Spelt Bread

This year for my birthday I received a beautiful artisan rising basket, and a kilo of small batch milled spelt. The basket is made out of one long piece of wicker that is coiled together to make a round bowl shape. After preparing the dough, it is put into the basket for a slow rise of 6 hours. And just like magic, when you turn out the dough and stick it in the oven, it keeps the lovely pattern from the rising basket. Not only does it look fantastically impressive, it tastes amazing too!

If you dont have a rising basket (get one!) you can just prove the bread as normal in a regular bowl.

 

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550-600g organic spelt flour

150ml cold water

250ml organic yoghurt

1 sachet easy bake yeast (or 7g)

pinch of salt

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Tip your flour, yeast and salt into a large bowl and make a well in the middle. Pour the water and yoghurt into the hole. Combine the ingredients by gathering more and more flour from the sides as you work in a circular motion. Once a ball has formed, tip out onto a floured surface and kneed for 10 min, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Coat the inside of the rising basket with a good amount of plain flour, this stops the dough form sticking and also makes a pretty effect once baked.

 

Place the dough ball into the basket and firmly press down, to create the pattern. Leave to rise in the fridge, or a place of similar temperature for 4-6 hours.

This bread dough will not rise excessively due to the cold rise, so don’t be put off. The bread is meant to be flattish.

It is fantastic served with soup or a wholesome salad.