Working with Spelt flour

Your problems with wheat flour are probably due to the gluten content which is much lower in spelt. Unfortunately, it is this ingredient that allows bread to rise and trap the carbon dioxide. High gluten bread flours are too strong for cakes etc., and so cake flour has a low gluten content. Spelt has a low gluten content so makes lousy bread, unless mixed with some normal wheat flour for support. Graham

Thing is, the OP can't eat wheat. I've seen raw gluten in the health food section of my local grocery store. ~Peggy

Spelt does of course contain gluten, and I'm not so sure there is less of it, per se, but I understand it is more fragile, therefore less suitable for breads. Another side of the gluten/allergy issue is that there are two proteins that form the gluten, when worked in the presence of water. I am given to understand that spelt and wheat share one of the two identically, but the other protein differs between them. It may be the latter protein that I am primarily allergic to...

At any rate, I do want to avoid adding wheat flour, just to increase the gluten. What other ways are there to "toughen" a bread dough? Increased working/kneading time, perhaps?

Dave

You could try it, I suppose. However, I've never had much success with spelt in other than a minor proportion of the total flour content. High spelt content breads have, for me, always turned out cakey. Repost on alt.bread.recipes where you might get more specialised answers. There are several experts there who might be able to help. Graham

Yhanks, I'll try that. And yes, that's pretty much what happens with my breads. Cakey, and dense at that. Is it the same sort of mechanism that causes cookies to collapse, too?

Dave

I don't know. On a.b.r. there are a couple of professional bakers who might be able to answer this one. Graham

I have never used this, but from everything I've read, you'll have bewtter luck doing quick breads that don't rely on yeast or with enriched sandwich breads.

Farro, an Old Italian Favorite Returns

spelt-bread from fatfree.com: the low fat vegetarian recipe archive All Recipes | Bread | Very Simple Spelt Bread Easy Vegan Spelt Bread

Spelt is considered an ancestor to modern wheat. Like wheat, it is milled into whole grain and white flour. Spelt proteins do form gluten, but spelt gluten is weak and very easily overworked. Spelt bread dough should be mixed for ony a short period of time (just until wet and uniform) to avoid overworking and tearing the gluten. Spelt has a lower water absorption value than wheat, so less water is needed when forming batters and doughs. YES...do expect a lower volume and stronger flavour from baked goods with spelt.

one last thing i forgot, once you have punch the dough, here is where you can tightly shape it, but again be sure not to overwork it, then proof it while shaped.

Thanks, Charles! Your first reply crossed my reading your other notes. So, it's not a matter of working the dough longer, to toughen the gluten, but shorter, to avoid overworking it. I have found it to require less water, as you said. I'll try again!

Dave

There is a recipe for spelt bread in "The Bread Book" by Linda Collister & Anthony Blake, an excellent book. The method used produces about as holey a bread as this flour will make. HTH Graham

I'll check the library, thank you!

Dave

After reading Charles Baker's suggestions earlier in this thread, I compared to the Spelt Bread I recipe at Peggy's link.

"1 Stir yeast and sugar, gradually adding warm water. Add about half the flour and the salt and beat well. Add the remainder of the flour gradually to acquire a stiff dough. It may require more or less than 7 cups.

2 Knead 5 to 10 minutes until smooth and elastic."

Now, does this seem to be 1) too dry, and 2) too long working the dough?

Dave

Something else that you can try, that would give your dough a little more lift: Mix the dough as you noted, but instead of adding the salt to the mix at the start, let the dough sit for approx 45 mins. to 1 hour before lightly mixing in the salt. at that point, then knead in the salt. Let the dough sit again for a few hours to ferment. Then shape, proof, and bake.

Well - not at all a bad bread! I tried a batch this evening, and was quite pleased. The texture and "holiness" are very good, better than I have ever encountered with Spelt. I think I will let it ferment a bit longer next time, possibly increase the yeast a bit (+50%?), and add some sugar. The flavor of the loaf is delicate, and could use a little more yeastiness, but a very satisfactiry start! I did follow Charles' suggestion, to leave the salt out until after the first rise. The extra working required to stir it in didn't seem to cause any problems, and if I understand it correctly, this helps in the rise and gluten build-up.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Dave

This recipe worked out very well, particularly for a near first attempt! I followed Collister's insstructions (originally adapted from Doves Farm's recipe) closely, except making 3 smaller loaves, in 3x5x8" tins. Nice crumb, with small only bubbles, but a good texture and light flavor. I put a couple of pics of the result up: