Honey and oat bread is a classic for good reason, and spelt flour adds even more flavour to this version. It’s one of the first breads I started baking when I was nine or ten, and has remained a solid favourite for homemade loaves over the decades.
While people are sometimes a bit nervous about baking with spelt flour, it can be used very similarly to standard wheat. The biggest caveat is that you can’t knead or mix as much as with a higher gluten flour.
This makes a wonderful sandwich or toasting loaf and it’s a nice way to get some more whole grains in. There’s plenty of texture here and the honey adds a nice flavour element, which will change depending on the type of honey used.
This recipe is adapted from my simple spelt bread recipe.
Ingredients
- Spelt Flour: while you can use whole grain flour, light spelt will result in a loftier bread. I usually use a mix.
- Rolled Oats: rolled is best but other oats can be used (see below).
- Yeast: fresh or instant dried yeast.
- Water: room temperature to ensure that the yeast isn’t slowed by cold water or killed by hot.
- Honey: this adds flavour to the bread and feeds the yeast.
- Salt: sea salt is added to strengthen the gluten in bread and add flavour, of course.
Step by Step
If you can’t see the accompanying video, please watch it here.
Tips and Notes
This loaf can be shaped the same way that you would any other loaf baked in a standard tin. Simply flatten and roll into a tight log, then place seam-side down in the tin.
While some oat breads soak the oats beforehand, this recipe has been developed with dry oats in mind. It has a slightly higher hydration considering that oats will absorb more of that water than flour alone would.
The dough does rest for a few minutes before kneading, which allows the oats to absorb some of the water. If you skip this step, you’ll need to add too much flour when kneading and will have a tough bread.
If you want a sourdough version, please try this honey and oat sourdough bread. I haven’t tried making this one with an overnight method, but that sourdough recipe also proves overnight and offers a yeast option.
The kneading time is always shorter with spelt based breads due to the lower gluten content. Over-kneading will result in a cake-like loaf.
Substitutions
You can substitute wheat flour in place of spelt. Use all white flour or a mix of white and whole wheat. The texture of the bread will change slightly and it will require a longer kneading time, but no changes to quaitities are needed.
I highly recommend sticking with rolled oats for this recipe. Quick cook oats can be used in a pinch, but steel cut are not appropriate.
Sub maple syrup for a vegan loaf. If you use a very dark honey, like forest honey, it will make a noticeable difference in the taste of the bread. Use a honey you like to eat.
More Spelt Bread Recipes
Spelt Pretzels
Sweet Potato Flatbread
Spelt Sourdough Bread
Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
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Honey Oat Bread
Ingredients
- 250 ml water room temperature
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 ¼ teaspoons dry yeast or 1/2 cube fresh
- 100 grams rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 400 grams spelt flour
Instructions
- Add the water, honey, and yeast to a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Add the oats, salt, and about a third of the flour (~150g or 1 cup) to the yeast mixture. Stir to combine.
- Add the remaining flour and stir until a shaggy dough forms. Cover and set aside to rest for 10 minutes, to allow the oats to hydrate.
- Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 5-6 minutes, or until a soft, smooth dough forms. Add a light dusting of flour as needed to prevent too much sticking but avoid adding too much.
- Place the kneaded dough back into the bowl and cover. Set in a warm, draft-free place to rise until doubled in size, about one hour.
- Grease or line a standard bread tin. Mine is 25.5 cm (10 in.) long but a slightly shorter one won't make a difference to baking time.
- Gently punch the risen dough down to deflate. Turn the dough out again onto a lightly floured work surface. Press into a rough square, about 24cm (9 in.) across or whatever the length of your bread tin is.
- Tightly roll the dough into a log, pressing to seal with each roll to ensure good contact. Place into the prepared bread tin seam-side down. Cover again and set aside to rise until almost doubled, about 30 minutes.
- While the bread is rising, preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F).
- If you want to top the bread with oats as pictured, brush with milk or egg wash and sprinkle with extra rolled oats.
- Place the risen bread into the oven and bake for 38-40 minutes, or until a dark golden colour. The internal temperature of the bread should be 90°C (194°F) when ready.
- Cool the loaf for ten minutes in the tin before removing and cooling fully on a rack. Store in a sealed container for up to three days or freeze for up to a month.
Video
Nutrition
Newsletter
This post was originally published in August 2019 and was sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill. It has been updated with some improvements to the recipe as of March 2022.
Laura says
Can the yeast be replaced by sourdough starter? If so, what quantity of starter would you recommend. Thanks!
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Laura, I’d recommend my honey oat sourdough linked in the post instead.
rob says
Fantastic recipe, Alexandra.
I ran out of spelt flour half way, switched to bread flour, ran out of that, and so finished with a bit of rye flour. Then, since I don’t have a loaf pan, I made it into a boule.
All those changes and the bread remained great. In other words, this is a miraculously recipe: fool proof & delicious.
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
That’s wonderful, thanks Rob! So glad you enjoyed the bread.
Maddie says
What time and heat would you suggest for bun-sized baking? I am looking to make individual rolls that can be sliced in half for jam or cheese.
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
I haven’t tried it, but I think 30-35 at 190C (375F) should do it. It’ll depend on the size they end up but look for a golden exterior.
amy says
Do you think I could substitute the oats for poppy seeds to make a poppy seed loaf?
Alexandra says
I’m concerned that it might make the dough a little bit wet, but it should work okay to use poppy seeds. I’m not sure in what amount, sorry, I’ve never baked with poppy seeds. I hope it turns out!
Nicole says
Hi! Wondering if you can use a stand mixer to knead the dough? Thanks for the recipe
Alexandra Daum says
Definitely! About the same amount of time as you would by hand (depending on how skilled you are at kneading – you don’t want to overdo it in the stand mixer), it would be no problem. I hope you like the bread : )
Denise says
Just a comment regarding use of a standing mixer and bread dough. 2-3 minutes in a standing mixer with a dough hook is equivalent to 8-10 minutes by hand. If you used the same time your dough especially with Spelt would be overworked. Took me a while to sort that out!
Also, just made your Simple Spelt Bread recipe yesterday, and it really is very good. Going to try the Healthy Honey Oat Bread next. Thank you!
Laura Mary Martin says
Perfect, nourishing bread, great for toast and sandwiches.
Donna says
What does 100 g and 400 g mean please I’m in the USA and I don’t understand that and I try to Google it and it doesn’t give me cups it only gives me pounds.
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Donna, there’s a button above the ingredient list that says ‘American’ and if you click that, it’ll show the recipe in American cups.
SD says
Thank you because I totally missed that! About to make this bread now!