Tuesday 19 January 2016

Say Little Hen 100% Spelt Sourdough

A little while ago I offered to test a recipe for Sarah at Say Little Hen. She had been working for a while to perfect her own 100% spelt sourdough loaf and was thinking of publishing the recipe. Now, Sarah grinds her own spelt flour (as well as rearing sheep and cows and hens and tending a fab veggie garden) in Queensland, Australia. It is hot and dry there right now and we wondered how the recipe would fair in damp cold Blighty. 

I don't grind my own spelt flour, but I know a place that does, so I used spelt flour ground about 10 miles away at Heatherslaw Mill, Northumberland's only working water mill. 

All went well until I left my loaf to rise... It rose more out than up so mid-rise I flopped my UFO pancake thingy into a loaf tin which probably knocked some air out of it. It was a bit denser than I would hope but it was very yummy ad I will definitely be having another go. I think I'll go for the tin from the outset and see what happens. 


You can try Sarah's recipe too because she has published it on her blog along with a fab photo tutorial. I'd love to hear how you get on.


xx

7 comments:

  1. The Hairy Bikers reckon it is easy to over knead spelt bread. Maybe this is what happened. Good luck with the next one.

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  2. I've never had much success rising Spelt free form, which is why I purchased bannetons, so that I could rise the bread in them and then still bake them free form on a tray.

    Thank-you so much for trying this out!
    Sarah xx

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  3. It still looks good, I expect it would be nice served with cheese or soup - or both together! x

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  4. I agree with Jo, go Welsh and serve it with a bowl of cawl (soup) and a chunk of cheese. Spelt bread has a lovely taste, it is past time that I made some.

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  5. I agree with Pam's idea. Thats what we do particularly with any bread that might be denser than we'd like.
    Will definitely give this a go! Thanks!

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  6. The cut loaf looks fabulous. I love spelt bread, so will definitely give this a go (ahem, that means I'll ask my bread-making husband to give it a go!).

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  7. Good to try new things and find out what works for you isn't it. xx

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