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 version 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, sourdough rye bread, and my dark 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 and this is a fairly high hydration bread. For a boule, see my basic spelt sourdough, and for a yeast version, make this honey oat bread.
In any case, this recipe is very simple, with excellent results. The crumb is good, the flavour is phenomenal, and it needs virtually no active time.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Sourdough starter: rye, wheat, spelt, it doesn’t matter, as long as it’s active and 100% hydration (made with equal parts flour and water).
- Honey: liquid and creamed are both fine as it’s being whisked with the water before mixing. To make this loaf fully vegan, use maple syrup in place of the honey.
- 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. The easiest and most applicable substitution for this recipe is to use bread or white 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.
- Rolled oats: rolled are best, both for texture and flavour. Quick-cook oats can be used in a pinch. Oat groats are not appropriate here.
Step by Step
Step 1: mix the starter, honey, and water in a large bowl.
Step 2: add the dry ingredients and mix into a shaggy dough.
Step 3: do three rounds of stretches and folds.
Step 4: after folding, cover the dough and set aside.
Step 5: let the dough rise overnight, until doubled in size.
Step 6: turn it out and form a rough rectangle.
Step 7: roll the dough into a spiral.
Step 8: transfer into a lined bread tin, seam-side down.
Step 9: cover and set aside to rise again.
Step 10: bake until golden brown and cool before slicing.
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.
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.
Newsletter
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 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.
More Spelt Bread Recipes
Overnight Spelt Rye Bread
No Knead Overnight Buns
Simple Spelt Bread
Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
If you make this Oatmeal Sourdough Bread or any other ancient grain bread recipes on Occasionally Eggs, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email.
Easy No-Knead Honey and Oat Sourdough
Ingredients
- 350 grams water
- 100 grams active sourdough starter 100% hydration
- 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.350 grams water, 100 grams active sourdough starter, 50 grams honey
- 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.450 grams spelt flour, 120 grams rolled oats, 9 grams sea salt
- 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
* For American cup measurements, please click the pink link text above the ingredient list that says ‘American’.
Nutrition
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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!
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.
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?
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 : )
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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
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.
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.
Levana D says
Hi, should this recipe work with white spelt flour too?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Definitely!
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?