I've made about 8 or so country loafs, following the recipe in Chad's book. Yesterday, I decided to try and use Spelt Flour. Instead of 100 grams of whole wheat (I have been using white whole wheat), I used 200 grams of spelt flour.
The dough was so much easier to handle, because the spelt flour absorbed more water. I was actually unafraid to get my hands in there.
Which told me I needed more water. I added two tablespoons of water to the dough and it promptly turned into the terrible sticky mess that I am used to. Satisfied, I proceeded to mix the dough, let it rest and continued on my merry way.
After baking, I froze the two loaves the following morning as I still have half a loaf to go through this week.
While I am curious how the bread would have come out had I not added the extra water, I'm not yet adventuresome enough to find out.
The other things I did "differently" was to use several day old starter right out of the fridge to build my levain. I did not even bother with the float test the following morning because I could see my levain had become quite inflated and would obviously float.
Obviously, I won't know whether the taste difference is due to the older starter or the spelt flour, but it is good to know I can still get a healthy rise without having to remember to feed my starter within hours or even a day of building the levain. In the photos below, you can see I used a bit too much rice flour in my proofing bowl/towel. That was due to the fact that my prior loaf would not detach from the towel. :)
Sometimes we use 4 week old, stiff, rye starter right put of the fridge to build the levain - just makes for a more sour loaf. A few days to 4 weeks - no worries. Happy Baking
They look great and I am happy to read about your spelt experiment. Now on my list to do.