Spelt Sourdough Bread

a boule of sourdough bread in a dutch oven.

4.50 from 50 votes

With a deliciously crusty exterior and chewy crumb, spelt sourdough bread is simple, wholesome, and long fermented for tangy sourdough flavor. You can easily prepare multiple loaves and store them in the fridge to bake hot, fresh bread for dinner throughout the week.

Prep Time10

Cook Time40

Additional Time1 4

Total Time1 4 50

Course: Sourdough

Cuisine: American

Keyword: baking, bread, sourdough, spelt sourdough bread

Servings: slices

Author: Lisa Bass

Equipment

1 Dutch Oven

Ingredients

2 cups bread flour 250 grams
1 1/2 cups white spelt 175 grams
3/4 cup whole spelt 100 grams
1/2 cup sourdough starter 100 grams
1 1/2 cups water 325 grams
2 teaspoons salt 10 grams

Instructions

Measure bread flour, white spelt, and whole spelt into a large bowl. Add recently fed and active sourdough starter, warm water, and salt to the flours, stirring until combined.
Cover the bowl with a damp towel, lid, or plastic wrap, and let the dough rest for 30 minutes for the water to hydrate the flour.
Grab the edge of the dough in the bowl, stretch upwards, and press back down to the center. Turn the bowl a quarter turn, and repeat the process 3-4 times. This is one round. Complete six rounds of stretch and folds.
Three rounds of stretch and folds every 15 minutes.
Three more rounds of stretch and folds every 30 minutes.
Cover the dough with a damp towel or plastic wrap and bulk-ferment at room temperature until doubled. This may be anywhere from 3 to 8 hours, depending on the temperature of your home and the maturity of your sourdough starter.
After the first fermentation period, shape the dough into a ball. Leave the dough uncovered on the counter for 20-30 minutes to develop a skin. This keeps it from sticking to the tea towel or banneton basket during the fridge rise.
Turn the dough over (the air-exposed, skin-side down) onto your lightly floured surface and shape again, creating tension on the surface as you spin the ball of dough towards you.
Transfer to a floured banneton or a bowl with a lightly floured tea towel, seam side up. Cover and proof 12 - 15 hours (or overnight) in the refrigerator.
Preheat a Dutch oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit for one hour. Remove the dough from the fridge immediately before baking. Place seam-side down onto parchment paper, dust with flour on top, and score with a razor or lame.
Place the parchment paper and dough into the preheated Dutch oven and cover with the lid. Lower the oven temperature to 475 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for another 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely before slicing.

Notes

I like the mix of whole spelt and white spelt, but you can substitute one or the other for the spelt option that you have on hand.

Wet hands help with working sticky dough, so give your hands a dip or a spritz of water while doing the stretch and folds.

Whole grain spelt flour ferments quickly at room temperature, so stick to the recommendations to avoid over-fermentation and a sloppy dough. The cold rise is much more forgiving, as the sourdough fermentation process moves much more slowly at cold temperatures.

A dough scraper makes cleaning up your work surface super easy.

Let the sourdough loaf cool completely before slicing to avoid a gummy texture.

Store covered at room temperature.

Nutrition