16 replies to this topic

[Tiff]

Hi there,
Kinda repeating myself from another topic forum, but I am looking for good spelt recipes. I am doing a lot of baking at my work as I am alone in the kithcen with no budget for a pastry chef, as is often the case these days, and I need some help in the low gluten, no gluten , wheat free area of baking which is so foriegn to my sensibilites. I like working in a healthy vegetarian enviroment but I miss the more passionate immediacy of cooking mains on a line. The things I make are packaged and have to last a week or so. My boss said she wanted someone classically trained who could learn about vegetarian and vegan eating as they go. I have found it a challenge and have learned way more than I thought I would need to learn in order to cook the way I must at work. Any advice, recipes or similar experiences would be appreciated.

[guajolote]

I love fresh spelt in the spring - right out of Lake Michigan, coated in some flour and cornmeal, and deepfried.

Oops, those are smelt.

[Kikujiro]

Spelt makes great salads, but that doesn't help much as you were asking about baking.

[Rail Paul]

I love fresh spelt in the spring - right out of Lake Michigan, coated in some flour and cornmeal, and deepfried.

Oops, those are smelt.

I had EXACTLY the same thought. That's dangerous...

[Jinmyo]

Tiff, sorry. I've never even thought of spelt flour.

My experiences with the grain have led me to cook it about three time as long and with twice the liquid (chicken stock) as I would for rice and people still find it vile because it is so dense and chewy.

Best of luck.

[thebaker]

Hi there,
Kinda repeating myself from another topic forum, but I am looking for good spelt recipes.

what kind of recipes are you looking,

I worked in a vegan/healthy restaurant for about 1 1/2 created there entire dessert menu.


SC

[oraklet]

tiff,

i'm not sure if i've got it right, but it seems that spelt has a very high gluten content (somewhere between 35% and 39%)...i've never baked with it, but my very competent breadbaking book tells me that it will give you a tasteful but rather heavy bread, and that preferably the spelt should be mixed with lighter flour (tipo 00, ?). it doesn't give any recipes, though. personally i think i would first try 1/3 spelt, 1/2 tipo 00 and 1/6 duro.

very little yeast, lots of water, and a slow rising. perhaps a biga, or sourdough?

[Marlene]

I bake with spelt all the time, and I tend to use slightly LESS water than a recipe calls for. I notice a slightly nuttier taste, but certainly not unpleasant, and I don't find it any heavier than regular flour. I just usally substitute spelt flour for regular flour in a recipe with about an oz less water, and it comes out fine.

[oraklet]

marlene,

"I bake with spelt all the time, and I tend to use slightly LESS water than a recipe calls for"

i stand corrected, then! ok, but this is tricky, apparently, as i believe that more gluten means that a flour will hold more water. am i wrong there, too?

[Marlene]

marlene,

"I bake with spelt all the time, and I tend to use slightly LESS water than a recipe calls for"

i stand corrected, then! ok, but this is tricky, apparently, as i believe that more gluten means that a flour will hold more water. am i wrong there, too?

Since I put my flour right into Tupperware containers, I don't have the package in front of me to give me the ingredients listing. But if a flour like spelt holds more water than regular flour, it make sense to use less, because otherwise you've got soggy dough.

Next package I get, I'll look it up. I use spelt because my son's friend is allergic to wheat, so I do a lot of bread baking when he is here. The first time I used the regular amount of water, and it was a disaster. Using less but not much less seems to work fine. I honestly can't tell you why!

[thebaker]

I bake bread with a 50 -50 mix of whole spelt four and white splet flour.

I prefer my dough a bit wet.

[Jinmyo]

There's white spelt flour?

I'd try white spelt as a grain if I could find it.

[Marlene]

There's white spelt flour?

I'd try white spelt as a grain if I could find it.

There's white and "whole grain". They are both great.

[oraklet]

"There's white and "whole grain" "

maybe this opens a way out of my embarressment, as i've found that whole grain makes for a wetter dough. my belief that strong flour holds more water than soft flour ("holds" meaning "needs", really) is based on using varying amounts of durum wheat flour in bread doughs, and what i've been told in baking books. hardly scientific, i'll admit.

[Tiff]

Hi there,
Kinda repeating myself from another topic forum, but I am looking for good spelt recipes.

what kind of recipes are you looking,

I worked in a vegan/healthy restaurant for about 1 1/2 created there entire dessert menu.


SC

I need rcpes that stand up to 7 days in packaging. We have very little choice in the way of organic fruit this time off year;namely apples, oranges and bananas. I have a variety of different flours to choose from but whole and white soelt recipes are prefered by the boss. If you have a recipe of 2 that really stands out I would love to have them. Thanks

[thebaker]

[quote name='Tiff' date='Feb 4 2003, 02:07 PM']

SC [/QUOTE]
I need rcpes that stand up to 7 days in packaging. [/quote]
Wow 7 days, my recipes are all free of preservatives etc.
the breads really need to be eaten within a day or so but i will look around my recipes and see what looks good.

SC

[Marlene]

[quote name='thebaker' date='Feb 5 2003, 06:49 AM'] [quote name='Tiff' date='Feb 4 2003, 02:07 PM']

SC [/QUOTE]
I need rcpes that stand up to 7 days in packaging. [/QUOTE]
Wow 7 days, my recipes are all free of preservatives etc.
the breads really need to be eaten within a day or so but i will look around my recipes and see what looks good.

SC [/quote]
The spelt flour I use is organic, which generally means no preservatives. This could be a tough one!