks for your thoughts on this.
Leslie
what a gorgeous loaf. You should be very happy. Very very nice. Glad you are posting so much more now.
hester
Thanks Hester, I am happy to hear from you. Honestly speaking I hate baking with whole grain spelt, but with white spelt flour one can get quite good results as I got in this case. In the mean time I have learned a lot about the flour properties and fermentation and so so on so all this knowledge is very beneficial when you come to such case. And thanks for so good opinion!
Happy baking,
Joze
That is a fantastic crumb and rise for 100% spelt. Your method definitely worked. I usually mix the spelt in with other flours and still notice the need to not over ferment the dough.
Regards,
Ian
Thanks Ian!
Spelt is a "naughty" flour due to the properties of its gluten which has pronounced extensibility and is lacking elasticity. Besides this spelt is fermenting faster than wheat so watching the dough is very important. But dealing with whole grain spelt is much harder, I am still far from being satisfied with the results.
Happy baking,
Joze
turned out like a half pita (top) and half focaccia (bottom)... my heart sank actually when I took out the banneton from 20 hour cold final fermentation. The dough was wetter than the beautiful texture it had going into the fridge. I used 20% levain and 80% hydration and 100% WW spelt. 6 hour bulk with 5 sets of stretch and fold and 20 hour cold final fermentation. Does this look like a formula for a failure??? Thank you very much for sharing the information on spelt characteristics. I had no idea how this flour behaves... I am going to order white spelt to mix with WW spelt. Thank you!
YH
It has to taste as good as it looks too! Well done indeed and happy baking.
Thanks Dabrownman, it was really good.
Happy baking,
Joze
I have been doing spelt sourdough bread for at least 6 months but I don't get such a nice result, is it possible for you to share this spelt recipe, and tips. Thanks so much. Greetings from Norway.
What a great looking bread! I am experimenting with spelt because a friend asked me whether I can bake softer 100% spelt sourdough. I tried to create 100% starter but noticed that it is not doubling in size as with other wheat flours. Also it is great to know that I should shorten autolyse.
I haven’t read all your comments and advices yet but I will. I am quite disturbed that I am wasting expensive four with unsuccessful starter refreshments.
Best,
Young Hee
I'm experiencing the same thing with whole grain spelt. The starter doesn't rise much and actually gets soupy fairly rapidly. Hard to tell when its 'ready". My first whole grain loaf was a frisbee, except the one I put in a tin pan, that one held. Both seemed overproofed though, a bit gummy on the inside. Will Try again. I'm using Azure Market unifine whole spelt flour.
WOW!! Gorgeous loaf!! I've retreated from using very much spelt in my breads precisely because of its extensibility.
I'd love to try your version here if you'd be willing to share the recipe.
Many thanks,
Jennifer
I use a tweaked version of the 1,2,3 method (whatever your measure of starter is, its twice(ish) that in water and three times in flour. I think salts a preference in terms of taste, I like it a lot :D. My arteries must be like Victorian water pipes).
I read an article here where someone said they barely used a method - once it was combined to be smooth they didn't do much with it. I've stuck with that alongside 1,2,3, as it seems to suit spelt - if there is lots of wholemeal, I don't even do the folds.
So the method I followed at the weekend was:
400g of 100% hydration spelt starter
770g of tepid tap water (I went for 750g when I thought it was going to be all white flour but had to bump up with wholemeal - spelt wholemeal is super thirsty so needed an extra splash of water to come together). I have gone full 2 times the weight of the starter before with water but find my dough is too hydrated if its 100% white flour for a basket. Does fine in a tin if you have quick and confident hands to get it into said (oiled) tin.
Mixed these together first. After 20 mins, I added:
1kg of white spelt flour, 200g of wholemeal and 20g of sea salt and pulled it together until the lumps were out.
Shower cap over the top of the bowl for three hours, bowl left on the side (rooms temp lurked around 20c). Gave it a fold if I happened to be in the kitchen (2 sets in the end).
For some reason, (laziness and fridge space I think) I decided this would be one loaf. For sane people, this is the time to split the dough into two (still going to be on the large side).
Out on to a floured board, pulled it into a boule - the dough felt nice and lively. Popped straight into a floured basket, showercap back on over the basket. Into the fridge (11pm).
9am the next day, large Dutch Oven in to the oven up at max for 60mins (dough stayed in fridge).
Fire up two gas rings on hob, get Dutch oven out and put it on to a lit hob. Dough out the fridge, showercap off, baking parchment on, board over the top, invert the board.
Take lid off Dutch Oven, put it on other lit hob.
Pick up dough, pray I don't burn myself again, lower beast dough into the Dutch Oven.
Score dough - lid back on, pop it in the oven.
I went for 30 mins with lid at max heat, turned down the heat to 220c, lid on for another 10 mins. My oven is ancient and the door leaks heat.
I then did 45 minutes with the lid off until the core temp was 99c. Out on the rack, cut 6 hours later (was hanging for some toast !).
If I had split the dough into two, I would have done 20 mins with lid on at max temp, dropped the heat to 220c and done another 10 mins with the lid on. Lid off until core temps at 99c and the crust is a good tan (around 30 mins for my oven). I have noticed of late I take more notice of the smell in the room to get a sense of done-ness.
A final note, I love sourdough - pls don't think I don't respect the process. But I have found that since I stopped wondering why my starter wasn't a frothing mass like on peoples websites, why my crumb didn't look like others pics, did I have the 'right crust', have I scored it right etc I've enjoyed it a lot more. And at the end of the day, in our house, it's all toast :).
Should have read the string before replying ! It had been a long time :)
Followed these notes quite closely to this method and have created my first 100% spelt loaf. Amazing!!! Thanks so much for your info. 90% white 10% wholemeal.
It was quite a wet dough and difficult to perform the boule step so put it back in my basket, sprinkled a little extra flour on it, quick turn and in the fridge for 25 mins then folded and made my boule. This firmed it up enough. To say I'm satisfied is an understatement!
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I am not an artisan baker or perfectionist - I can't eat the yeast that goes in "normal" bread and my OH cannot eat the wheat that goes in "normal" bread. Its been a long time since either of us have had decent toast !
Three months ago I started to bake spelt sourdough loaves and its gone ok with only one loaf literally going to the dogs ! Considering what we have been eating, the bar is set pretty low though ! I tried the Joze method last night / today with one white spelt loaf and one 50/50 white and wholemeal spelt and I think they have both turned out really well !
Apologies in advance for the really poor photos - am new to all of this ! And yes, we do like the holes - there is still a lot of novelty to those bad boys :)
This is the white:
And this is the 50/50:
Excuse my lack have knowledge, but could you please explain something to me.
Can you describe to me in grams the amount of water, flour and starter you use? And was your starter 100% hydration?
Thank you very
Joze please send me your recipe for 100%spelt sourdough bread. Preferably in simple terms. Also what u feed the starter and how often. The more info the more successful my efforts. Spelt is too expensive to end up in the trash.
Thanks
Fate
Archhm@yahoo.com
Joze, how wonderful to finally find a recipe using 100% spelt that is NOT whole grain! Can you please share that recipe with me? I have been trying for weeks to find one and finally came across this blog. All recipes are either for 100% whole grain spelt or spelt mixed with wheat, to which I have an allergy. I have a lovely spelt starter (60/40 mix of white and whole) but now I am ready to make the bread and was ready to just wing it....thank you in advance!
"This is 100% spelt bread - 10% whole-grain spelt flour home milled, 90% white spelt flour, 70% hydration, 10% inoculation."
Your all spelt loaf is just lovely in every sense. :)
Mini
all the other beauties as well! :)