Sourdough Wheat & Spelt Bread recipe

Posted under Cooking, Healthy Food by Melinda

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I’ve been making this bread for awhile now and thought I should finally post the recipe!  I don’t remember where I got the original recipe from, this has been changed, amended and played with for about two years to end up with this very simple final version.

Sourdough Wheat and Spelt Bread

Ingredients

1 cup plain sourdough starter (that’s starter made from just flour and water)

1 cup lukewarm water

2 tspn salt

1/4 tspn baking soda

1 cup organic white plain flour

2 cups organic wholemeal spelt flour

(Proof your starter before making this, that is, mix the starter with about one cup of warm water and a cup of plain flour and leave in a warm place for 4-8 hours.  Then measure out the cup of starter and put the rest in the fridge for next time)

Method

Sift and mix together all the dry ingredients.

In a large pyrex or ceramic bowl mix the water and starter together.

Add most of the dry ingredients and mix well.  Keep adding the dry ingredients until you can’t stir with a spoon any more.  Tip the dough out onto a floured bench and knead.  Add more dry ingredients as necessary, however keep in mind that sourdough needs to be moister than ordinary yeast dough.  It should end up as moist as possible, but not sticking to your hands and the bench.  I usually don’t use all the dry ingredients, mostly I end up with a few tablespoons left.  I put any excess away and use it next time.

Knead for ten minutes.  Use a timer, you really do need to knead for the full ten minutes to get a good texture to your bread.

Scrape any loose flour out of the bowl, oil it lightly and place the dough back in.  Oil the top of the dough, cover the bowl and put in a warm place until it has doubled in size.  This could take from 2-6 hours depending on your starter and the temperature.  I keep mine in the oven with the light on – just enough warmth to help it rise.

Take the dough out, turn it onto the floured bench again and punch it down.  I then divide it into two, as I have two small loaf tins, or you can leave it as is for one large loaf.  Flatten it out so it’s about as wide as your tin, then roll the dough up and place into your oiled/buttered and floured loaf tin.  Place the edge where you rolled it on the bottom.

Cover the tin/s and place back in a warm place to rise until doubled in size again.  I’ve found this takes about the same amount of time as the first rising, sometimes a little bit faster.

Bake in a pre-heated moderate oven (mine is 170 deg Celsius) for about 40 minutes, until browned and sounds hollow when tapped.  Remove from the oven and leave in the loaf tin for about 15-20 minutes, then turn out and let cool.

This bread freezes well and will last a few days without refrigeration.  It has a strong sourdough taste and is very filling and healthy!

If anyone makes this and discovers an error in my recipe please leave a comment and let me know!