handmade spelt sourdough bread

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We like our own bread very well cooked, “bien cuit”, obviously. I like working with spelt flour, it took me a very long time to feel confident with it, but I enjoyed—and still enjoy—my apprenticeship. I enjoy the fact that spelt, having a much more fragile gluten than wheat, needs more care and is more susceptible to the changes in temperature, air moisture and moodstate of the baker. It feels truly alive, and learning to accept that some weeks it will be flatter and some weeks it will be airier and bouncier, learning to accept that it will always be diferent* without worrying, has led me to accept my being human.

Who can wait quietly until the mud settles ? Lao Tzu

* P told me once that he thinks that this is why you can never tire of it even if you eat it, like him, pretty much every day for the last seven years.

3 comments

  1. I haven’t tried baking with spelt, but it sounds really interesting! I’ve been wanting to start making sourdough bread, too, but it seems intimidating…

    • Feel brave, it is a lovely adventure. I would recommend following a food step-by-step method, both The Handmade Loaf by Dan Lepard (a great bread book not just for sourdough), or Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson as the photographs reassure you that your funny mixture is just right ! Good luck.

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