Looks beautiful. Seems almost too easy. You mentioned in your blog that because of the peculiarities of spelt your first tries were not successful, and that suggestions from other bakers helped. Can you say more about that?
Some ideas about baking with whole spelt. Not all spelt flours are equal, so you must check your flour, talk with your provider, because maybe there's a big difference between the spelt you bought last month and the spelt you've bought today in terms of baking (water absortion, basically). Another point is that there's need to knead it during a long time. Shorten the fermentation/proofing time of the dough. A great tip is adding a little bit of orange juice in the dough (10% orange juice 90% water, instead of 100% water). Vitamin C turns the dough more elastic. The dough can handle higher hydration level - (The higher level, the less compact that the crumb is). The volume of the loaf is better.
I made twice the 100% spelt bread. First time with no autolyse, just like you. It turned out great but wanted a more moist crumb. Second one, with autolyse and a cold retardation. The crumb was moist but with a slightly tangy flavour. Also, it didn't hold its shape like in the first try. So, I think, that autolyse maybe doesn't fit very well for whole spelt flours.
Thanks for the tips on working with spelt. It came out fine. Have you tried making a sourdough starter with spelt? I like the creamy texture that SD gives.
Another lovely bake Abel.
Looks beautiful. Seems almost too easy. You mentioned in your blog that because of the peculiarities of spelt your first tries were not successful, and that suggestions from other bakers helped. Can you say more about that?
Jerry
Some ideas about baking with whole spelt. Not all spelt flours are equal, so you must check your flour, talk with your provider, because maybe there's a big difference between the spelt you bought last month and the spelt you've bought today in terms of baking (water absortion, basically). Another point is that there's need to knead it during a long time. Shorten the fermentation/proofing time of the dough. A great tip is adding a little bit of orange juice in the dough (10% orange juice 90% water, instead of 100% water). Vitamin C turns the dough more elastic. The dough can handle higher hydration level - (The higher level, the less compact that the crumb is). The volume of the loaf is better.
1/10th of a gram yeast? My scale isn't calibrated that finely.
Just a pinch of yeast. You need to build a very well matured biga, in 14-24 hours.
I made twice the 100% spelt bread. First time with no autolyse, just like you. It turned out great but wanted a more moist crumb. Second one, with autolyse and a cold retardation. The crumb was moist but with a slightly tangy flavour. Also, it didn't hold its shape like in the first try. So, I think, that autolyse maybe doesn't fit very well for whole spelt flours.
Yes, I don't usually make autolyse in whole spelt flour loaves.
Thanks for the tips on working with spelt. It came out fine. Have you tried making a sourdough starter with spelt? I like the creamy texture that SD gives.
Jerry
Yes of course. Baking with SD is amazing, it gives another texture and flavor, but the result is a litlle bit aleatory. At least here in Spain, organic spelt flour is a litlle bit floppy, it's very irregular. I share with you a SD formula of a friend of mine, Julio: http://www.shipton-mill.com/the-bakery/recipes/article-627/100-wholegrain-spelt-loaf-by-julio-hevia