Spelt Bread: the effortless recipe for a delicious, healthy bread

Delicious, soft, and healthy spelt bread is a wonderful recipe to make at home. Made with spelt, an ancient grain that has been a staple food for thousands of years, spelt bread has a lightly sweet, mild almost nutty taste and a lovely soft texture.

It's wonderful as sandwich bread, as a side with soups, stews, and roasts, or as toast with a dollop of butter, jam, or nut butter. It's incredibly nutritious and packed with a wide variety of nutrients like iron, zinc, and magnesium, making it a great addition to most diets.

Spelt Bread Ingredients

Spelt bread is an easy bread to make and you probably have most of the ingredients at home already. You'll need spelt flour. You can use whole grain, sprouted, or light spelt flour to make your loaf. You'll also need yeast and honey to help the bread proof, as well as milk and olive oil to help make the bread lovely and moist.

How to Make Spelt Bread From Scratch

Are you ready to make a delicious healthy loaf of spelt bread? Here's what you'll need to do. First, pour the water and honey into the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the yeast and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes, or until it begins to get nice and foamy. Pour in the milk, olive oil, salt, and 2 cups of flour. Mix on low until a loose dough forms, then switch your mixer to medium-high and gradually add in the remaining flour until the dough becomes smooth, spring, and comes away from the sides of the bowl easily.

Transfer the dough to a large oiled bowl and cover it with a damp towel. Let it rise for 1 hour, or until it doubles in size. Shape the loaf and place it into a lined loaf pan. Cover with a damp towel and let the loaf rise for another 30 minutes or so. While the dough is rising, preheat your oven to 350F. Bake the bread for 45 minutes, or until it turns a lovely golden brown. Remove from the pan and cool it for 10 to 20 minutes on a rack, then slice and serve.

Tips for Easy Spelt Bread

This recipe is for vegan spelt bread, but you can use regular milk if you prefer.

You'll know your bread has finished baking when it sounds hollow when tapped.

In general, you'll need to use yeast to get the dough to proof. However, if you have a sourdough starter, you can use that instead.

You can add other ingredients to your spelt bread to jazz it up. Honey and oats are especially delicious with spelt.

How to Store Spelt Bread

Once your loaf has cooled, wrap the bread and place it in a bag or breadbox and keep it at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Can You Freeze Spelt Bread

Of course! Let the loaf cool completely then slice it. Wrap the sliced loaf in cling film or place it in a freezer-safe bag and freeze it for up to 3 months.

More Recipes You'll Like

Pita bread

Zucchini potato loaf

Spinach loaf

Ciabatta bread

Focaccia bread

Instructions

Pour the water and honey into the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the yeast and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes.

Pour in the milk, olive oil, salt, and 2 cups of flour. Mix on low until a loose dough forms.

Add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, until a smooth, springy dough forms. Mix on medium until smooth and not sticky.

Oil a large bowl and transfer the dough into the bowl. Cover with a damp towel and let it rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Punch the dough down and place it into a parchment-lined loaf pan. Cover with a damp towel and let the loaf rise for half an hour. Preheat your oven to 350F.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden. Remove from the pan and cool the bread for 10 to 20 minutes on a rack.

Notes

Leave your dough to proof in a warm place that's free from drafts.