whole spelt bread

Bread seems to have become a trend lately. A trend that I am more than willing to follow. No-knead breads have become especially popular and rightly so! How awesome is it that with little effort we can supply ourselves with fresh, wholesome, home-baked bread?! No fillers or preservatives and no lack of taste!

Now I can't stress enough how delicious this bread is. To put it in perspective for you, I could sit down with one of these loaves, a pound of butter, and eat. All of it. Fortunately for my thighs I'm stronger than that; at least that's what I have to keep repeating to myself as I stare down lustfully at a freshly baked loaf. It's also worth mentioning that it requires little effort to prepare, especially if you buy the sesame seeds roasted.

Spelt flour is a great alternative to wheat flour - which I rarely allow into my apartment, unless I'm feeling devilish. It's an ancient grain which can be substituted in many recipes that call for white or whole wheat flour and, although like wheat flour it contains gluten, it is much easier for the body to digest and many people with allergies to wheat can digest spelt.
I've read in a few places that you don't need to use as much liquid when substituting spelt flour for wheat flour because it's more soluble, but I've experienced the contrary and usually add a little more liquid as the finished product can be a bit on the dry side if I don't.
Now get yourself a nice big bag of organic spelt flour and start experimenting with recipes you would normally use white flour. Your tummy will thank you for it!

This recipe originally yielded one loaf, but the size of loaf pan it called for was very unusual. So with some mathematical assistance from Mom, we adjusted the ingredients in order to get two loaves, using two good ol' everyday loaf pans.
One last thing to point out, if you haven't worked with no knead breads, the consistency of the "dough" is not really dough-like at all. It's more like a thick batter. So don't freak when you end up with a mixing bowl full of goop cause everything is goooood!

Whole Spelt Bread

Ingredients

6 c. organic spelt flour
3/4 c. sunflower seeds
3/4 c. pumpkin seeds
3/4 c. flax seeds
3/8 c. roasted sesame seeds (if math isn't your forte like me, that's 1/4 c. plus half of another 1/4 c.)
3/4 c. warm water for dissolving yeast
3 c. water
3 3/4 Tbsp vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp salt
3/4 tsp salt
3 packages dry yeast (or 6 3/4 tsp)

Method

Roast sesame seeds and set aside.
Grease two loaf pans.
Dissolve yeast in 3/4 cup warm water.
Sift flour into a large mixing bowl. Add all other ingredients and mix until a smooth dough is formed. Pour dough into loaf pans and let rise for about an hour. The dough should rise noticably in that time.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 480F. Bake for 15 minutes.
Reduce heat to 380F and bake for another 45 minutes. Take bread out of the oven and remove from the pans. Bread should easily come out of the pan, if not, bake a little longer (I use a knife around the edges to loosen and it comes out pretty easily). Put bread back in the oven and bake for an additional 15 - 30 minutes, checking frequently. I take mine out as soon as the 15 minutes is up. When you thump on the bread and it sounds hollow, your bread is done.
Remove bread from the oven, cool and enjoy!