Baking with Spelt - help
hi all
never thought my first post would be about spelt, but here goes.
I bought some wholegrain spelt flour (by mistake..) so I looked up some (alternative) recipes and found a decent one on Susan's wildyeast blog. the finished product looked very nice and appealing so I said why not.
I did look up some background info on spelt and how it feels to work with and bake, and I knew I've got a challenge on my hand. I went ahead and followed the recipe to the dot and prepared the oven like I usually do (I make some great rye sourdoughs so my method is fool proof with the available equipment).
now, the taste is no doubt fantastic, and it's a great replacement for wholemeal, however the consistency and workability, oven spring and keeping quality I struggled with.
it was almost impossible to keep its shape as a boule, since it flattens out as soon as you take it out of its proving basket. oven spring was almost an inch, so not great. and it went hard after less than a day... really frustrating.
so, what's the secret? should I use less of it when baking with AP mixture? would using a high gluten flour work better? what can I do to avoid my problems above?
any advice much appreciated.
AK