Spelt bread Recipe-Stoneground and homemade
If you are new to baking and looking for healthy and easy recipes, then this homemade stone ground spelt bread recipe is the one for you. I have tested and tweaked this recipe for many years and this recipe will be easy to adjust the proportion of spelt to suit your taste.
Spelt is an ancient grain whose molecular structure is different to that of wheat. In the recent years spelt has undergone a revival as a health food due to the fact that its easier to digest compared to wheat. Wheat has been genetically modified and altered a lot for a higher gluten and yield to suit modern industrial farming. This modification is probably the reason why the number of people having wheat intolerance has risen dramatically over the past few decades. My daughter is extremely intolerant to wheat. Personally try to avoid it too as I also don’t digest wheat too well if I overdose myself with wheat often.
To know more about the health benefits of Spelt as grain take a look at the following link. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelt
My journey with baking
I have been baking my own bread for the past 2 decades. It was a big learning experience to get the bread right. I worked with different grains and flours till I could figure out a fool proof mixture.
Once you get the hang of baking your bread you will turn your back to store bought mass produced bread.
Why I avoid industrially produced breads?
Bread in the supermarkets are manufactured in huge plants and frozen for easy shipping. These finished breads are then shipped long distances to units to be baked once again before they hit our supermarket shelves. Moreover, the ingredients of mass produced breads are always questionable as its made for profit. They use a lot of dough enhancers to prolong the shelf life and cut costs. The breads are no doubt cheap but adds to the cost of your health and well being. These huge enterprises have put the Artisan bakeries out of business in the past decades. So many small bakeries have gone out of business as they cannot compete on this huge scale to even break even. This should also be one more reason to avoid industrially produced breads.
Homemade Spelt bread recipe
This whole meal stone ground Spelt bread will be one of the first in the series of breads that I plan to share with you all. Watch out for more bread recipes in the future posts. I will also be posting a post on why I grind my own grains for baking breads. For the sake of beginners, I have also used a fool proof way to get an even shape by using some high quality organic store bought flour for this recipe.
Scroll down for the printable version of the recipe.
Serve with jam or bread spreads. I have 2 recipes for the jams Rhubarb ginger Jam or Red currant jam which I have posted
In the above video, I have shown 2 breads. The recipe and ingredients below will yield 1 loaf weighing around 450 grams.
Find more Spelt grain recipes from our Swiss Kitchen
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Mix the yeast with sugar and a little water in a bowl and keep it aside to multiply. It will start bubbling after a few minutes. Use normal room temperature water. Grind the grains. If you use an electric stone mill set it to a setting of 3- to 4. Knead well by adding water as its mixing and till all the flour is well incorporated to the dough and leaves the sides of the mixing bowl. Be careful not to add too much water. Cover and let it rise. Remove from the oven and lightly tap it. If the bread sounds hollow you know its done.
Ingredients
Instructions
Mix all the ingredients and take care to keep the salt to one side. While adding the yeast mixture make sure it doesn't touch the salt. Salt will kill the yeast and the bread will not rise well.
When the dough has risen to double the volume, sprinkle flour to your work surface and the baking tray.
Knead again to incorpoate all the air pockets to have a well risen shaped dough.
Shape the dough by rolling it tightly and cover. Set it aside to rise for 15- 20 min.
Preheat you oven to 250 deg Celsius. Score the bread before baking to have an even rise while baking. It prevents the bread from cracking at the sides.
Bake on the highest heat for about 12 min to develop a dark crust then turn down the heat to 180deg Celcuis and bake for 35 min.
Cool the bread before serving.
