https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/honey-spelt-sourdough-bread-recipe
After my husband recovered yesterday from his five-day sinus attack, he was hungry. I realized on Friday night after dinner that I would need to bake bread on Saturday rather than Sunday. I had used and fed my sourdough starter two days in a row, and I wanted to try the Honey Spelt Sourdough Bread recipe from KAF again. It had baked beautifully the first time, using KAF spelt, but I had tried twice to duplicate it with Bob’s Red Mill spelt, and it did not have the same structure, even though I weighed the ingredients, since I thought the BRM might measure differently by volume. However, both times, I got a sticky dough that baked into a loaf that sagged in the center.
When I made the levain on Friday night, I decided to increase the starter from 1 Tbs. to ¼ cup. I have a milk-based soupy starter, and KAF likely uses its own starter, which I understand is not soupy. I thought the additional starter would help with the rise and structure. I also decided to measure by volume not weight after noting that the Bob's flour seemed heavier per cup. (See note at end of this post.)
The next day, I proofed the yeast in a cup of 100F water with a bit of the honey. I then added the rest of the honey and the levain and mixed, before mixing in the additional 3 cups spelt flour, to which I had added ¼ cup special dry milk. I covered it and let it rest for 20 minutes so that the spelt could absorb liquid. I then mixed in 2 Tbs. of olive oil (replacing butter), before mixing in 1 cup of KAF AP flour with 1 tsp. salt (reduced from 1 ¼ tsp.). I kneaded for 4 minutes until I had a nice windowpane, then let rise for 1 hour 15 minutes.
I prepared my Emile Henry long baker (greased, then sprinkled liberally with farina). I pre-shaped the loaf, let it sit for 5 minutes, then did the final shaping. The dough needed about 1 hour 20 minutes for the second rise. I slashed it, replaced the cover, and put it in the oven. I changed the baking instructions a bit. I did do the initial 10 minutes at 425 before reducing the temperature to 400, but I then let it bake for about 23 minutes before removing the baker top. (The original recipe says 25-30 min.). I baked it uncovered for an additional 7 minutes. It tested 190F, and I removed it to a rack to cool. It has nice color, and it has the structure I recall from the first time I baked it. Tomorrow I will know about taste and texture.
I'm wondering if the KAF measurements in grams are off for this recipe. I was going to weight the spelt flour (Bob’s Red Mill), as I did previously, but I decided to measure a cup by volume. When I checked the scale, there was a BIG difference in weight, with the Bob’s flour coming in heavier. I decided that I would measure by volume—which is what I did the FIRST time I baked it. Doing so appears to have given me the results I liked so much the first time I baked this bread.
