This post was originally published in April 2015. It’s been updated as of March 2020 with new pictures, improved text and instructions, and a video.
Simple Spelt Bread
I have a serious crush on homemade bread. Who doesn’t? I’m always happy in the kitchen, but baking bread always puts a smile on my face. The smell, the way the dough feels, and watching what sometimes feels a science experiment turn into something so tasty.
Nothing beats a loaf of bread fresh from the oven. This is a nice, simple sandwich loaf made with 100% whole spelt flour. If you’re looking for a good basic toast/sandwich bread, this is it. It’s my staple bread recipe.
The recipe calls for sprouted flour, which has a couple of awesome qualities – it’s easier to digest than regular flour (both spelt and conventional wheat) and it makes for a lovely light bread. Keep in mind, though, that it won’t last quite as long as other breads, so eat it pretty quickly.
Making bread from scratch
It’s easier than you think, really. You can watch the video for some ideas on how kneading should happen, etc. but it’s pretty basic. For this recipe, you just need yeast, flour, a bit of sweetener, water, milk, and olive oil. If you read through this, watch the video, and still think this might be a bit much, try this no-knead spelt bread first.
The 10 minute sit with the water, yeast, and honey is important – first, it’ll tell you that your yeast is still active, so you don’t waste a bunch of time and ingredients with dead yeast. Second, it’s supposed to help your dough rise faster but that only really matters if you’re using traditional yeast.
There’s a range in the amount of flour you need for this recipe because it depends on a few factors. The big one is that when measuring by volume (cups) the density will vary between flour types and your measuring method.
If you’re using gram measurements then you don’t really need to look at the range, but flour absorbability does vary between types so you will likely need a bit more or less. I use about 3 1/4 cups or just under 500 grams when I make it with the type of flour I use but have used much less with Canadian flour types.
Substitutions & Tips
The recipe calls for sprouted spelt flour, but you can see in the video that I use a lighter flour – it’s sifted or light spelt because I didn’t have sprouted. You can also use regular whole grain spelt, or a mix of any of the three.
This is a specifically spelt bread recipe, but if you don’t have enough on hand for the full recipe or want to sub something else, kamut, einkorn, or any other ancient grain can be used (and whole wheat/all purpose, of course). I haven’t tried making this recipe gluten free because it is spelt bread.
You can use dairy milk for non-dairy if you drink it, which can be said for just about any recipe. Any kind of liquid oil can be used instead of olive – just avoid very strong tasting oils like sesame. There is no substitution for yeast unless you’d like to try a spelt sourdough.
If you’d like to add some things in to this recipe, look to this honey and oat bread, also made with spelt flour. And if you love baking with spelt, almost all of my bread recipes are made with a base of spelt flour.
You can find spelt flour just about anywhere these days – most grocery stores carry it, you can order it easily online, and bulk barn carries light, whole grain, and sprouted. It’s a great flour and my go-to.
In the video, you can see that I roll the bread up into a log before placing it into the tin. This makes a nice tidy looking loaf and you can do that if you like, but it’s not essential – you can also just plop the dough into the tin and go.
More great spelt bread recipes
Spelt Tortillas
Easy Spelt Naan
Rye Sourdough Bread
Saffron Wreath Bread
Vegan Cinnamon Cardamom Buns
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Simple Spelt Bread Recipe
Description
Ingredients
- 60 ml (¼ cup) warm water
- 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
- 2 ¼ teaspoons yeast
- 250 ml (1 cup) non-dairy milk can use dairy milk if preferred
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- ~500 grams (3 – 3 ½ cup) whole sprouted spelt flour *
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Add the water and honey to a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer. Sprinkle the yeast over top and let it sit for ten minutes. After ten minutes, it should be foamy. If the mixture doesn't foam, discard – you need new yeast.60 ml (¼ cup) warm water, 2 ¼ teaspoons yeast, 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
- Add the milk, olive oil, 2 cups (300 grams) of the flour, and the salt. Stir with a wooden spoon until a loose dough forms.250 ml (1 cup) non-dairy milk, 3 tablespoons olive oil, ~500 grams (3 – 3 ½ cup) whole sprouted spelt flour *, 1 teaspoon sea salt
- Add the remaining flour ½ cup at a time, kneading between each addition, until a smooth, springy dough forms. This should take 6-8 minutes. It should be quite smooth and not really sticky. If you're using a stand mixer, use the dough attachment for this.
- Place the dough into a large greased bowl and cover with a tea towel or large plate. Let it rise in a warm, draft-free place for one hour, or until doubled in size. This is called proofing.
- When the dough has risen, punch it down gently and place it into a parchment-lined or well greased standard-size** loaf pan, tucking any untidy ends underneath. Cover with a tea towel and place the loaf into a warm place to rise again for half an hour longer. While it's rising, heat your oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Bake the bread for about 45 minutes, or until golden, and it sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from the pan and cool for ten minutes on a rack before cutting.
- Store the bread in a sealed container for up to three days, or freeze for up to a month.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.
Excellent recipe for spelt bread. I used spelt wheat berries that I milled at home, and ended up using around 4 cups. Bread turned out nice. Rise times were longer, but that is expected with the home-milled flour, at least in my experience.
Will buttermilk work instead of milk/substitute?
Should be okay!
Absolutely delicious
Wow, this was SO delicious! Hearty and satisfying on a Fall day. Used two cups of whole wheat and one of spelt, and it was a dream. Will be making this many more times!!!
Hi,
I made it as per the recipe and it tasted good. The only issue I ran into is that the bread was crumbling while trying to cut and I had to cut it double the size of a normal slice so that it doesn’t break. Any thoughts on why that’s the case?
Hi Marina, usually this crumbliness is due to over- or under-kneading the dough (more typically under). This is something that you just need to get a feel for, I’m afraid – you want the dough to feel stretchy when it’s ready to set aside for proving.
This spelt bread is absolutely delicious! There will be no going back to the off-the-shelf commercial brands after this. Thank you Alex for your videos, notes and recipes. You make it look so easy — and it is! Heartfelt thanks from Australia. 🙂
Can this be made in a bread machine?
I think some readers have had success making it in a bread machine, but I’ve never tried.
I made this today and it’s amazing! Thank you so much. I substituted the honey with some coconut syrup and it worked just fine. I can’t believe I made it and it worked. I’m posting a photo on Instagram but I can’t see you on there. Just the same I’ll mention your page and thank you very much for such a successful and great recipe x
Thankyou for this great bread recipe…i made it with 75% speltflour and 25% wheatflour…This is the first bread recipe that gave a good result for me…Greetings from the Netherlands…
Such a simple and healthy recipe. I will be making it first the second time and added some spices and nuts. See how it comes out.
I subbed in 100g of potato flakes in place of spelt. I think it makes the bread moister and it lasts longer. IDK what the sensibilities are of people for this kind of bread but I find making buns and freezing them / thawing them when I need them is better. Adding 10g fennel to spelt bread and a little cardamom makes it addictive. And, generally I have never underbaked this bread. I think its best to bake it in shorter times than wheat. I made the dough in the bread machine and will make spelt calzones
Hi Tom, you might like to try this spelt buns recipe. There are dozens more spelt flour recipes on the site as well if you’re keen on more spelt-specific recipes.
Very new to making my own bread, could you elaborate on the kneading step? What is the method or if you have any more tips on that it would be amazing.
-thank you, looking forward to trying this 🙏
Hi Jamie, you might find this video helpful for more information on how to knead bread dough 🙂
This bread is fantastic! Came out perfect and so happy I found the recipe. I’m not celiac, but very sensitive to all wheat, gluten, etc. Doing Eat right for your blood type (B-) and this is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!!
Hi, can molasses be used in place of honey? Can’t wait to try this recipe 😊
Hi Colleen, should be fine to sub in molasses! It’ll taste a little stronger but that’s not a bad thing.
Hi there! I love this recipe and have used it once a week for the past 6-8 weeks and my spouse loves it! I’ve even adapted it and added in raisins and cinnamon. My only question is do you score your loaf before cooking?
Hi Hilary, I’m glad you like the recipe. No, I don’t score this loaf before baking it.
Great Recipe! Thanks for sharing. I am not a fan of heating Olive oil as it OXIDIZE. I used Coconut oil instead or Macadamia nut oil. I loved spelt flour so much, I stopped eating regular flour. It is so easy to digest. I made muffins with it and it was so delicious. I can eat 2 to 3 muffins in one sitting and DO NOT feel bloated of puffed after. If I were to eat 1 “REGULAR” muffin, I always feels like I OVER EAT as I feels bloated. Everything that I make with spelt flour are so good.
What kind of yeast?
Any type of dry yeast. For fresh yeast, use half a cube.
Can spelt bread be made in a bread machine?
Hi Cheryl, I’ve never tried – I haven’t used a bread machine for at least 20 years – and my concern would be that it would be over-kneaded in the machine. If you can control that element, then I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
Hi there! I’ve made three types of spelt flour bread. One overnight no knead that I kind of just tested from a regular flour recipe and this one. I love the flavor of spelt. But the textures seem off. The first one was too dense and dry so I did it again with more liquid and a mix of spelt and all purpose. That turned out pretty good but lost some of that delicious spelt flavor the first one had. I JUST set up your recipe for the final rise. I noticed that in the dough kind of tore rather than stretched. Did I not knead it enough? Or knead it too much? Or is it normal for spelt? How do you judge when you’ve kneaded it enough? Like with regular dough you press it and how it springs or doesn’t spring is your sign. Thank you!
Hi Serena, it’s best to use recipes developed for spelt if you can, as it does act differently from regular wheat flour! Spelt has a lower gluten content and you can’t, for example, do a windowpane test with it. It should stretch to a point – about half as much as white flour will – but if it’s tearing as you describe, it could be either over or under-kneaded (how long did you knead it for?). Did you use sifted (light/white) spelt flour?
How do I use my homemade starter with this? Could I use in place of yeast?
Hi Amanda, if you want to make it with starter, I recommend following this spelt sourdough recipe instead.
I don’t have a bread tin currently and am new to making bread (although I’ve made naan and pizza dough). I have a Dutch oven.
Is there a way to shape and bake without a bread pan?
Hi Abby, you could try shaping it into a boule and baking it in your Dutch oven, but I haven’t tried this.