Sharon Minkoff

FOOD

Marianne’s Spelt Bread

by

Another recipe I brought back from my trip to Norway is this fantastic bread. Before you hit the back button just let me tell you that this bread is dead easy to make. You don’t have to knead it or knock it back  – you just mix, wait and bake. It’s full of grains so it’s chewy and nutritious. It also has a great flavour.  

Because there is no kneading it doesn’t take long to make. Just plan in advance because you do need to allow time to soak the spelt grains. The rest is easy. You can’t mess it up.

Ingredients

You can easily double this recipe for 4 loaves. (as in photos above)

300 g whole spelt grain
1 cup warm water + 1 greek yoghurt OR 1 1/4 cups of whey 
1.3/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 pk dry yeast (2 tsp/7 grams)
200 g  whole oats
250g plain flour
Other mixed seeds (optional)
 
spelt
 

Method

  • Begin by soaking the spelt grain in approx. 1 cup of boiling water. Allow at least 4 hours. It should be chewy rather than crunchy so leave it as long as  needed. 
  • Take the yogurt (or whey) out of the fridge in advance so that it reaches room temperature.
  • When you are ready to make the bread, warm the water, yogurt or whey to around 30 degrees. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can test the temperature with your finger. If it’s boiling hot it’s too much. If it’s lukewarm it’s too little. You want it to be hot but nice and comfortably so. You need this heat to activate the yeast.
  • Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl and give it a good vigorous stir to release the gluten. The dough will be quite wet and sticky and lumpy and not look at all like a normal smooth bread dough. If it’s not sticky add a little more liquid.
  • Cover with a plastic bag or cling wrap and let it sit somewhere warm for 45 minutes to rise. 
  • Meanwhile heat the oven to 225 degrees.
  • Line the loaf tins with baking parchment and divide the sticky dough between them.Bake at 225 degrees for 40 minutes.
  • Remove the bread from the oven and place them in their tins on a rack to cool.Just make sure that the windows are closed when you take the bread out, or the bottom will stay doughy.

spelt bread

Please note, this isn’t a light airy bread. It’s dense and chewy. And it’s quite filling because it’s packed with goodness. I love it. Try it and see what you think!

BTW It also makes the best breadcrumb topping, as I discovered when using it to make my Crunchy Leek Gratin.  Just break up a chunk of the bread with a hand blender and turn it into coarse breadcrumbs. The texture of the topping will be amazing.

 

 

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Comments

  4. Rosemary says

    Hi Sharon, this looks yummy. If I can find spelt grain I’d like to try it. Please let me know: what quantity of greek yoghurt? And do you mean quick dry yeast or regular dry yeast? Thanks.

    • Sharon says

      Hi Rosemary! You need to equivalent of 1 cup water and one cup yoghurt so two cups of liquid altogether. The yeast I get here is normal yeast I think, but I wouldn’t worry too much. It’s not a really airy bread anyway although it should rise to some extent. I hope you find the spelt. Your best bet is a health food shop. Let me know how you get on!

      • Rosemary says

        The bread was a huge success and will be repeated following popular demand. I may try to make the grains a bit less crunchy next time (longer soak or cook a bit?). Thanks Sharon!

  5. Marianne says

    Lovely pictures! 😊 I can smell it!
    Im going to make before christmad, to eat with marinated herring and gravlaks. Much better than cakes.
    Im also going to use the same recepie with only white flour, no grains, no seeds. Then I put a little melted butter on top before into the oven. HUGS 😍

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