Usually on this blog, I stick to strictly gluten-free recipes and will continue to do so in the future. However, I wanted to make an exception today for what I consider to be an exceptional recipe.
First, let me explain that while Gabriel is allergic to wheat – thus our gluten-free diet – he’s not necessarily allergic to spelt. I know there’s a controversy over whether spelt is okay for the person with allergies to other glutenous grains. We’ve done numerous tests with spelt, in fact, at one point, Gabriel went over a year without eating it, and have never been able to see an allergic reaction to it. Thus, our posisition at this point is that spelt is fine for him.
With that said, we don’t usually buy spelt because of the price – I think it’s roughly the same as most pre-packaged gluten-free flour mixes. But this past summer we came across a steal of a deal on some spelt berries
So, we’ve been cooking with spelt a little here and there. Our three main uses for it are tortillas (personally, I prefer spelt tortillas over the wheat equivalent), pizza crust, and bread.
The bread is amazing. For the longest time, I didn’t make spelt bread much because it has a tendency to dry out really quickly and get crumbly. But then a friend was telling me that she puts guar gum in her spelt bread. My reaction at the time was “Whaaaaa!? you don’t put guar gum in spelt!” But after digesting it for a while (no pun intended), I decided it was worth a try.
Oh my goodness, the results were amazing! We devoured that first fluffy loaf of goodness in record time. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted wheat-based yeast bread that was better, and quickly decided that we better reserve this recipe for special occasions because it’s just too good not to eat it up – which isn’t very good for our health when we’re talking two (maaybbee three if Garrett is lucky enough to not be taking a nap when it comes out of the oven) people consuming an entire loaf in day.
Perfect Spelt Sandwich Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups spelt flour
- 2 1/4 teaspoon yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon Guar Gum
- 3 Tablespoons sugar/honey/sorghum
- 3Tablespoons oil
- 1 cup warm water
Instructions
- Mix dry ingredients in bowl (preferebly a mixer with a dough hook).
- Add wet ingredients, and knead for roughly 4 minutes.
- It’s said that spelt doesn’t require as much kneading as wheat, and I’ve found four minutes to work very well.
- let rise in bowl, covered with a light cloth until double. shape into a loaf, and let rise again in a greased loaf pan.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and bake for 30-40 minutes in the center of the oven.
- Let cool on a cooling grid, slice, and enjoy!
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Will this recipe work with white spelt flour?
Yes, my mother-in-law makes it with white spelt, and it’s delish!
Hi there. I just found your recipie and am going to give it a go, but have a couple of teeny questions. What is the purpose of the Guar gum in this recipie? Could I use xanthum instead? And I was wondering if I could use molasses instead of sugar or honey?? AND last one….will the texture of the dough be a little stickier or does it need to be smooth like regular white bread?
thanks bunches!!
Debbie.
Hi! The reason for the gum is that spelt doesn’t contain as much gluten as wheat, so it tend to be a little dry and crumbly without it.
And YES to both the xanthan gum and molasses. Although, by molasses, I mean light molasses (like sorghum) and not blackstrap. Although you could certainly try black strap, it would definitely change the flavor and color.
Also, yes, the dough should be as soft as possible, but kneadable – use like regular white bread.
Thank you so much for your reply. For the yeast…do I need to proof it with sugar? IF so, would I just use 1 tsp, as it says on the package, then decrease that amount from the total?
For this recipe, I didn’t. If you have doubts about your yeast you may want to though…
Thanks Elise. Its been WAY to long since I’ve made any bread. I proofed it, but should have not dumped all 3 cups of flour in all at once. It mixed super fast, like in seconds and was really stiff. I covered it and let it sit in the oven with the light on, so it could rise, which it did, but not alot. Its sort of an ugly dough…but its not sticky. It feels tough…not silky. Its in the pan to finish its rising before baking, but I’m thinking its not going to go above the pan,unless I let it sit a long time. I’ll try again tomorrow as you have it written above, but with less flour to start. I used Fleischmann’s Traditional Active dry yeast. Is that correct?
I’ve made this bread a few times now and it really is perfect. Thanks for this! Since guar gum is hard for me to get right now (I’m living in Saudi Arabia), I used psyllium husk powder as a substitute . It seems to do the trick.
This bread is delicious! However, I don’t seem to get quite a large enough loaf to use for sandwich bread when I make this recipe. I tried making the bread by doubling it, but it really didn’t rise well when I did that. Do you have any suggestions for making a larger loaf or getting it to rise better?
Recently went gluten free and this is the best bread recipe i’ve tried. I substituted tapioca starch for gar gum (because that’s what i had on hand), agave nectar for honey and I used walnut oil. Followed your steps only I just mixed w/ a spoon and kneaded by hand just till combined well. VERY moist, light and delicious. My husband loved it too. Thank you so much for sharing!
Just in case you did not know spelt is wheat
I’m trying this in my bread maker machine. Do you think rapid white cycle or gluten free cycle would work better? Thanks, karen
I’m not really familiar with bread machine cycles, but I’d probably choose which ever has the shortest kneading cycle.
I tried it on both cycles. The rapid cycle tasted good but it was dens
Oops I hit send by mistake. Rapid was dense. Gluten free cycle rose wonderfully. But fell during bake cycle. I used bread machine yeast. Could that affect it. I am now trying it with two tsp yeast to see if that works.
Thank you for this recipe! I had pretty much given up baking bread since I became sensitive to wheat. I was happy buying spelt bread from my favorite baker until they discontinued it. So I found your recipe when I searched for a non-crumbly spelt bread. It was super easy, and the finished bread greatly exceeded my expectations. My kids who normally turn up their noses at spelt bread were begging for more of this!
I substituted xanthan gum, otherwise followed the recipe pretty much as written. Mine rose fast, 45 minutes (with the bowl set in a larger bowl of warm water) was plenty to double it. People should be aware that if bread rises too much it can collapse and ruin the texture.
Didn’t rise properly. Followed meaurements and directions perfectly. Disappointed. Hate to waste organic, expensive ingredients.
Hello!
Thank you for this recipe, I love it! I’ve had varying results depending upon the brand of spelt flour I use, but I figured out which brand would work the best by trial and error! Question: Is there a reason you don’t activate the yeast first before adding the other ingredients? Just wondering if this would produce a better rise. Thanks!
Maria
Glad you like it!
The reason I don’t proof the yeast is just that I was so happy with the way this one turned out as it was, I didn’t do any further testing. lol 🙂
Thanks! I made it again tonight and I proofed the yeast first. The rise was a bit better, but not a huge difference. I brush a little olive oil over the top and sprinkle some coarse salt which makes a crusty, salty top. Yum! My family is obsessed with this bread. Thanks again for a wonderful recipe!
what size loaf pan do you use 5X9 or 4X8? And do you ever double it?
I use a 5×9 (well, I use to – we’re completely GF now). and yes, double, and even triple it! 🙂
Good afternoon on this rainy, HUMID, lazy Sunday afternoon, I just discovered your site today while searching for a gf homemade noodle recipe. My mom makes the BEST homemade noodles and I haven’t had any for years. You don’t do a gf slippery pot pie by any chance, do you? I’ve had a lovely time looking through all the recipes and I can’t wait to try quite a variety of them. I’m the gluten free eater in my family being diagnosed with celiac disease about 10 years ago. However, don’t ever let anyone tell you God doesn’t have a sense of humor. Out of the entire family its little ‘ol me that develops this, the ONE person in the family who considers spending the entire day, every day, baking the most enjoyable time possible. I LOVE to bake, I am a cake decorator, I spend as much time as possible either in the kitchen, with the oven on, or else with my nose in a cookbook or in front of a computer screen like now searching for recipes or decorating ideas and tutorials. I selll items at time but seem to bake for church and others FAR more than I bake for myself. Believe it or not, 90% of the baking I still do is regular gluten baking. However, this question concerns my dad. He has Type II diabetes. In a way, he has to watch out for eating too much wheat also. We’ve learned that when he consumes ordinary bread, pasta, etc made with ordinary white flour his blood sugar levels jump up terribly. But……if he has pasta etc made with whole wheat instead it not nearly as high. Therefore, he and my mom prepare very little pasta or any starches. So many people don’t realize when you’re diabetic its not just sugar you have to watch, anything starch turns to sugar in your body.
Years ago when I was a kid (I began baking very early in life) he would absolutely love it when I would make loaves of homemade bread. His favorite way was the warm bread spread with locally made apple butter. (we live smack in the middle of orchard and farm country) As my folks are getting up there, my dad will be 77 this year) I try to make as many of the favorite foods from his childhood and life for him as I can. But, obviously, I don’t want to take items to him that will hurt his health. I’ve been wondering how spelt is with sugar levels. Do you know? Will spelt skyrocket sugar levels like regular bread or will it be a small rise like the whole wheat? Is there a bread recipe that’s best for diabetics?
I have read that the glycemic index of spelt flour is 54, whereas wheat is around 75, but I don’t know if they were talking about while, or whole grain, or other factors. Sorry!
You might enjoy looking into baking with coconut flour. It’s very fibrous, rather than starchy, and is surprisingly good!
I totally sympathize with you on loving to bake, and then having to go gluten-free! Even though in my case, it’s my husband who has the food allergy. 🙂
Hello, I loved your bread. It was so soft. I was wondering if I can use buttermilk for this recipe? If I could should I omit 1cup warm milk? Do you have suggestions? Thanks so much.
I’ve never used buttermilk in this recipe, but for every amount of buttermilk you want to put in, you’ll need to omit the same amount of water, or just slightly less.
You mention in the recipe 3 Tablespoons sugar/honey/sorghum. Is that 3 Tbs of each, or 3 Tbs of one of them( my choice)? I am looking forward to trying this recipe tomorrow as I just found spelt and LOVE it!
Your choice of one. Sorry for the confusion!
Thank you for the quick response! Cannot wait to try it tomorrow…. I will keep you posted. Do you have a favorite of the 3 choices? Any recommendations for high altitude?
You’ll love it! Spelt is the best! 🙂 I personally prefer either honey or brown sugar.
It really is perfect. Thank you! I used 2 cups white spelt, 1 cup regular spelt, and dark maple syrup. It’s soft and fluffy and perfect. I think my oven runs a little hot but this only took a little under 30 minutes for me.
Hi just made this, and it turned out great. Question though, can I reduce the sugar down a lot? Or will it affect texture or rise or something in the bread. We are just not used to that amount of sugar in our bread, prob like 2teaspoons normally used. Thanks!
Hi Janice, you can reduce it, the only affect will be potentially less moist, more crumbly bread.
Hello. I baked this bread today and it tastes very good! However, it ended up baking flat, as if it lost its rise.
I noticed that the dough was very sticky and difficult to knead. I did the best I could manage with dough sticking to my hands, and tried not to add too much additional flour – perhaps a small handful overall.
I let the dough rise in the bowl for 2 hours, covered with a towel, in a warm slightly sunny spot.
Then, I transferred to the loaf pan and let it rise for 3 hours. I saw the dough deflate immediately upon removing the towel. It then baked for 35 minutes.
Do you have any suggestions for trying it next time, to give it a successful rise?
Thanks!
Laura
Humidity can affect how much flour you need to an extent, so you may have needed more.
As for the deflating, if it was sticky, did you cover stick to it? That could have caused it.
Hi Elise,
Thanks for your reply!
Would you suggest I use a damp towel to cover during the rise, then? I live in southern CA and it’s rarely humid here.
It was sticky from when I mixed the ingredients, though I measured exactly as you suggested. But no, the towel I covered it with didn’t stick to the dough.
Laura
I follow the recipe ingredients to a T, however the liquid was to much for the dry ingredients. I was very soupy, however I added 3 handful of flour. Then could actually knead. Not sure what the final product will be but it look promising.
Well I tried this recipe and loved it. I did have to add more flour about 3/4 C worth otherwise it was too sticky. It is a very soft dough compare to the 100% Winter white wheat I used to make. We have to give up the harder gluten and this was suggested. It is delicious. I wish I could post a picture of my loaf it is beautiful…lol Thanks for the recipe!
What size loaf pan do you recommend?
9×5 inch.
Wow! best bread I have made yet, I made it using a bread maker on the gluten free setting, which cooks for an hour. The crust is nice and crispy which is good but next time I will take out at 40 mins and see what its like with a softer crust…
Thank you Thank you !!! 😀
Have you made several loaves and then frozen them? I’m curious as to how well they do in the freezer, how long they last. Does it need to be refrigerated once you’ve baked it?
What can you substitute for guar gum?
Xanthan gum is a good swap.
I can’t wait to try this recipe out. My friend was telling me about the amazing spelt bread she’d been making and sent me the recipe. It was this one. Lol I had seen you post about it on Instagram a while back and just haven’t tried it yet. This is the week! 😊
It’s pretty fabulous – hope you like it!
Here’s what seemed to me a relatively cheap source of whole grain spelt if you don’t mind buying a lot: $25 lb for $40, ppd, which works out to something like $1.60/lb…about the same as artisanal wheat flour!
I made this a week ago and I’m making some right now. Today I added cinnamon and raisins. I’ve been baking with spelt for about 20 years. This is my favourite bread recipe that is not made in a bread machine. Love love love it.
My first time ever making bread or for that, any baking at all. The bread worked out just right and is so tasty and soft with a nice crunchy crust, I can’t stop eating it. It was a little sticky so I used a small amount of Olive oil on my hands and in the bowl, this seemed to eliminate the dough sticking to the bowl or hands. Excellent outcome, taste, texture, crust, flavour and the smell was unreal. By the way as I have no mixing machine I made this by hand mixing. Than you for sharing your recipe.
New Zealand.
Yay! So glad your first foray into break making was successful! Yes, a little olive oil is perfect when the dough gets sticky. 🙂
I’m so glad I came across this site. This is the best recipe I came across so far for bread making. I followed the recipe as is; however, I did 2 cups of whole spelt, 1 cup of white spelt, coconut oil and honey. My bread came out so soft and moist. Super delicious.
This looks like a great bread recipe. I want to try it. Do you have any idea how it could be adapted for dinner rolls or burger rolls? I almost gave up on spelt rolls because of them being so dense and crumbly, even with xanthan gum. and how much xanthan gum to use for rolls?
I would use the same recipe and shape it into rolls personally. We use this recipe for rolls, cinnamon rolls, etc. the smaller your piece of dough, the lighter, and fluffier it should be able to rise.
I have been using this recipe for around a year and like it very much. I wanted to see if I could make it in a bread machine. My 1st try was to dense for my liking even though I made the bread machine knead for 5 minutes. I took the water and added 2 TBL of tapioca starch. Once mixed I brought it almost to a boil so the starch was thickened. With this addition I can use it in the bread machine. So far I have only tried the whole wheat bead cycle on my machine. The bread dough does not seem to care if I let go through the whole knead cycle which is much longer than the 4 minutes you mentioned.
I use 2 cups of Vitaspelt white spelt and one cup of Bobs Redmill whole spelt.
I just tried this recipe with Anita’s organic all purpose white spelt flour, doubled the recipe. Used cane sugar, almond milk & olive oil *xanthan gum, baked 40 minutes in good quality bread pans and am highly impressed! I was leery to not be proofing the yeast with sugar/liquid prior but followed the instructions as listed and the 2 loaves turned out beautifully! Not crumbly but instead are dense yet light & fluffy. So good that we’ve already dug in before they’ve completely cooled!! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe – I can now stop looking for the perfect one as I’ve now found it!!
I just bought a bread maker and bought organic non gmo winter spelt berries to make my own flour! I have been having problems eating todays wheat products, and have wondered if it could be because of everything they do to our food! Will the bread maker work with your recipe?