Spelt combined with other flours
Yesterday I mixed bread and used half white unbleached flour, a quarter spelt and a quarter whole wheat, 16 cups in all as well as 1 tbsp.salt and 3 tbsp. sugar. I combined two teaspoons of yeast in 5 cups of tepid water and 1 tsp. of sugar. When it started to bubble I added a half cup of becel margarine to the mixture and threw it all in a 10 quart bowl and mixed it in the Hobart for about a minute. Wow that was all it kneaded...ha ha...It needed just a little more water as it was slightly dry and then was ready to proof. The first proof was 3 hours, the second one hour and the final proof in the pans for about 1/2 an hour. It was a wonderfully soft and tasty bread. It made 3 large and one small loaf...one to eat hot right out of the oven, one to give away, one to freeze and one for the next day...
Glad to hear someone used spelt flour. What is it? I have a recipe that calls for it and want to try, but what type of flour is it, what does it taste like? Can you describe it to me?
I don't know that much about it, other than it is an ancient grain....wikipedia has a lengthy discription if you care to look. I like the flavour and texture it added to my bread. I have made bread for many years and prefer white. I have added whole wheat at times and not that much in ordre to retain the softness of the white bread. The addition of spelt has not interfered with the softness. Perhaps I will try something with just spelt to see if I can describe the flavour. This bread tastes better than white and whole wheat combined. It has a slightly rye but sweet taste. I bought the spelt at Costco...If I can find the whole grain I will mill it and bake that.
Hi joewilcheck, spelt is a cereal very similar to wheat. It has gluten and can be used even alone to make bread, but generally its gluten is quite weak and you have to take great care not to knead it too much or the dough will become very sticky and slack.
Unlike the other grains I prefer using sifted spelt flour because I find its bran to be quite bitter, something I don't really appreciate.
Spelt has a faint flavor of nut, quite a good flour for my tastes. If you like white bread spelt can be a good substitute (although it comes out nutty even in the crumb).
Be aware that there are three varieties of spelt: monococcum (enkir) that is very rare (a friend of mine told me that it has a taste very similar to chickpea), dicoccum (emmer) more common in southern Europe and probably the least tasty, finally spelta (spelt) the most common probably the best of all.
I made the spelt bread from Breadtopia a few months ago and 2 weeks ago made the same recipe using sprouted spelt flour. It was delicious--the best bread I ever made, so far.
Betsy