Pure spelt bread magic

We are many who love the bread Dharma Mountain serves for breakfast and for soup dinners. Take your time when making it. Presence and love are the secret ingredients.

This recipe makes two loaves

500 g white spelt flour
250 g wholemeal spelt flour
100 g barley flour
100 g wholemeal rye flour
125 g oat flakes
50 g sesame seeds
100 g cracked spelt grains, soaked over night
1 tbsp sea salt
900 ml lukewarm water
2,5 g yeast (the size of a very small pea) or 2 tablespoons sourdough starter

Sift the flours into a big bowl.
Mix in salt, sesame seeds and oats.
Drain and reserve the liquid from the cracked spelt grains (you can use this instead of water later).
Add the grains to the dry ingredients and mix well.
Add lukewarm water until you have 900 ml. Add this to the dry ingredients and mix well, until you have a homogeneous dough. There is no need to kneed. Cover the dough with a cloth and let it rise overnight or for around 10 hours in room temperature.

The day after
Lightly grease the bottom of 2 bread tins and line them with with baking paper.
Divide the dough in two and scoop it into the tins.
Brush the top of the breads with a little water, and make a lengthwise cut with a sharp knife on the top of each bread.

Put breads into preheated oven at 50°C, leave for 15-25 minutes to rise.
Then increase temperature to 180-180-200°C for around 60 minutes (time and temperature depend on your baking oven).

When finished baking, the bread crust should be brown and crispy. Take breads out of the forms immediately, and leave to cool down without a cover, preferable on a wire rack. The breads can be frozen, but keep well in room temperature for 3–5 days.

Organic spelt flour
You can get both conventional and organic spelt flour. However we highly recommend the organic spelt flour, even though it is more expensive, because the conventional spelt has been crossbred with wheat to increase yields and hence lost many of the beneficial qualities of pure spelt. The organic spelt grown in Norway is from the Swiss spelt variety called ´Oberkulmer Rotkorn´ which is considered among the purest of the spelt varieties.

Mer om spelt
Saint Hildegard von Bingen (1098 – 1179) who was a mystic and abbess in medieval Germany, describes quite impressively the special health benefits of spelt as compared to other edible grains. In her book “Physika” she says: “Spelt is the best grain… It is rich and nourishing and more delicate than all other grains. It gives the one who eats it a strong body and healthy blood. It makes one happy and cheerful. Whenever people eat it, either as bread or in another form, it is delicious and easily digested.”

So now – are you ready to try it yourself?

With love from the bakers at Dharma Mountain