Spelt Bread

Tasty, simple, healthy and homemade from scratch.
Source
Improvised

Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 2 (out of 5)

Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (900 cal)
- 1 1/2 cups spelt flour (720 cal)
- 3/4 tbsp yeast
- 1 tsp agave syrup or honey (15 cal)
- 1/2 tbsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water (temperature of about 90-100F, a little bit warmer than the body temperature)
Total 1635 cal, 1 loaf, about 15 slices, 110 cal / slice

Instructions
1. In a plastic container (not airtight) or a bowl of about 3/4 to 1 gallon, mix the water and the yeast with the agave syrup or honey. Let stand for about 5-10 minutes to activate the active dry yeast. If you are using instant yeast, you can skip this step and omit the sweetener from the recipe.
2. Add the flours and the salt, mix all the ingredient with a wooden spoon, and then with your hands, until they combine and all the flour is incorporated. There is no need to knead the dough beyond that. Cover the container with a non-airtight lid, or with a plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for about 2 hours. By that time the dough should be approximately double in size.
3. Now you can either refrigerate the dough and use it within the next week or so, or you can make your bread on the same day. To make the bread, grease a 4’’ x 8’’ loaf pan with cooking oil, non-stick spray or Crisco shortening. With slightly wet hands, collect all the dough from the container, quickly shape it into a loaf shape and place it smoother side up into the pan. Cover the pan with a wet towel (I use a wet paper towel), and let it rise for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
4. Half an hour in advance, start preheating the oven to 400F. When the bread has risen and oven is hot, score the top of the bread with a sharp serrated knife, dipped into cold water. Scoring the bread allows the air to escape.
5. Bake the bread for about 50 minutes. Once it’s done, you can remove it from the pan, turn the oven off and leave the loaf directly on the rack in the oven for another 10 minutes, with the oven door slightly open. Then let the bread cool on the wire rack at room temperature.

Afterthoughts
1. It’s a super easy bread to make, with practically no kneading, no special equipment, minimal cleanup (only one container and one loaf pan) and a delicious result. It’s only about 10 minutes of active work, but the whole process takes about 5 hours, from the moment you mix the dough until you can slice you loaf. If you refrigerate the dough after the initial 2 hour rise, you can have the bread ready in 3 hours.
2. This bread has a relatively soft crust, because that’s how my bf likes his bread. But if you prefer crispier crust, bake your bread at a higher temperature (about 450F) for a shorter time (about 40 minutes). You can also place a broiler tray on the lower oven rack. Leave it in the oven while it preheats, and when you put the loaf into the oven, pour a cup of hot (not boiling water) into the hot broiler tray, and immediately close the oven. This will generate steam that will help form the crispier crust.