This is a totally appropriate recipe for beginners, and sourdough has many benefits. It’s much better for digestion and digestive health, can help to reduce inflammation, has a better flavour, and it’s ideal for people with some gluten sensitivity.
This spelt sourdough is even better if you’re mildly sensitive to wheat gluten, like I am, because it’s an older grain variety and the long fermentation time makes it much easier on your system. Of course you can use regular wheat flour if you prefer (see the substitutions below). Either way sourdough is a good choice!
I typically rotate between this honey and oat sourdough, overnight spelt rye, and my sourdough rye bread. The recipe has been updated to use a loaf tin, as spelt bread is much harder to shape due to the lower gluten content. If you’re a sourdough expert you can certainly shape it into a boule (more on that below) – see the sourdough spelt bread in my book for an example.
Either way, super simple with great results. The crumb is good, the flavour is phenomenal, and it’s virtually no active time!
Ingredients
- Water: room temperature is best.
- Sourdough Starter: rye, wheat, spelt, it doesn’t matter, as long as it’s active.
- Honey: liquid and creamed are both fine as it’s being whisked with the water before mixing.
- Spelt Flour: whole grain or white (light), or a mix of the two. I usually do 100% whole grain but recommend starting with 50/50 if it’s your first time making spelt sourdough.
- Rolled Oats: rolled are best, both for texture and flavour.
- Sea Salt: salt is vital to good bread, don’t leave it out.
Method
Mix water, starter, and honey. Add flour, oats, and salt. Mix into a shaggy dough. Start stretches and folds. Three times over the course of an hour. Cover and set aside for the bulk ferment. After 8-12 hours, the dough should double in size. Tip the dough out onto a floured surface. Gently press into a rough rectangle. Roll into a log. Place the log seam-side down into the tin. Cover and rise again.
Bake the loaf until golden and crisp. Cool fully before slicing.
Substitutions
The easiest and most applicable substitution for this honey oat sourdough is to use bread or AP flour in place of spelt. If you live in Europe you may also be able to get spelt bread flour (type 812, or 1050 in a pinch), which I recommend if you can find it.
Quick-cook oats can be used in a pinch. Oat groats are not appropriate here.
You can use other types of wheat flour, as well – whole wheat, or other ancient grains like einkorn. Whole wheat pastry flour is never a good choice for bread. If you have several different types of flour lying around and need to make up for part of the spelt, a combination is fine too.
To make this loaf fully vegan, use maple syrup in place of the honey.
Sourdough Versus Yeast
Originally, this recipe called for a rye starter because it’s what I typically use. It’s been altered now to reflect that any gluten-containing starter will work – all-purpose, rye, spelt, whatever you usually make it from. It should be 100% hydration.
Alternatively, you can use yeast as outlined in the recipe. It still benefits from the long fermentation time and you only need a little bit. The flavour will be slightly different with yeast, rather less sour, so keep that in mind.
There are instructions on how to make a rye starter in my book. We have a quick tutorial on how to make a sourdough starter over at Baked.
Hydration
Again, this is a beginner friendly recipe, and we’re not going to talk about hydration percentages. It seems like the amounts are off but they’re not – the oats aren’t soaked before adding, so they absorb a significant amount of water during the bulk fermentation.
Please note that whole grain spelt will absorb more than white (light) spelt will, and you may need to use more or less flour during shaping depending on the ratio used.
Stretching and Shaping
It seems that now many more people are making sourdough and I’ve received a number of questions about this recipe differing from typical bread-flour loaves lately. Please note that this is a recipe for people who aren’t necessarily familiar with sourdough, and one that uses a low gluten flour, and has been developed specifically for that.
If you are completely unfamiliar with these terms, please consider reading our posts on stretching and folding, shaping sourdough boules, and troubleshooting sourdough over on Baked.
The recipe benefits from three rounds of stretches and folds, one every half hour, before the bulk fermentation. The recipe is outlined for a loaf tin, which is easier in terms of shaping and more accessible. Originally the recipe didn’t call for any folding, like my dark rye bread, but now that sourdough baking is much more common it seems safe to assume that most people will know what it means and how to do it.
If you want to shape it into a boule, feel free to do so, and treat it like any other loaf (note that the dough is harder to work with). You can, of course, do a longer second fermentation in the refrigerator if you prefer.
Since this is a low-gluten loaf, you won’t develop the gluten in the same way that you would with one that uses bread flour or even all-purpose. It is possible to shape quite easily, though, if you have some experience doing so.
Baking Sourdough in a Loaf Tin
To make a sandwich bread, line a standard loaf tin with parchment paper and place the (shaped) dough into it following bulk fermentation. If you find shaping is too tricky at this point, don’t worry – even if you just scoop the dough into the tin, it’ll still rise well.
Using this method will result in a softer and lighter outer crust – not comparable to sourdough sandwich bread, but definitely not a crusty country style loaf. This is also a bit easier and safer if you’re hesitant about turning the bread out into such a hot container before baking, or if you don’t have a Dutch oven or other appropriate baking dish.
If you’d prefer a normal sandwich bread, try this honey oat bread made with a yeast method.
Let’s connect! For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email. If you make this recipe, I’d love to see! Tag your instagram versions with @occasionallyeggs.
Easy No-Knead Honey and Oat Spelt Sourdough
Ingredients
- 350 grams water
- 100 grams active sourdough starter
- 50 grams honey
- 450 grams spelt flour
- 120 grams rolled oats
- 9 grams sea salt
Instructions
Day One:
- Add the water, starter, and honey to a large mixing bowl. Stir until fully combined.
- Add the flour, oats, and salt to the bowl. Stir until fully combined and you have a shaggy dough. Cover with a damp tea towel or plate.
- Do three rounds of stretches and folds*, once every 20 minutes, over the course of an hour.
- Once the folds are completed, cover the dough again and set aside to rest overnight, about 12 hours, until doubled in size.
Day Two:
- Line a loaf tin with parchment paper and set aside.
- Tip the dough out onto a floured working surface. Gently press into a rough rectangle (the short edge should be about the same as the length of your baking tin).
- Roll the dough into a log from the short end. Place the rolled up loaf into your prepared loaf tin, seam side down.
- Cover with a tea towel and set aside to proof again at room temperature until risen almost to the edge of the tin, 2-3 hours (it may be less if your home is very warm).
- Once the loaf has risen, preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).
- Bake the bread for 45-50 minutes, or until a dark golden colour and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.
- Cool the bread in the tin for about ten minutes before removing and cooling fully on a rack. It should be fully cooled before slicing to prevent any gumminess – cool overnight for best results.
- This bread keeps very well for a week on the counter, but avoid wrapping it in plastic as that ruins the crust. I wrap it in a tea towel and store in the oven, but beeswax wrap works well too.
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published in January 2018. It has been updated most recently with improvements to the text and recipe as of August 2021.
Carole Coward says
I’m unfamiliar with rye starter… do I need to special order something like this?
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Carole! It's a normal sourdough starter, what's needed to bake a true sourdough. I make it myself, just adding 2 tbsp each water and rye flour to a jar and mixing, adding every day, until it's bubbling. Nataša from mydailysourdoughbread.com has a great step-by-step tutorial for it. It's really easy to make yourself! I think you can buy starters online but I'm not sure – it'll be about a week from starting that yours will be ready to go if you make it yourself 🙂
Rebecca says
I don’t have spelt- but I have rye, amaranth, coconut, almond and whole wheat flours. Thoughts?! Can I sub all rye?
Alexandra says
Hi Rebecca! I would suggest doing a mix of rye and whole wheat in this case – a bit more like my overnight rye bread, but keep everything else the same.
Emma says
Just curious if you’ve used a shorter proof time… I’ve just made it but realized I only have 13 proof window before I wanted to use it… I’ve also used 150g of starter.
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Emma! I have, just added a little extra starter and kept the dough in a warm-ish spot. I’m sure it’ll be fine with 13 hours proofing.
Courtney says
Hi there! So I’m very interested in making this loaf…however, I have never made a sourdough before so I am very unfamiliar with starters. Is there a particular recipe you used for this one that you could walk us through? It would be super helpful!
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Courtney! Happy to hear that you’d like to make this bread 🙂 I recommend following this tutorial if you’re completely unfamiliar, it should set you in the right direction!
Amy says
I only have whole wheat flour and oats at the moment, will this bread work if i just sub wheat for the spelt?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
That’ll be totally fine, go for it!
Linda says
Can I just use my regular 100% hydration white starter? I already have two staters in my fridge (100% hydration and a drier 67% hydration) and being a single senior, bread lasts a long time. I keep a variety in my freezer, but it does mean feeding and discarding a lot of starter.
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Yes, I’m sure that’ll be fine. I’m going to update the recipe to reflect that any starter can be used – I just always use a full rye starter as I find it easiest, but it won’t matter.
Grace says
I finally bought a bunch of spelt flour and I want to make this loaf. I think I’ll use more starter because I don’t have a rye starter (or any rye flour and I have too many different flours to buy yet another kind).
If I make it in a loaf tin, would I need to divide the dough into 2 tins? The amount of flour seems to be more than normally called for in a loaf recipe. How does it turn out when you make it in a loaf tin?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Grace! Depending on the size of your loaf tin, you probably don’t have to split it into two. A standard bread tin will be fine, but if you find that your dough is a bit much, then it’s no problem to split it into two. It doesn’t turn out as crusty as it does in a dutch oven, but it makes a very good sandwich bread when baked in a tin. You can see my overnight dark rye as an example (though the honey oat bread tends to have a bit more oven spring).
Matt says
I’m excited to use this recipe for my first sourdough, I’m going to use 3 cups of Spelt and 1 cup of Rye along with my rye starter, I’m curious if the same recipe will all work without the rolled oats.
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Matt, I hope it worked out! It sounds much like my overnight spelt rye bread and that’s a great everyday recipe : )
Sybil G. says
I made your recipe this weekend, using my spelt starter and freshly ground organic spelt berries. It fermented at RT for 19 hours. I shaped it and placed it in a banneton for 40 minutes, then baked it as instructed.
I was very happy with the result, a tasty loaf, so easy to make.
I used half organic full fat yogurt and half water.
I intend to try your other 2 loaves and shared your recipe in our FB group, Whole Grain Sourdough Baker, so hopefully more will try it.
Thank you for the lovely recipe.
Olivia says
Thanks for the great recipe! Can I use regular unbleached white flour instead of spelt flour? Or could I use oat flour instead of spelt flour?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Olivia! You can definitely use white flour here and it’ll work very well. I don’t recommend switching the spelt out for oat in this recipe because it doesn’t have gluten. Hope that helps!
Olivia says
Thanks Alexandra!! I can’t wait to try this in a few weeks!
Georgia Thompson says
HI! I’m so excited to make my own bread! I’ve never done it before. If I chose to do a loaf for sandwich bread, do you still add the starter?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
That’s great! Yes, you still add the starter – it’s the leavening agent in this recipe, and without it your bread won’t rise at all. You can also take a peek at this recipe, which is similar but uses a little yeast instead of starter.
Georgia Thompson says
Thank you so very much!! Your blog is beautiful! : ) : )
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Thank you! I hope you love the recipe : )
Melanie says
Hello! Do I really need to use a rye starter? Could I also use a wheat or a spelt one?
Also, what % hydration does the starter have to be?
Thank you!
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Melanie! Any starter should work well, I just only ever use rye. Mine is 100% hydration. It’s a bit of a loose recipe as far as sourdough goes!
Heather says
Hi! Thank you so much for this recipe. I’m trying to figure what sized Dutch oven I should use? Do you know what size your Pyrex dish is? Thanks!
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
I prefer a smaller Dutch oven for this recipe to keep the dough from spreading much – the one I used is about 9 inches, but you can go a little bigger or smaller : )
Heather says
Great! Thanks – I have that size. Can’t wait to make it!
Mary says
Can I omit the honey? I prefer bread without added sugar
Alexandra says
I haven’t tried, but it should be fine!
Heather says
Made it yesterday – IT IS FANTASTIC! Thank you sooooooooo much!
Hermione says
Thank you so much for this perfect no-fuss recipe. I’ve made it not only with spelt, but also with rye, with wheat, and even with a starter straight from the fridge and not actually active.
This is brilliant!
Thank you so much, from the heart of a sourdough-novice.
Melina Chan says
Can I use oat flour instead of oats ? (I don’t have oats but have oat flour OR oat bran?
Alexandra says
Hi Melina, I’m not really sure what do recommend as this is an oat bread. You can simply leave them out if you prefer.
Meghan says
Hi! Do you think this will work with one of the “cup for cup” or “measure for measure” gluten free flour mixes? I’m making a GF starter right now and will be ready to bake in a couple of days. Thanks in advance!
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Meghan, I’m sorry, I don’t think this would work with a GF mix – you’d have to add some extra binding agent. I recommend checking out Aran Goyoaga’s most recent book or reaching out to her on social media (Cannelle et Vanille), as she probably has a GF honey oat bread or can point you in the right direction!
Megan Gunter says
No folding of the dough necessary?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Megan – this was developed specifically as a very simple, approachable loaf with no special steps that are usually taken in sourdough. If you’re a more experienced baker, I recommend three rounds of stretches and folds over the course of an hour before the bulk proof.
Frank says
you dont mention shaping this in your recipe at all , do you shape after long rise ?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
This is a very beginner sourdough and it’s not shaped before baking, rather just goes straight into the hot baking dish. If you prefer then you can shape before baking.
Heather says
Hi there. Just wondering if I do the stretch and folds. How long do I ferment after that? ?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
That’s a good question, Heather, and one that I should address in the post. You still do the same length of time for the bulk proof, about 12 hours or until doubled in size.
Daniela says
Hi 🙂
Can I replace the coconut oil with something else?
Dairy free butter? Olive oil?
Thank you!!
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Definitely! I’d recommend a high-heat oil like avocado, but dairy free butter would be good and probably give a nice flavour.
Kim says
My dough seems very dry and doesn’t seem to be rising. Used rye starter and whole meal spelt flour. Any idea why? It’s been about 6hrs six hours so far.
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Kim – if you didn’t change anything, I’m not sure why the dough would be dry. Did you go by metric measurements?
Levana D says
Hi, should this recipe work with white spelt flour too?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Definitely!
Jessica says
Hi! This looks like a fab recipe! Just wondering, do you think this would work with a mix of wholewheat spelt and rye flour? Thanks!
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
I haven’t tried it, but I think you’d be fine! I have a couple of other spelt rye bread recipes that are similar to this so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
Charles says
Hello! I usually bake bread flour and AP flour sourdough boules with WW 100% hydration starter but bought some spelt ancient grain flours recently and thought I’d try this. I modified a little and was curious of your thoughts (its bulk fermenting now):
350 g Sprouted Spelt
150g King Arthur Bread Flour
100g Oat Flour
25 g Olive Oil
11g sea salt
I figured the Bread flour would compensate for the reduced -absent gluten in the oat flour; hopefully it will hold gas and I’ll get good rise and oven spring tomorrow
Thanks for your thoughts!
All the Best,
Charles
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Charles, I’m very interested to hear how this turned out. I do think that the strong flour should compensate for the lower gluten in the oat flour – in my mind it should end up about equivalent to 100% spelt or another lower gluten flour. Please let me know!
Charles says
It turned out really well! The additional gluten carried the loaf through and it had great oven spring; appreciate the recipe, adding it to the list!
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Great to hear, thanks Charles!
Charles says
Have you ever worked Buckwheat flour into this loaf or a loaf like it? I thought about it as well given the flavors associated with Spelt (perhaps a little more nuttiness) and considered it being the sub as opposed to the Oat Flour but wasn’t sure how it would hold up given that its the first time I’ve purchased it before.
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
I’ve added buckwheat to sourdough made with strong flour before, and the flavour is very good. I’d recommend adding it in the same amount as you did the oat flour before. Buckwheat tastes great but it can be a bit denser as the flour is generally so finely ground.
David Badillo says
Made this recipe as a sourdough beginner having made 5 or 6 loaves with differing success.
This recipe was easy to follow, hassle free and most importantly came out amazing in looks and flavour.
Followed recipe apart from swapping half the spelt for organic mulino Marino bread flour.
Thank you x
Jessica says
It has been years since I’ve made sourdough bread. I used spelt in it before but since it has been so long I decided to start easy. Our loaf looks beautiful and is delicious!
Caren Kelly says
I’m interested in making this bread in a loaf pan. I was wondering if I could put the dough in the greased & lined pan to rest after mixing, to save on the extra hr rise as stated in recipe.
Alexandra says
Hi Caren, you still need the overnight rise, but the second rise can be done in the loaf pan if you prefer to go with that method. I recommend looking at my sourdough rye bread recipe for better instruction on that.
Panos says
Hi if I make the bread in a tin can I pure the coconut oil on top before I bake it?
Alexandra says
Just do a parchment paper lined tin instead, and then leave the coconut oil out altogether.
Sonia King says
My spelt loaf came out great!!! I love the coconut flavor on the bottom of the crust!! Thank you, I have been looking for any easy spelt sourdough recipe. Next time I will try baking it in a metal loaf pan to give it a sandwich bread shape. Many thanks!
Kal says
Amazing, except do the 3 rounds of stretch and folds in the morning instead (if you’re doing the additional steps). Otherwise the dough will relax a lot as it ferments and essentially become a flatbread, not a sourdough boule 🙂
Otherwise this is was just as good as a bread flour loaf! It rose a surprising amount considering it uses spelt flour.
Cat says
Thanks for this recipe.
Baked it this morning.
What a fabulously sour loaf! Totally yum.
But it’s really salty? Off-puttingly so. Will the recipe work OK if I halve the salt?
I also wish I had listened to my gut and knocked it down after the bulk rise, formed a boule and given it a second rise in a banneton. But I thought I’d try the recipe ‘as is’ first.
It came out too dense in the middle third. I should have trusted my instinct!
Genuine question, how are we meant to do folds and stretches with a dough this wet? It stuck to everything in it’s path 😂.
It’s a super tasty loaf, excellent sourdough taste, just not quite right on the texture yet.
In the instructions it says to prove for 16 – 20 hours… In your response to a commenter you say to bulk rise for 12 hours? Which should it be please?
I adore your overnight spelt ryse and your overnight dark rye loaves, they were both perfect first time and I shall try the dark rye with sourdough starter next time! Thanks again for a great blog.
Alexandra says
Hi Cat, I’m surprised to hear that you found it quite salty – this is a typical amount of salt for a loaf of this size. Did you use sea salt or another type? Totally fine to reduce the quantity if you found it very salty, just note that salt does assist with the structure of bread. It’s meant to be a total beginner recipe, so if you have more sourdough experience then I encourage you to use more traditional methods. I always wet my hands before doing any stretches and folds, in any bread, which helps a lot! Bulk proving will depend partly on temperature – I shared this recipe in the winter, when it requires a longer proving time, but during warmer weather a lesser time will be sufficient. I will be updating this recipe in the coming weeks : )
Pearl says
Hi, i made this bread in a loaf pan once and also in a Dutch oven once. I love the recipe, except that both times I’ve made it, the loaf has ended up gummy inside. I files the instructions and baked for 1hr. The outside was really dark and I let it rest overnight. Is there something I’m missing?
Thanks
Alexandra says
Hi Pearl, I can’t think what might be wrong here as it sounds as though you’re doing everything right. You could try giving it a full 24 hours before slicing – sometimes this helps. Is the dough really wet before baking? Particularly so I mean?
jessica says
hi there! i am measuring my flour and 4 cups is coming in at 558 g. should i use more flour or go by the weight? thanks!
Alexandra says
Hi Jessica – 4 cups of flour should be 600g, when measured by scooping and levelling. If weights are offered, I highly recommend going by the weights rather than the volume (cup) measurement as there are some variations in cup sizes and styles of filling them, but grams are always the same.
Danny says
Hi Alexandra!
I’ve been interested in trying out a spelt flour recipe for making breads, and I was quite happy with how this one turned out.
I have two sourdough starters on the go that I experimented with for this recipe, one a gluten free flour mix I customized and the other a standard all purpose white flour.
It was a very simple recipe to follow with minimal effort required, and produced excellent loaves.
It also worked well with a loaf made solely from white all purpose for the starter and flour, using the same volumes of ingredients. The main difference I found was the all purpose flour loaf only sat for about 12 hours to double in size.
All loaves turned out with a nice toughness to the crust and chew to the bread despite just being baked in sandwich loaf pans, not Dutch ovens.
One further substitution I did was using maple syrup instead of honey, using the same volume.
Sorry for the long post, I was just blown away by the ease of baking and final result of this recipe. Delicious! I will certainly recommend this to anyone asking for an excellent sourdough bread recipe.
Alexandra says
Thanks so much Danny, I’m so happy to hear that you like it! My oven is currently out of order but I’m planning on updating this recipe for baking in loaf tins anyway for ease – thanks for your in-depth comment : ) and nice to hear from you!
Sandy says
Hi,
Planning to try it with my rye starter!
Can I place parchment paper in my pot and before adding the dough INSTEAD of pouring coconut oil in the hot pot?
Thank you!
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Sandy! When I first made this, I had some trouble with the bread sticking to the parchment after baking, and that’s why I ended up going with the oil method. I need to update the recipe but have had a broken oven for months – you can use parchment, but since the dough is rather sticky, it might be a little trickier to peel off. Hope that helps!
Heather McVickar says
I made this over the weekend. I used bread flour instead of the spelt. The flavor is great and I am pleased overall. However it is very dense. What could I do to lighten it up a bit?
Thanks for the recipe!
Heather
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Heather, bread flour is more absorbent than spelt, so you will get a denser loaf. I haven’t tried this recipe with bread flour but I’d say you would have to reduce the amount of flour a bit to make it lighter, and do several extra stretches and folds since it’s so much higher in gluten.
Judith says
I have just made this loaf and it is absolutely delicious. Made it pretty much as your recipe as I had everything required including the rye starter. I couldn’t resist doing a few stretch and folds before the bulk fermentation and knocked it back and shaped to a boule and did a final proof for an hour in a banneton. Cooked it in a Dutch oven. Turned out perfectly. A big loaf, good oven spring, quite dense in texture but super tasty and liked by all the family. Thanks. Definitely a keeper!
Sandria says
Couldn’t wait to cut into this. I used spelt/kamut and oats. Very dense, but not brick like. Good chew, and very flavorful. Used sourdough, the rise was good in spite of cold nite. Good recipe, thank you.
Zeeshan says
Hi Alexandra,
I like this recipe, however loved the original honey oat spelt recipe you had posted. Made many wonderful loads following it. Sorry to come back and see it gone. Is there any way for you to post or send me that original recipe? It’ll be much appreciated.
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Zeeshan, this is virtually the same recipe, just with different quantities – here is the original. Please note as well for any other readers looking for this, it is a printable recipe link, so you can print it out to save.
Linda Key says
Have not read the preferred size loaf tin for this recipe? Would a blend of spelt and einkorn be a good combination? I am unfamiliar with both and starting low Fodmaps and gluten free diet. Thank you!
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Linda, any standard loaf tin will be fine – mine is 30cm long, slightly longer and narrower than typical in North America. Spelt and einkorn would be fine, but please note that neither of those are gluten-free, just lower in gluten than conventional wheat flour.
Abby Bazar says
SO moist and wholesome. Yum!