Using Spelt and Emmer in Everyday Baking

Why these old wheats are worth the effort

Spelt and emmer are not novelty ingredients, and they are not imports. Both were grown across Britain long before the high-yielding wheats that now fill most of our bread aisles, and both still suit our damp, cool climate. Emmer, sometimes sold as farro, is one of the hulled wheats: the grain sits inside a tough husk that must be milled away, which is partly why it nearly vanished from our fields. Spelt survived better, kept going by small growers and revived properly from the 1980s onwards.

What they share in the kitchen is a gluten network that is extensible but weak — happy to stretch, reluctant to snap back. Modern bread flour is elastic and springy; spelt and emmer are more like a good jumper than a bungee cord. Understand that single difference and everything else, from hydration to shaping, falls into place.

They also grow kindly. Deep roots, tough husks and low input demands make them a sensible fit for mixed arable farms and rotations that are trying to look after soil rather than push it. A bag of British stoneground spelt is a small vote for that.

Start by adjusting your hydration

Most home bakers learn on strong white flour at around 70% hydration. Do not simply carry that number across. Wholemeal spelt drinks water, but its bran also slices through whatever gluten you manage to build, so a wet dough can turn sloppy fast. As a rough guide:

• Wholemeal spelt: begin at 65% and add a splash only if the dough feels tight.
• White spelt: 68–72% is comfortable.
• Emmer: 60–65% for a shaped loaf; slacker for flatbreads.

Keep your first autolyse short — twenty to thirty minutes, no longer. A long rest that helps a strong wheat become supple will leave a weak one spreading across the worktop. If you are new to these flours, blend them: half strong white bread flour and half wholemeal spelt gives you a loaf with real character and enough structure to learn on.

Handle the dough gently, and fold rather than knead

Put the ten-minute knead out of your mind. Three or four sets of stretch and folds, spaced twenty to thirty minutes apart, will build all the strength you need without punishing the gluten. Wet your hands, lift the dough from one side, stretch it upwards and fold it over the middle, turn the bowl a quarter and repeat.

Emmer will tell you when it has had enough. The surface starts to look ragged, and the dough slides rather than holds. Stop there. Salt at around 2% of the flour weight, mixed in after the first rest, tightens the network a little and makes everything easier to manage.

Proving and shaping: shorter is usually better

Weak gluten plus a long ferment equals a puddle. Bulk ferment somewhere warm and relatively briefly — one to two hours for a yeasted spelt loaf — and judge by the dough rather than the clock. Sourdough works beautifully with both grains, but use a lively starter and keep the dough on the cool side of comfortable.

Shape with light tension. A gentle pre-shape, a fifteen-minute rest, then a final shape using only a few confident strokes. A well-floured banneton supports spelt nicely; emmer is often happier in a tin, which holds it up while it proves. Final prove shorter than you would give a wheat loaf, and if you must err, err on the side of slightly under-proved — an under-proved loaf bakes tight but bakes, whereas an over-proved one collapses.

Both grains colour quickly, so bake at around 220°C with steam for the first fifteen minutes, then drop to 200°C. Aim for an internal temperature of 96–98°C.

Flatbreads: where emmer really shines

Flatbreads forgive fragile gluten, because nothing needs to hold up a tall rise. Emmer flatbreads are the best introduction to the grain. Mix a soft dough at 70–75% hydration, rest it half an hour, divide, roll thin, and cook on a dry, heavy frying pan or girdle over a high heat for a minute or two a side until blistered. A spoon of yoghurt and a scatter of nigella seeds finishes them.

Spelt pitta is almost as easy: roll rounds, rest ten minutes, then bake on a hot stone or in a fierce oven until they balloon. Spelt soda bread with buttermilk is another shortcut worth knowing, since it needs no gluten development at all. Drop scones and small griddle loaves also take kindly to a half-and-half blend.

Milling, freshness and keeping it local

Wholegrain spelt and emmer carry their oils with them. They go stale and eventually rancid far sooner than white flour, so buy small and buy fresh. Look for flour stamped with a milling date, from a mill that stonegrinds British-grown grain, and ask which variety and which harvest it came from. Store it in a cool, dark cupboard or in the freezer, and use it within about six weeks of opening.

These crops exist on British farms because growers chose to keep them there, often on lower-input systems that build soil structure and support pollinators. Every bag you bake with helps that choice look sensible. Start with a fifty-fifty blend, get used to a shorter prove and a gentler hand, and in a few loaves you will be baking spelt and emmer on their own terms.