White Spelt Tin loaf 

Spelt is one of the ancient grains, and was sometimes also known as “Roman wheat”. You can make delicious breads with spelt including sourdough, but the gluten in it is more fragile than with some of the modern wheats, so the structure and rise can be a little different. 

Our organic white spelt flour is milled from UK grown organic spelt, and is free from any fortifications – only certain varieties of wheat are legally required to be fortified, and spelt is not one of them. 

The butter in the recipe below is not essential, but it helps with the volume and crumb softness. It can be substituted with oil, or left out if you prefer. 

This recipe works both for a tin loaf or you could make a free-form bloomer.

Makes one spelt loaf 

Ingredients

 600g white spelt flour

330g warm water, at 35-40C

12g salt

6g dried yeast

30g soft butter

Method 

Have ready a lightly oiled 900g non-stick loaf tin.

Weigh out all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl, combine by hand, and bring together to form a rough dough.

Turn out onto the worktop and knead for 5-7 minutes, or until the gluten is well-developed. The gluten in spelt develops quickly and can easily be over-mixed so be careful.

Place the dough back in the bowl, cover, and prove for 45 minutes – 1 hour in a warm place. 

Turn out the dough, then form it into a shape to fit your tin (or shape of your choosing if you prefer to bake it free-form). Flatten the dough with your palms and fold the top down to the centre and the bottom up to meet it in the middle. Swivel the dough around so that the short end of the rectangle is facing you, and roll and tuck the dough into a tight tin loaf shape.

Place the dough in the tin (or on a tray if you are baking free form), cover with a clean tea towel, and prove for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

In the meantime, preheat your oven to 220C. 

Spritz the bottom of your oven with a few splashes of water to create plenty of steam, and place your loaf in the oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

The top should be golden and the base should sound hollow when you knock it. Tip it out onto a wire rack to cool.