White spelt flour bread rolls

This is the third in a series of posts documenting my adventures with less common flours. Today: white spelt flour. (Previously: barleycorn flour. Next: malthouse flour.)


Spelt is an ancient wheat, arising as a hybrid of emmer (the oldest domesticated wheat) and jointed goatgrass. European spelt may have originated from a later hybridisation of emmer and common wheat (which itself has jointed goatgrass ancestry). Spelt contains more protein and fibre than common wheat, and is more easily digested, but it is lower yielding and hence much more expensive (£2.29/kg from Doves Farm).


I made four small bread rolls using white spelt flour. Spelt bread rises more quickly than common wheat bread, and the bread was able to rise and prove in around 75 minutes (compare to the usual 120 minutes). I found the rolls delicious, but I must admit that I found the flavour similar to that of bread made with wholemeal wheat flour - I wasn’t aware of the ‘unique nutty flavour’ that spelt is described as having.