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 has never been able to see an allergic reaction to it. Thus, our position 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 – and to be honest, gluten-free sandwich bread is pretty good anyway!
But this past summer we came across a steal of a deal on some spelt berries
and jumped on it (if we ever get around to figuring out how to clean feed-grade spelt berries for human consumption, they’ll probably be a regular part of our diet).
So, we’ve been cooking with spelt a little here and there. Our three main uses for it are homemade spelt tortillas (personally, I prefer spelt tortillas over the wheat equivalent), pizza crust, and bread.
This spelt sandwich bread recipe 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 to make the perfect Spelt Sandwich Bread Recipe. 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.
And if we do have leftovers? There isn’t much better than homemade spelt bread with peanut butter and sugar-free strawberry jam!
PrintPerfect 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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Jill says
How many loafs will this make??
Ste says
I was doubtful. I tried this bread. I am very happy that I tried it and I am a big fan! My husband also likes it. I will be making this again soon!! Thank you!
★★★★★
Emily says
I have made this recipe so many times I have it memorized, lol! When I use Berlin bakery’s white spelt flour I get a perfect loaf to slice for sandwiches. Recently I decided to try purity foods white spelt flour, my loaf is very different…it’s really dense and doesn’t rise as high, using this flour what could I try different to make it less dense? The purity foods spelt flour Seems to have a little more coarse texture.
★★★★★
Jutta Sinclair says
What yeast do you use ?
pcake says
Is that white or whole grain spelt flour? I’m going to try it – it looks delish!
Elise says
The ones pictures are white spelt. my mother-in-law prefers white bread – for us I use whole grain. 🙂
Chanda Washington says
Do you use quick yeast or regular yeast?
emma says
What can you substitute anything for guar gum?
Elise says
You can leave it out, but your bread may be a bit more crumbly.
Kara says
I’m pretty sure you can substitute xanthan gum for guar gum. In fact, it might be better than guar gum for baked goods according to this article.
See: https://www.bobsredmill.com/blog/recipes/guar-gum-vs-xanthan-gum/
Brenda Locken says
Very new to this spelt bread baking, am trying the sandwich loaf and used guar gum as in recipe. I found 1 cup of water made the spelt flour too stiff, added a tiny bit more liquid. I used traditional dry yeast. You didn’t stipulate in recipe what kind of yeast. I usually buy bread machine yeast as I use my dough cycle to knead the bread for me.Any other hints?
Brenda Locken says
Did not rise with traditional dry yeast!!!!
Marta says
I would love to try your recipe tomorrow. But I have 2 questions.
[1] Are you using Active Dry Yeast or instant yeast?
{2} Will the dough made of 3 cups of flour fit in just one 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaf pan without overflowing in the oven?
Thank you for your advice. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Marta
Kim Lapointe says
I used this bread as a part of fasting. It is incredibly wonderful and my house smells amazing as it bakes first thing in the morning!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!