Sourdough spelt bread: the recipe

Name: Sourdough spelt bread
Total time: 14 h 45 min
Yield: 2 pieces of 887 g
Ingredients: 166 g Wheat flour; 83 g Water; 36 g Sourdough starter; 449 g Wheat flour; 492 g Spelt flour; 522 g Water; 20 g Salt; 6.2 g Barley malt

Toasted whole spelt flour gives this bread an intense aroma and a dark crust, balanced by the wheat flour and the slow maturation of the sourdough starter.

This recipe is freely inspired by, or adapted from, a formula by Master Piergiorgio Giorilli.

At a glance

Method: Preferment, with autolyse (30 min)
Preferment: Sourdough starter — 15% of the flour
Mixing: Stand mixer

Number of pieces: 2
Weight per piece: 887 g
Preferment weight: 285 g
Dough weight: 1489 g
Total dough weight: 1774 g

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Ingredients

Quantities for 2 pieces of 887 g, kitchen at 27 °C

Preferment

Wheat flour (W280)166 g
Water83 g
Sourdough starter36 g

Dough

Wheat flour (W280)449 g
Spelt flour (Whole wheat)492 g
Water522 g
Salt20 g
Barley malt6.2 g

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Method

Lievito madre: make it and let it ferment (at room temperature) (9 hours)
- Weigh the ingredients
- Make a mix with 1 ice cube and 63 g of water at room temperature (to get it to 18 °C)
- Mix the flour, water and starter until you get a smooth batter
- Transfer to a container, covered but not airtight
Weigh the ingredients and knead (50 min)
- Make a mix with 6 ice cubes and 402 g of water at room temperature (to get it to 6 °C)
End of mixing, start of bulk rise (at room temperature) (40 min)
Reinforcement fold 1 of 1
Divide/shape: weigh and form the pieces (5 min)
Divide into 900 g pieces (or whatever size you prefer, as long as it's over 500 g), as a batard or a round loaf. Place the pieces on well-floured boards, seam side up, and cover.
Start of proofing (at room temperature) (4 hours)
Let it rise, covered, at 28 °C for 4 hours.
Ready to cook
Flip the loaves over and score them as you like.

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Baking

- conventional oven, with steam
- Overall temperature: 225 °C
- Time: 10 minutes
- Plenty of steam.
- conventional oven, without steam
- Overall temperature: 205 °C
- Time: until done
- Lower the temperature and open the valve (or vent, if your oven has one) to let the moisture out and dry the crust properly. Baking time depends on the size of the loaves: bake until done, to a deep golden colour.

The calculator adapts baking times to the weight of your pieces. Open the calculator

Preparation notes

Building the starter: At room temperature (27 °C, together with the dough) for 9 hours. The source would call for 20-22 °C for 8-10 hours, or submerged in water at 18 °C for 10-12 hours: simplified here to use a single room temperature throughout the recipe.

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