Tag Archives: Spelt

August 6th, 2019

Three Grain Bread (Weeknight version)

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Some time ago a reader asked if my beloved three grain bread recipe could be modified so it would use boiled sourdough and could fit in a busy weeknight schedule. As changing from sourodugh to boiled sourdough meant replacing the soaker as well. This are quite some changes and I decided that were to many chances to give away a recipe variant without testing. Around the same time I got my hands on beautiful big mold glasses from Weck (1050ml) .  They have straight walls and are perfect for baking breads. When the bread is sliced, its slices are perfectly round.  I am totally in love with the new form.

And the bread itself is a delicious as the two other variants. And like always it is a good sign for a favourite bread when I bake a recipe in variants!

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July 6th, 2019

Spelt Farmers Bread

Dinkel-Bauernbrot-13This Farmers bread is the right bread for every one who is looking for a rustic bread for busy weeknights. It uses the same principle like the summer evening bread: boiled sourdouhg. To enhance the sourdough flavour I allowed the rye sourdough to ripen for a long time. This can be troublesome in busy weeks but boiled sourdough has one major advantage: It can be prepared one week in advance. So all you have to do is making it on a not so busy day (maybe at the weekend?) and keep it in the fridge until needed. Then you have a “ready to use” sourdough at hand every day of a week.

In this case it is used for flavour and tiny tangy flavour in this bread which contains about 70% Spelt and 30% rye. Such a rustic bread gain a lot from a tiny amount of bread spice added to the dough. I opted for a small amount which only underlines the complex flavours of the long and cold fermentation. But of course you are free to adjust this amount to your taste: use more for a stronger flavour or leave it away if you do not like it. The mixture can be varied as well. I normally opt for same parts of fennel, caraway and coriander seeds. Continue reading

May 3rd, 2019

Spring bread

Frhlingskasten-23It is spring – finally! I bath in yellow sunshine and admire the green of leaves and listen to the bees collecting pollen and nectar. And I try to catch this spring feeling a bread. It has the same colour combination of green and yellow. The yellow stems from the high carotenoid content of the kamut flour while pumpkin seeds adds green sprinkles in the crumb. A bit of honey remembers on the busy bees.

To fit the bread in my full weekend schedule (new garden and my bee keeper course is keeping me still busy) I opted for a overnight version with a young sourdough and “quick” poolish. As both preferments do not stand so long  I decided to increase the amount of preferment. So all Kamutflour is fermented for a longer time which increases flavour and digestibility.

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April 23rd, 2019

Spelt Easter Wreath

Dinkel-Osterkranz-29I hope, you all enjoyed the splendid Easter weather! Is there anything better then a Breakfast in the sunshine with the family? For our breakfast on Easter Sunday I baked a Spelt Easter Wreath.

To be able to serve a still oven warm wreath, I decided to go for another overnight recipe. And so I used only a bit butter in the dough while the bigger part of the fat stems fro m the cream. Instead of binding water in a hot soaker or water roux, I opted for using yoghurt in order to make the bread baking more relaxed. And I used a pâte fermentée as a preferment, so I could prepare it already three days in advance, if needed. This helps to relax the busy Easter schedule, too.

And so I only had to prepare the dough and form it after 90 minutes fermenting time on saturday evening. The wreath proofed over night and on Easter Sunday all I had to do is placing the dough in the oven. Perfect for a relaxed sunday!

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January 19th, 2019

Spelt Panettone

Dinkelpanettone7It is already middle of January, but I still have two Recipes from christmas waiting. The first one is the recipe for a spelt panettone. Baking panettone or pandoro on the 23. December is already a kind of tradtion here at “Hefe und mehr”. In the weeks before, I take intensivly care of my sweet starter to make it especially fit for the task.

As baking Panettone is already nearly a no brainer. And so I was looking for a new challange. Switching from wheat to spelt is definitly more challenging, as kneading the sensitive spelt to full gluten development needs experience. And it is a good idea to check which sort of spelt you use. Different spelt sorts behave differently as their gluten composition differs. For Example if you use Oberkulmer Rotkorn you need to shorten the kneading time compare to Franckenkorn, which I used here.  But with these in mind, baking panettone with spelt works very well. Just keep a close eye on the gluten development.

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January 4th, 2019

Rheinische Neujährchen

Rheinische-Neujhrchen-33For new years morning I baked my traditional New years pretzel, Westerwälder Neujährchen and Rheinische Neujährchen. The swirly form of the Rheinische Neujährchen may looks familiar to some of you. It is one of the forms that is used traditional for Lussekatter. And in Tyrol there is a Bread called “Thomasradl” which is baked during Christmas time in this form. The wide spread of this form is a hint that baking breads in this forms stems from a pre-Christian time. It is discussed that its a leftover of the midwinter fest and is a symbol for the sun.

I like the idea of sun very much as I am waiting each year in January to the days get visibly longer again.

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December 24th, 2018

Christmas Bread 2018

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I love to bake bread for Christmas. And nearly every Christmas I included one loaf with nuts, as nuts are an essential treat on Christmas for me. So, the 2018 Edition of Christmas Bread is made with walnuts, spelt and emmer. It has a crisp crust and soft and fluffy crumb, perfect to go along any Christmas delicious.

The preferments are inspired by a look in the fridge: a bit of left over Pâte Fermentée and a Sweet starter that needed a feeding. They add complex aroma notes to the dough which is nicely underlined by the flavour of buttermilk and nutty tone from the Spelt and Emmer.

And with this recipe, my dear reader, I start my christmas break here in the blog. For new years eve I will be back for the traditional “Best of 2018” post. I whish you merry and peaceful Christmas Days!

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November 23rd, 2018

Dinkelchen

Dinkelchen (2)[3]Most of the time I think that breads with the tag “vegan” are silly. The standard variant of bread means “flour, water and salt” and this is after all so pure and simple vegan that there should be no questions left. But with sweet breads this is a different story. I always try to avoid highly processed replacements like margarine. And so I was fascinated when I read in a description of a organic baker that he uses coconut oil for vegan baking.

Using this fat makes sense as it contains naturally a high amount of saturated fat and so is solid at room temperature. I just wondered if the the slight coconut flavour of the oil would shine trough in the baked good. And to verify this question there was just one option: Baking a bread with coconut oil.

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October 16th, 2018

Traveller’s Bread

Reise-Brot (2)[7]During the baking course last weekend one of the participants wished a recipe for a bread which can be baked without much equipment in a caravan. Choosing grains which has to be kneaded only a short time came to our mind directly. And so I suggest a bread with a mixture of emmer and spelt flour in combination with some flax seeds, sunflower seeds and walnuts for an additional flavour boost. This combination makes it although a nourishing snack for long trips. And baking the bread in a bread pan gives it the right form to fit in every bread box.

And as it is the World bread day today, I will send this little fellow on a virtual travel around the world with all the breads that Zorra will collect as each year on her blog!

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August 25th, 2018

Spelt & Emmer Burger Buns

Dinkel-Emmer-Vollkorn-Buns-23There is one advantage of recipes which are troublesome in the development: the other good recipes you find on the way. A recipe which development was extremly troublesome is the spelt & emmer sandwich bread I needed for my “Vergessene Getreideschätze” course. It took me over a year until I got the bread just as I wanted it to be. But as I was testing different methodes and the influence of ingredients, I got a lot of good recipes during this tests: Sandwich bread with Emmer, Spelt-Sandwich bread, Spelt-Emmer-Sandwich bread und spelt brioche. And this whole grain Spelt & Emmer Burger Buns are from this series, too.

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