February 8, 2010 - 7:32am

Spelt bread
baking a wonderful spelt bread with baking soda and soy milk. Would like to know if there is a way to prevent the loaf from splitting.
baking a wonderful spelt bread with baking soda and soy milk. Would like to know if there is a way to prevent the loaf from splitting.
It is most difficult to answer the question without knowing the details of your recipe and the ingredients that you are using. It is whole grain flour? Are you baking free form or in a pan? Is it sourdough or yeasted? How hot is the oven? Are you baking on a stone? How long do you preheat the oven? and so on.
Jeff
Organic whole white spelt flour baked for 70minutes in a 5 x 9 loaf pan at 350 (long preheat). Using baking soda vs yeast, little salt and molasses.
Tom
I have a fair amount of experience with spelt but very little with baking soda. I hope that someone else can help you with this.
Jeff
This my sound like a dumb question, but I've never used Spelt Flour before, and wondering if anyone can describe what sort of taste Spelt has. I hate to buy the flour and not like what it tates like.
but I might be inclined to tell you that it is so unpleasent sweet and light nutty, you could forget about getting some so the rest of us have a better chance at buying it before you do! :)
Thanks for the taste description. I think it's going to be on my list to "buy"
To the taste of spelt subject I would add that it also has a bit of a bitter quality not unlike hard red wheat but slightly more pronounced. When spelt is added to a dough as a few percent of the total flour I find that it adds a very nice aspect and depth to the flavor of the bread. When spelt is the predominant flour it takes on a flavor that I am only marginally fond of. On the other hand there are those who love 100% spelt bread. Also working with a large percentage of spelt in a dough is a bit of challenge in that it acts more like rye than it does like wheat but not exactly like either. Spelt is very much in its own category when it comes to 100% spelt bread.
Jeff