Having just recently devoured every episode of the inspirational Michael Pollan series Cooked on Netflix, I came away with a sudden urge to drop everything and get some fresh dough between my fingers and mix up this spelt sourdough bread. Throughout the entire series, he was on screen rallying behind slow food, especially so in the “Air” episode where Pollan points out that humanity lost something when we transitioned from quality, slow food to abundant, fast food—most significantly when it comes to bread. There’s truth to the old saying that all good things take time, right? I agree.
With this amped up baking gusto I’ve been baking more and more this past month, not only baking my staple weekly bread but also milling fresh spelt flour and testing a spelt sourdough formula. Chances are you’ve heard of spelt, an ancient species of wheat that has been used since long ago, and as Pollan alluded to, you feel a sort of connection with ancient bakers when baking bread this way, and especially for me with this ancient grain.
There are many ways to ferment food, and he goes into the science behind the magic of fermentation: how through a lengthy process flour and water are transformed from raw, inedible ingredients into something not only edible but delicious. This fermentation makes food more bioavailable for humans, and in many cases, it adds significant flavor. And oh is spelt delicious! It has a slightly nutty taste that also gives the crust a refreshing bite to it—a little thicker and a little crunchier. Spelt is known for its extreme extensibility (the ability to stretch out before resisting or tearing), and at high percentages, it can be a little tricky to incorporate into a dough formula — the dough feels perfectly strong at the beginning of bulk fermentation, but it becomes slacker by the end.
As I’ve heard some bakers say, baking takes a lot of time, but for the most part, it’s not your time.
Michael Pollan
To adapt, I quickly realized I needed to back off from my usual high hydration and also add in a little more strength to the dough through mixing. But still, be ready for some spreading on the counter at the end of pre-shape and cut it short if necessary. This bread harkens back to my oat porridge sourdough which displays many of the same characteristics.
For this bread, I built strength at the get-go through a few minutes of slap/fold and then utilized my traditional stretch and folds during the bulk. If you prefer only to do stretch and folds in the bulk container, load the front of bulk with a few more sets than usual. For example, perform four sets in the first hour of bulk at 15-minute intervals, and then continue with this recipe as outlined below.
Flour Selection
An important step when milling fresh flour is first to inspect your grain. I’ve experienced a varying level of cleanliness when it comes to the berries I’ve purchased, some having hardly a rock or pebble whereas others have a few more. You do not want this debris finding its way into your mill, let alone your bread. I first weigh out the amount of grain per my formula requirements, plus a few extra grams, and then dump the grain out onto a clean baking sheet. This process lets me quickly pick through the berries looking for anything out of place. Even with quite a bit of grain to inspect I can do this rather quickly. Once I have picked over the grain, it goes straight into my mill to be hand-milled: a slow process that produces an exceptionally fine flour. By keeping the flour temperature low, I’m able to retain more nutrients and essential oils present in the grain.
I don’t expect many to have a grain mill at their disposal if you don’t check with your local market to see if they have whole grain spelt flour for sale, chances are they will. If you can only find white spelt flour that will work just as well, perhaps with a little less overall flavor. If you do use white spelt, I’d recommend reducing the overall hydration 5-10% to accommodate. If you use aged spelt flour, please see my note about the levain percentage at the beginning of the formula below.
My formula also calls for “type 85” flour, which I source from Central Milling. If you don’t have type 85 on hand (I don’t expect many to have this) a good way to approximate this high-extraction flour is to mix half bread flour with half whole wheat, as described by Chad Robertson in Tartine No. 3. I like the level of extraction of this flour, it has just the right amount of bran/germ left to provide serious flavor but just enough removed to provide strength and loft still. I am relying on the strength of this flour to help support the extreme extensibility of the spelt at this hydration, and the added whole wheat flavors are just icing on the top.
Spelt Sourdough Formula
If any of the terms or steps below are new to you, have a look at my Beginner’s Sourdough post from a few weeks ago for more description and photos of each.
You will notice this formula has a low percentage of levain used in the Dough Formula (the pre-fermented flour is only 3.9%). If you are not using freshly milled spelt you might want to increase the levain from the 10% I used to around 15% or so. Just keep an eye on your dough during bulk and if it looks like it’s moving slow at 15%, lengthen bulk until the dough seems ready, and vice versa. Be flexible.
Vitals
Total dough weight: 1800g
Pre-fermented flour: 3.90%
Hydration: 85%
Yield: 2 x 900g loaves
If you want to halve this recipe, take all ingredients in the Dough Formula section and divide by 2, keep the Levain Build as-is (but still reduce the amount of levain in the Dough Formula by half).
Levain Build
| Weight | Ingredient | Baker’s Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 25g | Mature liquid starter (100% hydration) | 50% |
| 25g | Central Milling Type 85 | 50% |
| 25g | Giusto’s Artisan Bread Flour | 50% |
| 50g | Water | 100% |
Dough Formula
Note that the baker’s percentages listed below are with respect to the final dough ingredients and do not take into account the levain. In other words, the levain ingredients are not represented in the percentages below.
Target final dough temperature (FDT) is 78°F (25°C).
| Weight | Ingredient | Baker’s Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 362g | Giusto’s Artisan Bread Flour | 39.59% |
| 285g | Freshly milled spelt | 31.22% |
| 267g | Central Milling Type 85 | 29.19% |
| 771g | Water | 84.39% |
| 22g | Fine sea salt | 2.45% |
| 93g | Ripe, liquid levain | 10.15% |
Method
1. Levain – 10:00 a.m.
Build the liquid levain in the morning and store somewhere around 78°F (25°C) ambient for around 5-6 hours.
2. “Autolyse” (with levain) – 3:15 p.m.
I used the word “autolyse” in quotes because this isn’t a true autolyse (which is simply flour and water). Because I’m letting the dough rest for only 30 minutes, I decided to add the levain along with mixing the flour and water.
Mix flour, water (reserve 100g water for further mixing later), and the levain in a bowl until all dry bits are hydrated. Cover bowl and store somewhere warm for 30 minutes.
3. Mix – 3:45 p.m.
Sprinkle the salt on top of the rested dough and use the remaining water to help dissolve. Pinch through the dough with your hand and mix until all the water is incorporated. The dough will break apart a little and then come back together — it should only take a few minutes.
To build some more strength in this dough at the beginning I did slap/fold for about 5 minutes, just until it starts to show signs of a smooth surface. If you aren’t comfortable with the slap/fold method or don’t like it, you can do stretch and folds in the bowl until your dough tightens up and becomes smooth and slightly hard to stretch out and fold over—medium development.
Transfer the dough to a tub or thick-walled bowl and cover for bulk fermentation.
4. Bulk Fermentation – 3:50 p.m. to 8:20 p.m.
At 78°F (25°C) ambient temperature, bulk fermentation should go for about 4.5 hours. Watch the dough here and shorten or lengthen bulk fermentation based on how it’s developing. There are a few signs to look for that signal the end of bulk fermentation:
- the edges where the dough meets your container should be slightly domed (convex)
- your dough should have risen anywhere between 30% – 50%
- if you slightly jiggle your bulk container, the dough should also jiggle and look alive
- if you wet your hand and tug at the dough, it should provide some resistance and want to pull back
Perform four sets of stretch and folds during the bulk, spaced out by 30 minutes (your first stretch and fold will be 30 minutes after you finished mixing). Be vigorous with your first set of stretch and folds (really stretch that dough up and high, just until it starts to show resistance and before it begins to tear) and be more gentle with the remaining sets. After your last stretch and fold, let the dough rest in the bulk container for the remainder of the bulk time (for me it was 2.5 hours).
5. Divide & Preshape – 8:20 p.m.
Divide the dough into two masses. Lightly shape each mass into a round and let rest for 20 minutes uncovered.
6. Shape – 8:40 p.m.
Lightly flour the top of your dough rounds and flour the work surface. Flip each round and shape into a boule. Try to get some good tension on the top of these loaves, but don’t over-handle the dough. After shaping, let rest on the bench for a few minutes and then place into a banneton seam-side-up. I prefer to use linen-lined bannetons for this moderately wet dough: it removes easier from the basket, and any liquid that escapes from the dough will go into the linen, which is far easier to clean. Only lightly dust the bannetons with white rice flour, just enough so the dough easily removes from them but no more.
7. Rest & Proof – 9:05 p.m.
Cover your banneton with plastic tied tight and let the dough rest on the counter for 25 minutes. Then, retard in the refrigerator at 38ºF for 14 hours.
8. Score & Bake – Next Morning: Preheat oven at 9:00 a.m., Bake at 10:30 a.m.
Preheat your oven to 450°F (230°C).
Take out your first boule and cut a piece of parchment paper to fit over your round banneton. Place the peel on top of the banneton and quickly invert the entire stack (banneton, parchment, and peel), gently pull off the basket and your dough should now be resting on the parchment that’s on top of the peel. Using a small sifter and some white rice flour lightly cover the entire boule with flour. Then use your bread lame to score the top. You can see the process below.
To ensure your design stays intact in the oven don’t mist your loaves with any additional water if this is your usual procedure. Drag the parchment paper directly into your preheated Dutch oven, if using, or slide right onto your hot baking stones.
I baked these loaves using a Dutch oven a few times but also straight on my baking stones with steam. Both methods produce an excellent loaf, but I do find that using my Dutch oven produces a slightly thicker crust.
Bake 20 minutes with steam. After 20 minutes vent your oven (or remove Dutch oven lid and place next to the bottom in the oven), and finish baking for about 30-35 minutes. Go for a nice dark color on the crust. Remove from the oven and cool on wire racks.
Conclusion
I’ve seen may bakers fall head over heels for spelt and after baking with it, I get it. The flavor is delicate but heady at the same time, at 30% I appreciate all that extra flavor and depth it brings to this bread. Lately, I find myself gravitating more and more toward bread with higher percentages of whole grain, mostly for the flavor but also for the added health benefits. Because I’ve used spelt in so many other things around my kitchen I think some incarnation of this bread will become a mainstay in my regular baking rotation—I just posted a variation of this bread, a multigrain sourdough with spelt that’s different but incredibly delicious!
Crust
As I mentioned, earlier this crust is a particular thing. It’s thicker, for sure, but not in an unpleasant cowhide sort of way. It’s thick but soft and crackles easily as you rapidly make your way through a slice. It’s hard to compare this crust to anything else. I’m drawing blanks as I sit here trying to find an analogy for the beautiful texture. If you’ve read other posts here at my site, you’ll know that I’m a total crust snob and this bread surpasses any expectation I had at the onset.
Crumb
Because of the extreme elasticity of spelt, it’s known to contribute to an extremely open crumb. My formula still uses quite a bit of whole grains so don’t go into this bake expecting an insanely cavernous interior, especially with whole grain fresh milled flour. There are sections of these loaves that have a nice and open texture to them, but nothing jaw-dropping — and that’s fine. It’s light in hand, soft of texture and presents that perfect balance between a light bread that’s still perfect for hanging on to all the sandwich ingredients you could dream up.
Perhaps my favorite aspect of this crumb is that I don’t find even the slightest hint of gumminess, each flour works perfectly in balance to keep the crumb soft and chewy, but not overly so. And the taste…
Taste
With the high percentage of freshly milled spelt and type 85 flour (remember this flour has quite a bit more of the bran/germ present than a more “white” flour, which is usually referred to as type 60 or 65) the taste of this bread is more on the whole-grain side of things with zero bitterness, which to me is just exquisite. Eating this bread a few hours post-bake is pure bliss—the crunch of the crust coupled with the soft interior and wheat overtones is sublime.
I could go on & on, but if I were selling loaves regularly, I’d use this bread cut up into little pieces as the taste test samples on my farmer’s market stand — one try and you’re going to buy it.
Spelt Flour Notes
I decided to sum up a few notes I jotted down while developing this formula and process in the hopes that after you try this bread, you go on to use spelt in your creations.
- reduce hydration a bit to offset the extreme extensibility and reduced water absorption of this grain
- pair with a relatively strong flour (in this case my type 85)
- build strength upfront through mixing, with several sets of stretch and folds during bulk
- 30% spelt seems to be the “sweet spot” to me for that balance between flavor and aesthetics
mill a little extra spelt for use in other foods such as banana bread, sourdough tea cakes (more to come on this!), and muffins.
I was worried when I placed a blind order for 25 pounds of raw spelt berries: would I like the flavor? Would it bake according to my expectations? Would the extensibility be too hard to handle? After using this grain for a while now, I can confidently say I’m glad I bought a large quantity, and a little sad I didn’t get more. Not only is spelt incredible in sourdough bread I’m discovering a myriad of creative ways to use it in my kitchen… And with each loaf, I pull from my oven I somehow feel a little more connected to those that have used spelt for thousands of years before me.
Buon appetito!
If you use this recipe, tag @maurizio on Instagram so I can take a look!
206 Comments
This was absurdly good, but I thought it was going to be a disaster. The high hydration gave me a lot of trouble, the final dough was the consistency of a thick smoothie, like when you blend a banana in. So I folded some AP flour in during the early stages of bulk fermentation, which I probably shouldn’t have done. and I had to run out and bulk fermentation ended up going for about 10 hours — then put in fridge for 48 hours… dang, amazing crumb, crust, and the taste, oh my…. next time I will start with a lower hydration and add water as needed.
So glad you liked this one, Doug! Yes, spelt is notorious for easily over hydrating, starting lower is a good move.
I have made the bread recipe and followed the instructions. But, after the bulk fermentation and 2.5 hour rest, the dough was too wet to form into rounds. I instead put 2 pieces in baskets lined with lightly floured parchment paper and placed in fridge overnight. I am about to bake in pre-heated Dutch Ovens, just to see outcome.
I’m guessing I should have reduced the amount of water.
What do you suggest ?
Elyse
Yes, reduced hydration should help.
Hi Maurizio,
Love your site. Do you think I could do the levain overnight…the timing schedule with morning builds always puts me in bulk when my toddler needs me for naps lol. Would you suggest reducing the % starter down to 25% to slow down fermentation overnight?
was wondering the same thing!
Absolutely the best tasting bread I ever made. Thank you for the formula! — I fresh milled all the flour that went into it (luckily there is a shop in L.A. that carries a wide variety of wheat berries). Followed the percentages in your formula, but because of availability I used a red fife for the Central Milling 85, and an organic hard white for the bread flour.
This is a favorite here, too, so glad you liked it, David!
Hi Maurizio. The levain ingredients amount to 125g in the Levain Build table, but in the Dough formula there is a 93g of Ripe Liquid Levain. Should I use only 93g of the 125g levain?
That’s correct, only use 93g!
Hey Maurizio, I’ve been using your Spelt recipe for over a year and I love it! I recently tried some amazing sourdough that blew me away and I’d like to try and replicate it. It looks to be 100% white with a lot finer crumb but a very similar mouthfeel to the spelt. Any recommendations on which recipe to go for?
Glad to hear that, Adam! Hmm, hard to give you a recco based on that description! For me, spelt and white have such a different flavor and texture, it’s hard to find something similar to both 🙂
Sounds delicious, Rob!
Hi Maurizio, what would I have to change (hydration, proof time) to add little more spellt flour (like 50% of all flour) or/and pear pear juice for half of water? thank you for great recipe!
You’re very welcome! I’m not sure how the pear juice would affect things, but increasing the whole grain flour percentage usually means you’ll have to reduce the preferment percentage, lower the temperature, or reduce overall fermentation time.
Hi Maurizio, I’m trying pretty much this formula, with 30/30/40 spelt/rye/strong white and 80% hydration, and am getting a very disappointing bulk ferment (over 5 and a half hours at 23° C with multiple stretch and folds) and overnight refrigerator retardation, with very little growth, despite a very active (all white flour) levain. The dough in banetton is still quite dense and nothing close to my usual pre-bake size and lightness. What might be the cause of this?
My question is this. Can the loaf be reactivated by bringing up to room temperature for a while before oven, with maybe a quick dip back in the fridge to firm it up?
I have got the bread out of the fridge now, and hope to start seeing some temperature related response. So I might answer my own question. Not the first time this has happened with less than 50% white bread flour. Maybe I need to back off the spelt/rye to 20% of the total blend?
Thanks in advance!
Brian
A temperature of 23°C is pretty cool for a dough, you’d likely need to extend bulk fermentation quite far to offset that. Try warming your mixing water so your dough is around 78°F (25°C). This should help quite a bit! You can certainly warm the dough out of the fridge before baking if necessary (if you think it needs additional fermentation time).
Hi Maurizio,
Firstly, I want to thank you for all the work you put into your website. I have started baking sourdough about two months ago and it has been extremely helpful to can learn from you here.
I have made this recipe two times previously and today I repeated it for the third time, but the consistency of the dough at shaping keeps varying. I am aware that I am learning to be consistent and stick to the recipe/procedure (inc. all the relevant factors) from time to time. However, Since last time my dough was quite wet, I decided to reduce the total amount of water. Though, I still got a quite slacky dough at shaping.
Here is my question: I am using whole grain spelt. Shall I try with a mix of whole grain spelt and high extraction spelt flour? What do you use?
Also, have you been considering giving masterclasses online? If so, I would be very interested – pending timing as I leave in the Netherlands and time difference can be challenging.
Thanks a bunch in advance!
Daniela
You’re very welcome! When working with spelt I’d say 99% of the time I work with whole grain spelt (either I mill it or buy it milled). Spelt is very sensitive to over hydration so it sounds like you likely need to drop the water a bit more. I’m hoping to do more video content online, yes! I’ll announce anything in my newsletter (link is at the top of the page) 🙂
Thanks, Maurizio! I will try reducing water a bit more.
I also start suspecting that my starter is not strong enough. I got some from a colleague and was 100% rye, I did a feeding with Italian type 1 flour and the bread I got had a quite nice crumb and not sticky at all. However, as I continued to feed with type 1 my crumb turned to sticky even reducing the water a bit.
Do you think that it could help adding always some rye to the flour for the feeding? Would you use some ry also to prepare the levain?
I refresh my starter with some rye, yes. You could add some to the levain if you’d like, but it’s not 100% mandatory. It will increase fermentation activity, though! If your starter is kept at a cooler temp that will also reduce it’s vigor, try keeping it around 76-78F and see if you notice a bump in activity.
Central Milling seems to have a variety of Type 85, (Organic Malted, Organic Wheat and Organic Spelt and Malted). Which one are you using
I’m using their Organic Type 85 Malted (wheat, not spelt).
Hey! Is it possible to use spelt flour for all (starter and dough)? I’m in a food elimination phase rn and really want to try this bread.
Yes, that will work just fine!
Hi Maurizio – my apartment is generally around 68 degrees these days. Would it be ok to do an overnight levain build (i.e. 8-10 hours) given the lower ambient temperature?
I prefer to keep my levain warmer than that, around 76-78F, even if overnight, but it does depend on how much ripe starter you are adding to the mixture (the more the lower the temperature can be, within reason). If I were you, I would warm the mixing water to perhaps 80F to get the mixture nice and warm, then try to insulate the jar with some towels and an extra container to keep it warm!
Hi there, I made this loaf on the weekend, however once cooked it had a ‘flying crust’. Going into the fridge in the banneton it was holding its shape beautifully, but by morning when I turned it out it was deflated. My fridge temp is between 3-4 degrees. Do you have any thoughts on what may have contributed to the ‘flying crust’? Any advice would be much appreciated.
Usually that’s a sign of over proofing and/or over hydration. I’d first try dropping the water in the recipe by 5% and see if that helps. At the same time, pay attention to the final proof time, you might want to cut it back by a few hours to see if that helps as well! Spelt is pretty sensitive to water content, so this should get you on the right track—let me know how it goes!
Hey Maurizio! I love baking this recipe!
The flavour & texture are great! I´m just wondering if it is possible to push the fridge time a little further in order to pass in my schedule? Maybe reducing the bulk fermentation time? Ideally I would like to finish bulk fermentation at around 6 p.m. and bake on the next day at 8:30 a.m…I would really love to hear your thoughts about this situation!
Thank you in advance!
Thank you, Luiza! Yes, I’d drop bulk by 15m and get the dough into the fridge ASAP after shaping. You should be able to go to 830am next day no problem. Hope that helps!
Yes, definitely. Shape the dough and place it in its proofing basket and cover with an airtight cover. Let it sit out on the counter for 2-3 hours until a poke to the dough gently springs back, perhaps not completely filling in the indentation.
I just made this for the first time and it turned out awesome! Great rise, texture and taste. I’ve made so many of your wonderful loaves but I was wondering why this one required some additional counter time for proofing rather than going directly in the fridge? Also, when handling the dough, I found it to have a different texture than other loaves that didn’t have any spelt, almost a rubbery feel, is this due to Spelt? Thank you!
Right on, glad to hear that, Sammy! In testing, I found this loaf just needed a bit more time left out before slowing fermentation down in the fridge. It’s due to the percentage of levain in the dough and the final dough temp. All that said, it does all come down to the dough and how it’s progressing that day—some days might need less time left out before the fridge, other times more. Yes, spelt tends to increase the extensibility in a dough, that is the ability for the dough to stretch out before resisting. Thanks for the feedback and happy baking!
Many thanks for this feedback Maurizio! I have to work on understanding dough temperatures.
You’re very welcome. Check out my post on baking temperatures for further help!
I made this and it was so delicious! I used WW and KA bread flour instead of type 85, and 15% levain as recommended, and baked pullman loaves with steam (20 minutes 470, 20 min 450, and a few minutes outside the pan the brown the sides). Spelt just makes sourdough that much more sour and tasty! Next time I might reduce the water a little bit, but ultimately very happy with my spelt loaves! Thank you for the great recipe.
Right on, KM! Glad to hear it worked out so well for you. I love the idea of baking this in a Pullman as well. Thanks for reporting back and happy baking!
This week I substituted whole grain einkorn for the spelt and increased its percentage a bit. Used whole wheat flour plus a lower percentage of AP flour. Increased the percent of levain (used all of it) and kept water percentage as written.
Lovely loaves!
Sounds like a good swap to me!
Loving the flavor of the spelt flour and the texture of the crust. My crumb is *OK* but definitely not wildly open in the way that yours is! What can I be doing better here? https://i.imgur.com/aET8nuJ.jpg
Hi! Do you bake cold from the fridge or let the loaves come to room temp? Thanks!
I bake cold from frig.
Baked cold, straight from fridge, Alanna.
I’m new to your blog, and I think I’m in love!! Your blog is just about the only blog that I have found that uses type 85 flour in a somewhat easy manner. I normally do a blend of KA AP, KA bread, KA whole wheat and einkorn. With the flour shortages that be (stupid COVID), I only managed to get my hands on type 85 and rye from Central Milling, and KA AP. I figured that the 85 blend would be the best of both worlds (whole wheat and white) How easy would it be to tweak this recipe to those flours?
Thanks so much, Courtney! Sorry for the delay. Swap out the Giusto’s flour I’m using in the recipe for KA AP, use the T85 as specified, and if you don’t have spelt, use KA WW in it’s place. Will be great 🙂
I’m working on my third batch and love this loaf, both flavor and texture. Really enjoy the slap and fold but dough remains quite sticky after 5+ minutes yet does smooth out a bit.
PS. I’m using AP and 100% whole wheat along with the spelt; did decrease the last 100 g water a bit.
Try dropping the water in the recipe by 5% — that should help bring more strength to the dough.
Is it possible to replace the “slap & fold” method with putting the dough in a kitchen aid mixer with
a dough attachment?
Absolutely!
Followed the recipe to a T today but ended up getting extremely slack dough that wouldn’t hold shape 🙁 crumb was pretty dense with slightly bigger bubble towards the top… any insight what might have gone wrong? My starter was pretty active and bubbly too. Built the levain at peak rise.
Mine is very slack as well, on my second try (waiting for it to finish). Cut back on water and added WW flour to mix. 2nd batch was slack going into the oven!
I hope it turned out great, Teresa! Good adjustments.
It sounds like your dough is most likely over hydrated. Try reducing the hydration by 5% and give it another go — the reduced water should bring a lot of strength to the dough and you’ll feel it immediately. Once you find a suitable hydration, you can try to push it back up, but as you do, take note of how the consistency of the dough changes: the dough will start to slacken out as you add more and more water, this means you’ll likely have to mix more upfront or add another set or two of stretch and folds during bulk fermentation.
Try to keep everything else as consistent as possible and let me know how the next attempt goes!