One hundred percent spelt, no wheat at all, and it works — but only because a tin does the job that gluten normally does. Spelt's protein forms a weaker, more extensible network that will not hold a free-form shape at 78% hydration. Put it in a lined 20 x 10 cm tin and the loaf rises straight up instead of out.
What goes wrong without the tin
The same dough baked free-form spreads to a 15 cm disc within eight minutes and the score seals. The tin walls give the dough something to push against, and the result is a soft, cake-like crumb that tears into strands rather than breaking into crumbs. It is a genuinely different bread, not a failed one.
| Stage | Detail |
|---|---|
| Starter | 1:5:5, ready at 5 h and 26 °C — spelt starter peaks fast |
| Mix | 78% water, 2% salt, 20% starter |
| Folds | 2 bowl folds, 30 min apart, no bench work |
| Bulk | 2.5 h at 26 °C to 35% rise only |
| Retard | 6 h at 4 °C |
| Bake | 210 °C, 10 min steam, 36 min total |
Under-proofing is the safe direction
Spelt collapses faster than wheat once it is over-proofed, and once it collapses there is no oven spring to recover it. So this loaf goes in at 35% rise, which looks under-proofed by wheat standards. The tin makes up for it: the walls are already at the final width, so the dough only has to rise, not spread.
A cool oven and a shallow cut
210 °C, not 230 °C. Spelt crust darkens quickly and a hot bake gives you a hard, bitter shell over a wet centre. One lengthwise cut, barely 2 mm deep, just enough to control where the top splits. Bake 36 minutes, then leave it in the tin for 10 minutes before turning it out — spelt crumb is fragile when hot.
- Flavour is sweet and slightly malty; it needs a long cool ferment to develop any sourness.
- Slices best 12 hours after baking, and toasts very well.
- Freezes badly. Eat it within three days.
If your spelt dough tears into strands at the second fold, it is not over-mixed. Spelt protein simply behaves this way, and those strands are the crumb structure you will see in the finished loaf.