Baking with the Season: A Simple Spelt and Honey Loaf

I started baking bread at home years ago because I wanted to know what was in it. That is still the main reason. A loaf of bread from my own oven has four or five ingredients, all of which I can pronounce, and it costs a fraction of what a good bakery loaf costs. It also fills the house with a smell that no candle can replicate, and in the winter that smell is almost as valuable as the bread itself.

This loaf is the one I make most often. It uses a mix of spelt flour and regular bread flour, which gives it a nutty flavor and a tender crumb without being too heavy. The honey can change depending on what you have. In spring I use a light wildflower honey. In fall I switch to something darker, like buckwheat or chestnut, and the bread takes on a deeper color and a slightly bitter edge that I like with cheese.

The Method, Which Is Forgiving

You need about three cups of flour total, roughly half spelt and half bread flour, a teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of honey, a tablespoon of olive oil, a cup and a quarter of warm water, and a teaspoon of instant yeast. Mix everything in a big bowl until it comes together, then knead it for about eight minutes, either by hand or with a dough hook. The dough will be slightly sticky. That is fine. Spelt does not develop gluten the same way wheat does, so do not overwork it.

Let it rise, covered, for about two hours, until it has roughly doubled. Then shape it into a round or an oval, put it on a piece of parchment, and let it rise again for another hour. While it is rising, heat the oven to 450 with a Dutch oven inside. When the dough is ready, score the top with a sharp knife, lower it into the hot pot, cover it, and bake for thirty minutes. Then take the lid off and bake another fifteen, until the crust is dark and the loaf sounds hollow when you tap it.

Let it cool completely before you cut it. I know that is hard. But if you cut it hot, the inside will gum up and you will be disappointed. Wait an hour. It is worth it.

Why Spelt and Why Honey

Spelt is an old grain, and it has a flavor that modern wheat does not. It tastes like something, which is not always true of supermarket flour. Honey does the same thing. It brings the season into the loaf, and it makes the crust brown more deeply. This is a bread that belongs on a wooden board, cut thick, with butter that has been sitting out on the counter. It is not a project. It is just supper.