The Fresh Loaf

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White spelt sourdough

Anomalous's picture
Anomalous

White spelt sourdough

I've experimented a lot with sourdoughs but this is my first 100% spelt effort. I used 60g wholemeal stoneground rye starter from the fridge to make a levain with 80g white spelt flour and 80g water and left it at room temperature for about 3 hours until it was nice and bubbly.

 

Then I added another 220g of white spelt and 60g water, mixed thoroughly and left covered for 15 minutes. Next, I added 5g salt and a good glug of olive oil and mixed thoroughly then put it onto an oiled worktop and did a bit of folding and stretching for about a minute and formed it into a round. I waited 15 minutes and did another minute of folding and stretching and shaping into a round, and repeated the process another couple of times before forming it into a slightly longer shape and putting it into a floured towel with its ends held together by bulldog clips to form a kind of hammock shape. 

After about four hours it seemed to have risen enough so I turned it out into my preheated combo cooker, slashed it and put it into the preheated oven at 230C. I took the lid off after 18 minutes and baked it for a further 20 minutes at the same temperature.

I'm very pleased with the result. The crumb is soft and light and the crust is very crunchy; much more so than with wheat flour. 

The starter was about 120% hydration, so the 60g that I used was probably about 27g rye and 33g water, so I think the overall hydration of the loaf, starter included, is about 64%. Next time I'll try it with a cold final proving in the fridge.

 

Comments

James Franklin's picture
James Franklin

or did i read it wrong

Anomalous's picture
Anomalous

Yes, you're right; there was no bulk fermentation. It's only a small 500g loaf which I made as an experiment as a quick sourdough and it had three main phases: the sponge (3 hours); the stretching and folding (1 hour); and the final rise (about 4 hours).

James Franklin's picture
James Franklin

i only ever do that with pizza dough. you still got a nice red colour.

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Looks nice but I bet the cold slumber in the refrigerator will improve your final bread  even more.

Nice bake.

Ian