February 5, 2009 - 6:57am
Spelt bread
Hi, I'm a new poster, though have been reading for a few weeks since another forum posted a link. It's certainly a fantastic resource.
I tried a spelt loaf for the first time yesterday, from R. Bertinet's Crust book. The dough was very stiff (only 65% hydration). It turned out ok, but not brilliant, so I doubt I'll be in a rush to do it again.
I'm planning on trying bagels for the first time next, "Crust" has a recipe, but I'm going to have a look at some here before I get stuck in.
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I LOVE Bertinet's books, but this one, I did as a variation of my poolish baguette recipe.
Whole wheat spelt flour 100
Water 65*
Spelt grains 10
Salt 2
Inst. yeast 1
Malt pwdr 1**
* - I've adjusted this according to the local humidity, using between 55 and 70.
** - Not MANDATORY, but I like giving the yeast something else to eat.
1) Soak the spelt grains in warm water overnight before adding to dough.
2) Prepare poolish (all the water, the same amount of flour and about 1/3 of the yeast) and proof for about 4 hours at room temperature or overnight in the fridge.
3) Add remaining ingredients, mix thoroughly and autolyse for 25 minutes.
4) Knead until smooth and proof until 1 1/2 to double the volume.
5) Preheat oven to 500 F.
6) Shape and proof ~1 hour.
7) Slash loaves as desired, steam your oven (I use a ketchup container of water sprayed on the walls), and load your loaves.
8) After 4 minutes at 500, lower oven to 425 F and keep loaves in for another 25-20 minutes. Internal temperature of cooked loaves should be ~200 F.
Here's the results I got with this recipe (yes, I need practice slashing):