spelt sourdough bread

Spelt sourdough bread has a wonderful crusty exterior and chewy crumb. This no-knead bread starts with ancient grains and is super easy to make.

Spelt Sourdough Bread

bread flour

white spelt

whole spelt

starter

water

salt

Feed a sourdough starter 4-12 hours before starting the bread, ensuring it is active and bubbly.

To a large bowl, add warm water, flours, sourdough starter, and salt. Stir until well combined.

Cover with damp towel, lid, or plastic wrap while resting. Allow to rest for 30 minutes for the water to hydrate the flour.

Grab the edge of the dough firmly and pull up, stretching it upwards. Then push the dough that is in your hands back into the center. Turn the bowl about a quarter turn and do this stretch and fold for a total of 3-4 times. This is considered one round of stretch and folding. Repeat for a total of 6 rounds. * First 3 stretch and folds – every 15 minutes.Last 3 stretch and folds – every 30 minutes.

Cover with a wet towel or plastic wrap and allow the dough to bulk-ferment until doubled. This could be anywhere from 3-8 hours depending on the temperature and maturity of your sourdough starter.

Shape the dough into a ball by gently spinning it toward you.

Set out 20-30 minutes uncovered on the counter.

Turn over the dough (the skin that just developed down) onto a lightly floured surface and shape. I pull each side and fold into the dough, then pull the dough into a shoelace pattern and roll up.

Gently pull the dough against the countertop towards you.

Transfer to a floured banneton or bowl with tea towel, seam side up. Cover with plastic and proof 12-15 hours (or overnight) in refrigerator.

The next day, preheat dutch oven to 500 degrees for 1 hour.

Remove dough from the fridge immediately before scoring and baking.

Turn over on parchment paper.

Dust with flour on top to make the scoring pattern stand out more. Optional.

Score with a razor.

Place the parchment paper and dough into the preheated dutch oven and add lid

Place the dutch oven into the oven and turn down the heat to 475.

Bake for 20 minutes with lid on.

Take lid off and bake for another 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Allow to cool before slicing.

Made with freshly milled spelt and naturally fermented, this spelt sourdough bread is a simple, hearty way to enjoy ancient grains—and it’s one the whole family will love.

sourdough starter (about 1 teaspoon, ripe, bubbly and active)

all-purpose flour

water (about 3 Tablespoons)

levain, ripe bubbly

water (scant 1 1/2 cups)

salt (about

spelt berries (about 2 cups, see recipe notes)

bread flour (scant 2 cups)

Mix together ripe sourdough starter, bread flour and water. Set aside to ripen for 10-12 hours at 78°F. The levain is ready when it’s doubled in size, peaked, bubbly, active and has a milky sweet aroma.Note: 100 grams of ripe, bubbly, active sourdough starter can be substituted for levain in this recipe. Spelt flour can also be substituted for all-purpose or bread flour in this recipe, but the fermentation will happen faster (decreases the temperature of the mixed levain if you want it to rise overnight).

Day 1 Mix Levain (takes 10-12 hours until peaked, bubbly and active at 78°F)

Mill the Berries: Mill the wheat berries using a grain mill. Measure out 250 grams of spelt berries and mill into spelt flour on a fine setting. You will have 250 grams of spelt flour. Note: If you mill extra spelt flour, use it right away or store in an air-tight container in the freezer. You can also use pre-milled spelt flour in this recipe.

Mix Dough: To a large bowl, mix together ripe levain with water. Whisk together until mostly combined. Then add salt, spelt flour and bread flour. Mix together using a dough whisk or spoon until a wet and sticky dough forms and the ingredients are fully combined. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.

Stretch and Folds: After the dough has rested, you will perform a series of “stretch and folds” over the next 1 ½ hours. The goal is to strengthen the dough through a gentle kneading process. To “stretch and fold,” wet your hand (so it doesn’t stick to the dough). Reach around the dough down to the bottom of the bowl, pull the dough up and over and place it on top of the dough. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat the stretch and fold. Turn another quarter turn and repeat. Perform one more quarter turn, stretching and folding the dough. Cover and set aside. Take note of how the dough feels through this process. It will go from feeling a little shaggy to smooth and elastic. Cover the bowl and wait about 30 minutes between stretch and folds.

Stretch and fold #1: 30 minutes into bulk fermentationStretch and fold #2: 30 minutes later, the dough will spread out. Stretch and fold again.Stretch and fold #3: 30 minutes later, stretch and fold again.Stretch and fold #4: 30 minutes later, stretch and fold again. You should notice the dough feeling more cohesive and strong during this stretch and fold and not needing very much folding to come together. If your dough still feels loose, add in another couple of stretch and folds to help strengthen and tighten the gluten strands.

Rest: Cover the dough and let rise for 1.5-2 more hours at 78ºF. You’ll know the dough is ready to shape when the dough is puffed up about 40%, jiggles when you shake the bowl, and it may have scattered bubbles visible on the sides and top.If your dough is cooler, this will take longer and you will want to look for a larger percentage rise before shaping the dough.

Pre-shape: Tip the bowl upside down, allowing the dough to fall onto a clean counter surface. Be gentle to avoid degassing the dough as much as possible. Wet your hands and the bench knife if needed and push the bench knife under the dough on one side and your free hand on the other side to tuck the dough under itself. The goal is to introduce some tension into the dough. Repeat this process, going around in a circle until you have a ball of dough.

Bench Rest: Let the dough rest uncovered for about 30 minutes at room temperature. The dough will flatten a little as it sits. This allows the gluten in the dough to relax and prepares the dough to be shaped.

Shaping: Prepare a bowl or banneton. Place a kitchen towel or hair net in the bowl and liberally flour as needed. Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough if desired. Using a bench knife, lift the dough up off the counter and place it on top of the countertop – floured side down. This ensures that the flour is staying mainly on the outside of the dough.Going around in a circle, pull the dough sideways towards you and then fold up to the top of the round. Move 90 degrees and repeat the same process pulling the dough sideways and then folding up to the top. As you continue this process around the dough, increase the tension as you pull. Gather the bread into a circle and place into a lined bowl.Note: It is possible to shape the dough without any extra flour. The dough can stick to the kitchen towel but doesn&#39;t stick to the hair nets if cold proofed.

Rise: Set the dough in a warm, 78ºF spot and let rise for 1 1/2 - 2 hours until puffed up. Place in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours to firm up before baking.Note: If you want to cold ferment the dough, skip the warm rise and place it directly in the refrigerator. You will also want to alter your timeline, mixing the dough later in the day so the dough doesn&#39;t over-proof in the refrigerator. I would not cold ferment this loaf longer than 12 hours for best results/oven-spring.

Preheat the oven: Put a Dutch oven (top and all) into the oven and preheat to 500°F for 20 minutes. You are working with very high temperatures, so make sure you have some good hot pads. Once preheated for 20 minutes, pull the loaf out of the refrigerator. Remove the covering. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the dough. Flip the dough over so it is now sitting on the parchment paper. Take off the bowl/banneton and the kitchen towel.

Scoring: Use a very sharp knife or bread lame to score the dough. Take the bread lame and score on one side of the dough, at a shallow angle about 30º and 1 inch deep. Score straight from the refrigerator on the cold dough for best results.

Baking: Carefully remove the Dutch oven from the 500°F oven. Take the lid off and place your bread into the Dutch oven (including parchment paper – this helps with the transfer). Put the lid on and put it back in the oven. Lower the temperature to 450°F and bake for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, take the lid off the Dutch oven and lower the temperature again to 450 for the remainder of the bake. Remove the bread from the Dutch oven to a cooling rack and let the bread cool completely before slicing. Enjoy!

My kids loved this bread! I love the option for half spelt and half bread flour. This was easy to work with and tastes delicious.

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